By Miguel Vieira FORCV Columnist

Ten years ago a Cape Verdean government sponsored alphabet was created to help put into universal written form Cape Verdeans’ native language; it was dubbed Alfabeto Unificado Para Escrita do Cabo Verdiano (ALUPEC) standing for unified alphabet for the purpose of writing the Cape Verdean Creole (Kriolu). One would imagine that this initiative would have materialized several decades earlier with the independence of Cape Verde in 1975, but the dynamics are more complex and there were and continue to be obstacles impeding Kriolu's ascendancy to officialdom.

The opponents of the affirmation of Kriolu are some Cape Verdeans who speak Kriolu as a native tongue in virtually ever context but reject its ascendancy to the formal and official realms. They unconvincingly argue that Cape Verdean Creole is an unviable language and that its officialization would hinder more than help Cape Verde. Not so, says Manuel Gonsalves, President of Cape Verdean Creole Institute.

“Ofisializason di Kriolu ta fortifika Kabu Verdi"(the officialization of kriolu would make Cape Verde strong) he says. Likewise, on a similar note, Agnelo Montrond, a teacher of Cape Verdean Creole at Bridgewater State College and Massasoit Community College argues that Kriolu's officialization would not only be good but even better since that move would psychologically boost Cape Verdeans’ outlook of their language.

Mr. Montrond has further opined in one of his many articles that Kriolu “Ka tem tadju", that is, its ascendancy to officialdom is inevitable. Nevertheless, his students would likely find it hard to believe that the Kriolu variant they learn, the Santiago Island version, is the main reason for the aforementioned Cape Verdeans to fear and reject a complete officialization of Kriolu.

Unfounded Fears

ALUPEC has an universal structure that can be used to write all the 9 variants of the Cape Verdean Creole as demonstrated in the article Dimonstrason ma ALUPEC ta Unifika Skrita di Tudu Variantis di Kriolu di Kabu Verdi by Mr. Montrond. However opponents fear that were kriolu to become, like Portuguese, another official language of Cape Verde, the Santiago Island variant, the most widely studied and spoken variant, will inevitable take overwhelming precedence over theirs, which would force them, they fret, to speak and write only “Badiu”, the generic term depicting the natives of Santiago and their version of Kriolu.

Most initiatives to officialize Kriolu have emanated from the Santiago Island, home of the nation’s capital, Praia. Kriolu's premier champion himself, Manuel Veiga, PhD., the current Minister of Culture is a native of Santiago Island. Dr. Veiga has campaigned tirelessly for several decades to give Kriolu its due honor but often some obstacles get in the way. For instance, in 2005, when Cape Verde celebrated thirty years of independence, Prime Minister J.M. Neves, standing alongside Manual Veiga, stated on national TV that from that point on Kriolu would have equal official weight with Portuguese, the colonially inherited official language. The implication was that starting then official memos would be written in both Kriolu and Portuguese, "state of the nation" speeches would be given in Kriolu, et cetera. Three years later, Kriolu is still not spoken by key officials in the Cape Verde’s Parliament; virtually all government documents and memos are written only in Portuguese; and the last time Prime Minister Neves spoke at the United Nations annual convention, he delivered his message in Portuguese, not in Cape Verdean Creole.

Speaking the People’s Language at the People's Dais

Those who oppose Kriolu's officialization would likely find this suggestion to be revolutionary, but it really isn’t. The United Nations is the world people’s body, so shouldn’t officials speak the language of the people at the world people’s premier DAIS? Understandably, it will take a little longer for this idea to materialize, but it's definitely in the horizon. A case in point is a brief conversation I had recently with the current Cape Verde Envoy to the United States.

In our conversation at the CV Embassy in Washington D.C., Ambassador Dr. Fatima Veiga, a native of Sao Vicente, the second most important island, where interestingly enough most opponents of Kriolu’s officialization hail from, stated that as transportation costs diminish and Cape Verdeans travel and interact more with each other, there will be an inevitable fusion of the Kriolus; “Soncent" variant, she predicted, will influence the "Badiu" and vice versa, as will be the case with the variants from the other islands. As a result, a linguistic fusion will emerge. Thus, the increasingly common borrowing of words, sentence and intonation patterns between Cape Verdeans from cities and islands across the archipelago are real glimpses of what’s to materialize once a Kriolu linguistic fusion becomes an indisputable reality, which I predict may happen in the short term. At that point, Kriolu’s officialization will have been absolutely imperative. As a result, the President and Prime Minister of Cape Verde and other CV officials will have no more excuses to avoid writing memorandums or give speeches in official venues in Kriolu.