Languages in Cabo Verde

Creole (Crioulo) is not only a product of Cabo Verdean history, but also an index of Cabo Verdean identity. During Portuguese colonial rule, it was forbidden to speak Creole to speak in public. Of course, this law could not be enforced, and the use of Creole became an act of rebellion against the Portuguese.

Creole is now being used in more and more public situations. DJs at the very popular Praia FM introduce Creole music in Creole. The slogan of one of the campaigns for the February 2001 presidential election was “Nós Presidente,” which means “Our President” in Creole. And although many Cabo Verdeans find Portuguese a foreign and difficult language to them, and although the Portuguese of many Cabo Verdeans is not particularly good, Creole is perhaps even further away from becoming an official language today than it was 20 years ago.

Why actually? First of all, many people, including some Cabo Verdeans, think that Creole does not deserve the name “language.” It is a dialect of Portuguese, or, as some say, poorly spoken Portuguese. And more importantly, Creole is only a spoken language. There is written Creole, but there is no standard method, no structural analysis, and no grammar. There are many attempts to establish a standard way of writing Creole. But getting people to write Creole has failed time and again. There are only a handful of books, including collections of traditional stories and poems. 

In 1888, the first attempt was made to create an alphabet, and António de Paula Brita wrote the grammar, based mainly on Portuguese. In March 1979, a two-week colloquium was held in Mindelo, where an international team of linguists proposed an alphabet that is still the most widely used today. The most recent and final attempt was the ALUPEC (Unified Alphabet for the Cabo Verdean Language) of 1994.

Today, it is still the case that the vast majority of Cabo Verdeans, while speaking Creole with great passion and intelligence, cannot read or write it because they are not used to it.