Link: maps-inc.org/eng/banquet/2007

By Agnelo Montrond Cape Verdean Language & Arts teacher at Massasoit Community College, and FORCV contributor

The term Kriolu is derived from the Portuguese word Crioulo, which in turn is derived from criar meaning “to raise” and olo defined as “house - a typical African house in the Portuguese African colonies.”

The slaves deliberately created Kriolu as a language they could use to communicate among themselves yet not be understood by their owners. The colonizers did not want to welcome Kriolu because it would have jeopardized their absolute power to control the situation. Therefore, they tried unsuccessfully to eradicate the Cape Verdean language and their cultural identity. Even though the temptation to do so has had the opposite effect, we have to admit that some Cape Verdeans of different generations have successfully assimilated that colonizer’s mentality and consider themselves culturally superior to their own people to the extent of looking down upon their own cultural values and identity. That explains the resistance correlated to the identity crisis that some Cape Verdeans may still be facing which urgently needs to be addressed.

Inspired on what Amilcar Cabral said, “a people’s culture serves as the touchstone of their identity”, we must be prepared to understand and effectively deal with these kinds of behavior. It is due to the fact that during the colonial era, the attempt was to brainwash the people of the colony of Cape Verde. Indeed, everything was geared towards the culture of the colonizers, which was the de facto culture Cape Verdeans needed to learn and master. The curriculum in schools reflected that ill-conceived colonial policy: students were forced to learn geography, language, history and culture from the colonizers’ perspective and encouraged to ignore their own. They had to learn the names of every single river in Portugal and the history of all the kings of Portugal. In addition, they had to read texts that were impregnated with the colonizers' ideology. This tactic gave birth to a sense of inferiority and inadequacy among the people, which is still bearing a negative impact on some.

For centuries, the colonizers have promptly repressed the movement towards the decolonization of mentalities. The imposition of Portuguese as the only official language has been nothing more than a provisional atrocity, being that Cape Verdeans in the archipelago, as well as in the diasporas, have always naturally and spontaneously resisted any such attempt. Kriolu has appeared, and continues to appear, as the language that has definitely defined and shaped our culture. Portuguese has always been learned in an academic setting in school whereas life skills have been learned in Kriolu at home, in playgrounds, etc, through social interactions.

In the United States, Cape Verdeans are identified as a separate group; they are not Portuguese, but rather Cape Verdeans. Their native language is Cape Verdean, not Portuguese. The Cape Verdean language is an autonomous language with its own structure and lexicon, which reflect both its Portuguese and West African derivation. The Portuguese influence is seemingly obvious considering the lexical nature of the majority of the Cape Verdean language vocabulary. However, the West African influence seems to be ignored. In fact, the Cape Verdean and West African languages exhibit similarity and parallelism: adjectives following the noun, the use of intonation to differentiate between interrogative and declarative sentences, frequent repetition of words, African morphological structures, lack of distinction of voice, verbal adjectives, etc.

Thus far, a great deal has been accomplished with regard to this issue: a unified alphabet for the orthography of Cape Verdean Kriolu, “ALUPEK” has been approved by the Cape Verdean government; literary materials in Cape Verdean Kriolu are available online, in books, periodicals, academic texts, and in other forms. Those resources have and continue to be provided by numerous authors including, but not limited to Manuel Veiga, the author of the Introduction to the Cape Verdean Kriolu grammar book, Tomé Varela, Kaka Barbosa, Danny Spinola, and Manuel Da Luz Gonçalves. However, there is more work ahead, namely an amendment to the Cape Verdean Constitution, which declares Portuguese as not solely the official language, intended to provide Cape Verdean Kriolu with the status that it deserves and make it the other official language along with Portuguese. Nevertheless, we are not trying to reinvent the wheel when we claim, on a positive and constructive tone, that the Cape Verdean language lacks sufficient visibility in the United States. Neither do we need to be rocket scientists or geniuses to perceive that Cape Verdean Kriolu lacks recognition in Brockton, the City of Champions and home of more than 25 000 Cape Verdeans. Our leaders need to be more proactive in their joint endeavor of promoting awareness and recognition of our linguistic identity in order to demystify the imbroglio: Portuguese or Cape Verdean Kriolu, which is the native language of Cape Verdeans?

It is time to empower the natural expression of the Cape Verdean soul both in the archipelago and in the Cape Verdean communities in the diasporas. The people of Cape Verde have always expressed the need for a balanced linguistic compromise between the two languages, which will definitely lead to the dual role of Cape Verdean Kriolu and Portuguese for all Cape Verdeans worldwide. Our hope is that the Minister of Culture, Doctor Manuel Veiga, the leader of our dream, will soon return to his office to, in conjunction with the Cape Verdean legislative branch, wisely make it happen. More power to him and all those who are assisting him in that endeavor.


Link: forcv.com/index.php?idvar=12

Dear Prof.Agnelo Montrond a very long applaud and a job well done on your article we all thank you.

It is the many wonderful new CV'S like you that are taking on the new struggle for our future.

We are very proud of all of you.

It also is very good that you mention the inspiration that the late Dr. Amilcar Lopes Cabral has given to all of us. It was because of what I heard and read about Amilcar that became a driving force that catapulted me into the struggle in the revolution for our unity and independence for Guinea Bissau & Cabo Verde. Anyone who reads Cabrals selected text 'Revolution In Guinea' or 'Amilcar Cabral Unity & Struggle'
or 'Return To The Source' or His 'Our People Are Our Mountains' and many of his other speeches that he made around the world. Then we will be able to see the genius of this gentle giant; a beloved man who gave his life for his people and for all oppressed people of the world.

Long live his memory in the hearts and minds of our children
A most honorable,honest and disciplined man that gave great meaning to the word (RESPONSIBILITY).

"TELL NO LIES AND CLAIM NO EASY VICTORIES" Amilcar Cabral

Thank you dear brother.
Manu Salah[/u][/i]

Kudos from me, also, Professor. This was a very well written and thoughtful article. It is people like you who will make sure that the inevitable (Kriolu ka tem tadju, o tardi o sedu eh tem ki ser ofisializadu) materializes sooner than later, that is, the complete officialization and valorization of Kriolu, the Soul of Cape Verdeans world-wide, is bound to become a reality in the very foreseable future.

I have to be honest I have no knowledge at all concerning languages, and structure of languages.

The point made in that article is quite obvious. Yes, criolo and portuguese are two different languages, and one portuguese needs a period of transition to be fully conversant in the criolo and vice versa.

This point is a fact, the two languages are different.

Then comes the comparison with african languages, and obviously no african language is similar to criolo. And at this stage, we need that you tell to which african language the criolo has gramatical similarities? Is it a language from senegal, from guinea, or nigeria? or is it similar to all of them?

Then you have to explain us, what is the difference between a language and a dialect? and if criolo is an autonomous language or a dialect based on portuguese, that in the future will become an autonomous language?

Di un forma mas rusumido primeramenti un kre faze bu un pekenu pergunta bo ki sta ta ler es nha interferencia kual e bo opniau pessoal sobri oficializacau di kriolu kual ke se beneficio ? Mr Montrond ta tenta odja kriolu na se postu ou seja na se patamar linguistu di un lingua sima un kualker lingua pamo ki nau , si nos tudo djunta la nu ta consiki lebal mas pra la dja sta na ora nu fazel acontici, nu ka podi sta perdi nos kultura nos identidadi .

Thanks for an interesting and very informative article. The importance of language cannot be underestimated.

As an expat living in Cape Verde, I have noticed with my own ears that Portuguese (which I am in the process of learning) and CV Kriolu is distinctly different (even if there are also clearly some similarities, especially in written form). By now I can speak and understand Portuguese relatively well, and while this is useful in a practical sense in my everyday life here since most Cape Verdeans understand and speak some Portuguese, I realize that I need to learn Kriolu as well to really understand and appreciate the Cape Veredean culture. But the fact that knowing some Portuguese is insufficient to understand Kriolu is to me quite a good indication that we are talking about two different languages. I am about to learn Kriolu (aided by "Pa Nu Papia Kriolu - Cape Verdean Language Book" ordered through Caboverdeonline.com after a useful tip on this Forum) after which I will be in an even better position to compare the two languages.

I also agree that Kriolu should be upgraded to a second official language in CV, and frankly I am a little bit surprised that it has not already been done. Possibly it has to do with the fact that CV Kriolu is such a young language, and also that Kriolu apparently varies quite a lot among the different islands.

In my article "The Power of Language", posted on 21 March at this Forum, I even suggested that Kriolu should replace Portuguese as the formal language. Maybe this will take some time, but why should not this be the ultimate goal?

In any case, all efforts to develop and safeguard CV Kriolu will no doubt be key to strengthen the Cape Verdean national identity - especially if combined with concerted action to learn a second or third language (not necessarily Portuguese in my view) in school and with the help of the large CV exile community. This might appear contradictive, but in fact it is far from it. First of all, in order to learn a second or third language well as a youth or an adult, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of your native language. Secondly, it would counteract the only negative aspect of strengthening Kriolu at the expense of Portuguese - namely the challenge to communicate effectively with the rest of the world.

First of all, uffe, congratulations on having taken the iniciative to order the Pa Nu Papia Kriolu book. That book will segnificantly expedite your Kriolu learning journey. It really will.

Now about your quoted comment below, what I have to say is that officializing, or in other words, speaking Kriolu in criminal courts, writing Kriolu in official gorverment directives, speaking Kriolu as the UN dais, et cetera, would not have any negative impact in the use of Portuguese use in Cape Verde. For instance, consider this point: Portuguese has supposedly been the official language of Cape Verde for the last 500 years, yet Cape Verdean still to this day don't speak Portuguese well. Why? Kriolu is not taught in schools, that's why. Kriolu's structure and phonology and history should be taught from first through 12th grade. And in the Universities too. You see, the more Cape Verdeans learn the structure of their native language, the better their portuguese will get.
And as for speaking effectively with the rest of the world, I don't think the portuguese language helps that much. If that were the case, Brasilians, who by the way, are to be found in every courner of the world, would have an easy time intereacting with the rest of world, but they don't. Why? They have very little knowlege of the de facto world's language, English. That being said, I strongly suggest English language teaching in Cape Verde be given a boost, a very strong boost in the educational system. The more fluent we become in English, the more effective we'll become in communicating with the rest of the world.

Uffe wrote:

Secondly, it would counteract the only negative aspect of strengthening Kriolu at the expense of Portuguese - namely the challenge to communicate effectively with the rest of the world.

Gentleman I do thank you for your most dynamic input about Kriolu or Portuguese.

I was born in the USA and I am second generation,my grandparents on both sides came from Fogo& Brava around 1888 and 1n 1900. I was born in 1933. We lived in two small towns one is Wareham the other is Marion by the sea,17 miles from New Bedford. Farm land and Cranberry boggs. Back then the population of CV's were at my estimate rather large and all the near by towns from New Bedford to Cape Cod were with CV villages. The spoken language was Kriolu every place we went,with those few CV's who were speaking broken english.

At home we spoke Kriolu and it was not until we went to school or in the streets, we began to learn english. Most of the time we spoke english only at school but Kriolu in the neighborhood. To write Kriolu back then was done by sound not by any structure. Two people could write the same word differently.
Depending on how the word sound and what english letter you would use.

As the years passed by we became more proficient in english. Much depending how long one stayed in school. Grammar did not mean very much,unless you finnished high school and were among the lucky ones to go off to college and that was very few back in the old days.

For most people we never made it to high school and many dropped out in the 9th grade or before. That was enough english to allow you to be in the Army or any other branch of service;during the service from the 1st world war,2nd world war,Korean and to Vietnam war. Today they want you to be a highschool graduate and when things get tough they take everyone old enough.

There is the spoken word which most of us do rather well with but english grammar and structure, the truth be told verbs,adverbs,conjunctions,past participle and past perfect and so on,we are lost,again that is very different today with our recent wave of graduates from high schools and universities. It would also challenge many in the proper english.

I like the idea of teaching kriolu in the schools especially now that the kriolu is going from being just the mother tongue to a structured language. One of the problems we had in the past was from one island to the next we had different accents and some times different pronunciations.

For example I always had great difficulty understanding some CV's from the Northern Islands,that is I do alright with Fogo Brava & Santiago,beyond that it was difficult perhaps it is because Being in the U.S. made a difference. I will tell you this the first time I went to the mainland Africa and went into Guinea Bissau I was amazed how well I heard the spoken Kriolu from the people in that country,I did not know they spoke kriolu that was a surprise to me and for the first time I felt comfortable being in a African country That was in 1971.

From a selfish point of view I would like english to be taught in Cabo Verde,also because english is widely used in todays world.

Now that is my experience gentleman as a Caboverdiano born in the United States soon to be 74 Deus willing.

Now I have a question.
In all the African countries in which we know that there are in some countries more then 100 tribal tongues or languages if you like.

Would it not serve those countries better to bring about unity keeping the languages of the colonizers which are spoken in many countries.?

For example;French,English and Portugueses which breaks thru all the many tribal languages which is a problem in Africa as a whole.

Nationalism is very good to serve the individual nation,but internationalism and interconnectedness it would seem to me to be more beneficial for unity and harmony among all nations.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this question.

Each country or each region could keep it's mother tongue but that it would cause less confusion if one of the major world languages be used for the sake of beaking down tribalism and regionalism?

That is my contribution on the subject.
Thank You for your kindness.
Manu Salah

For this debate to go somewhere, we have first to define what is a dialect.
I don't know what is the exact definition of a dialect. But I read that for example in switzerland, they speak a dialect of german that the germans can't understand. I also know that the majority of the italians that went to brasil didn't speak proper italian but rather speak a dialect of italian...

So is it criolo(capeverdean) a language or a dialect?

Ufee, nearly 100% of capeverdean words are based on portuguese, I don't see any capeverdean word that is linked to an african language (they are very few). You probably still need some time to be able to make the link between the portuguese words and they short version in capeverdean

Thanks to Agnelo Montrond for a piece of information that I hope will help enlight many Cape Verdeans into defining the process that leads the way to affirm our identity, in which language is part of.

Santo antao, dialect is not something diferent from a language. A dialect is a variance within a particualr language. When we refer to language, we are thinking a particular language with its own characteristics and defined as such. When we talk dialect we are essentily referring to a particular variance within a language.

Cape Verdean creole is a language like any other language because it has its distinct characteristics. Any dialect can only be a dialect of a particular language because they are the same language but they sub-divide into different dialect of that language.

For example, Portuguese and CV creole are two different languages. A dialect can be seen, for example, as the variance of Sao Vicente creole, or the variance of Fogo creolo, or the variance of Santiago creolo. However, they are not considered dialects of CV creolo language because, even though you can recognize small differences on the accents between them, they are completely inteligible between themselves. Threfore, dialect wouldn't apply in this case.

They are considered homogeneous language, just like Portuguese from Acores (The islands) differ from Portuguese from Lisbon, or other Provinces of Portugal (continent): they are all Portuguese; or English from North America and South America: they are all English.

I hope I helped.

Cabrala

thanks cabrala,

the italian dialect is hardly understood by italian speakers, the swiss german dialect is hardly understood by the germans, the french patoi is hardly understood by french speakers.

In the other side the french-canadian, french from france, french from belgium and french from switzerland are all a bit different but are not dialects as they are perfectly understandable from each other.
The same for portuguese from portugal and from brazil they are different but are the same language.
The same for the english from britain, north-america, australia.

So, I think that there is a possibility for the criolo to be a dialect of portuguese. Depending on the definition of the word dialect...Criolo is based at 90%+ on portuguese, the only difference is the pronounciation and the shortening of the words, where a lot of vowyels are missing. There is almost no sentence in criolo that will not be related/transcripted to the portuguese root

According to Noam Chomsky, one the most prominent linguist in our era, all languages have in their essence the same basic structure, but differ in their lexicology and semantics. Yet, they are still not all mutually intelligible.

One important aspect of a language is its structure that serve as a basis to make sence of a group of words. Words isolated means not much or won't make sense to communicate( That is the whole is more than the sum of its part - Gestalt psychology). Threfore, structure ( grammar) of a language is determinant to make one language intelligible to a person. You may not explain grammar but you have it implicit in your ways of organizing words to make sense of your thinking.

Creolo and Portuguese don't have the same structure (grammar, sintax), therefore are not mutually inteligible even though many words have some basic similarity. They are completely two different languages.

Accordingly, linguistically speaking they can't be considered same language, not one being a dialect of the other, but yes, they share some similarities.

Cabrala

cabrala,

are you serious? do you know that more than 90% of the criolo words are portuguese words? This is more than similarities, this is DNA!

for example

mim cre bai pra casa = eu quero ir para casa

tcham fala dequel cosa= deixam falar daquela coisa

can you give me an example of a criolo sentence that is not transcriptible directly in portuguese just by adding some missing vowells?

Criolo and Portuguese are diffrent and one needs a period of adaptation to understand the other language. Nevertheless, the similarities are so big that we can ask if it is not because cv is simple a dialect of Portuguese

I have found this definition on wikipedia "A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.
The number of speakers, and the geographical area covered by them, can be of arbitrary size, and a dialect might contain several sub-dialects. A dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed, but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and grammar."

For me criolo seems to fit into this definition in relation to portuguese

I am trying to show you something,

capeverde is a dialect of portuguese, because it shares the same lexical roots. It is very difficult for a portuguese to understand criolo unless if he stays in capeverde some weeks then he will get used to the criolo, and the transition from portuguese to criolo will be smooth.

Now, if the capeverdean governement wants to give to criolo the status of an independent langage it is up to them, and this will not be a bad thing. Nevertheless this will not change the fact that criolo is a dialect of portuguese which litlle by little day after day is diverging to become an independent self-sufficinet language.

I am going say this as a person who learned my mother tongue criolu from grandparents here in the USA.

I don't know anything about gramma structure,but from my point of view I think we can see many similarities in the Portugueses in the criolu tongue.
I think what we fail to say what it is about the criolu that is different is it not some of what might be an African introduction into what is an African language.

There are many other criolu besides the one from Cabo Verde. It is a mixture. I don't have a problem admitting that Criolu has Portuguese in it but it is not the same. Even what we call Portuguese has latin roots and a mixture of another language.

Portugueses as it is, is not a pure language unto it self. There are also from Spain,Portugal and perhaps some Arabic in both of those languages.

Even French has criolu,take in Haiti for example,and among certain Hispanic groups we can find what is called criolu,even the English languages in some African countries.
What do you all say on that note.

Most of our languages have root in the latin,which can be traced back to Aramaic a sister language of Arabic. I can be corrected on this point.

There are many linguistic forms are they not?

Manu Salah

salah,

I call portuguese, the language that was talked by the people from portugal in 1450, at this time, the portuguese was already a mix of a majority of latin words and some arabic words.

The criolo, comes from this portuguese (a mix of latin and arabic), the vocabulary and the lexical root of criolo words is more than 90% portuguese. So at this level it is not similarities, it is clear that portuguese gave birth to criolo.

The capeverdean creole is the first creole that ever existed as it was devlopped in capeverde 50 years before christobal colomb discovered america, and 200 years before the french and the british start to colonise the caraibean islands.

The african influence in the creole can only be supposed to be present in the pronounciation, as far as more than 90% of the words are portuguese. The pronounciation is what makes so difficult for a portuguese to understand criolo and not the grammar.

No one talking an african language can understand criolo even with a period of adaptation, they have to learn it from scratch...

As a conclusion, the criolo was the first ever creole talked in the world, it is based at more than 90% on portuguese words, the only possible african influence is in the pronounciation of the words, an african-langage speaker has to learn criolo from scratch while a portuguese just needs a period of adaptation. The question on whether criolo is a dialect of portuguese is still open? When will it become an official language is still to define?

Give up on that one too, Santo Antao.

The similarity of Creole and Portuguese is not even close to the similarity of Spanish and Portuguese. It is more like the similarity of Italian and portuguese. Even so, I would consider Italian and Portuguese more intelligible than Creole and Portuguese. For example, I don't speak spanish fluently, but because of my Portuguese skills I can converse with a Spanish Speaking person naturally. I have been one month with an Italian native (I dont speak Italian / he doesn't speak Portuguese or creole) and we could, with some degrees of difficulties, communicate all our basic conversation with only some words left out. Similarity of vocabularies are not necessarily what defines same language. On that note I agree with manu Salah Mateus. Other factors come into play to, such as cultural and social background.

Don't look at capeverdean language only from your own perspective ( santo Antao). A Portuguese would never understand creole unless there is really an effort on the part of CV creole to structure his sentence more like Portuguese because any CV speaker has been exposed to Portuguese one way or the other.

A question for you: Is Portuguese a dialect of Spanish?

Cabrala

I'm glad you agreed with my observation, CV2K. However, I must tell youy know that I didn't coin the term "Kriolez".One of the Cape Verdean politicians coined the term last year in a liberal-caboverde.com article. The author of the article claimed that kriolez is increasingly becoming the defacto lingo of the Cape Verdean politicians and the general college educated elites. This article had only touched upon an issue that I, and I'm sure you too, had noticed along time ago, but we just didn't coin the term.

On another note, I agree with you that when Cape Verdean politicians and other so called "guentis kultus", i.e. college degreed CVs, speak Kriolez, they look really comedic to those of us in the diapora, because you see, we the diaspora CVs don't get impressed by their using kriolez or portuguese. If anything diaspora Cape Verdeans pity CV officials who use Kriolez.

So, a word of advice to Cape Verdean politicians and the educated Cape Verdeans as whole who think that the only way to impress a CV audience is by speaking portuguese or kriolez - when you come to the United States or visit any diaspora CV community in mainland Africa or in Europe or in Latin America speak in pure Kriolu, leave the Kriolez at home. Speaking Kriolez makes you look really like a clown.

Y si bu ka intendi kuze ki n'fla di pariba na ingles, leh li nton na Kriolu - politikus di kabu Verdi y formados em geral: Toki ki nos bem Merka, nhos papia ku nos na Kriolu nao na kriolez. Anos li na Merka nu ka ta konsidera fluensia na portugues komu indikason di inteligensia o kultura geral. Nos lingua materna, ki eh Kabuverdianu(Kriolu), eh bonito y el eh um lingua sima tudu lingua, portantu, ora ki nhos bem Merka nhos papia bem papiadu propi, ma na Kriolu, ka na Kriolez.

CV2K & Kakau

Thank you for that lesson.

You know what bothers me; for example, Watching Cabo Video most of the time the moderator speaks in Portugueses and I wonder why,when in fact many people don't know Portuguese. I would hope that they would speak in Criolu. Now some time when they speak in Criolu, nah lingua de Fogo or Brava un ta ntendi tudu kusa.

Ma me go nasedu li na merka n ten problema ku kriolu de otu ilhas.

Come on give me a break man I am trying to the best I can.
Speaking for myself, most people think I have a good command of the spoken word. What I need to do is to be in Fogo or Brava for a year.

Well I find that there is a big difference with folks from Sotavento and those from Balavento. Could you from Cabo Verde help me to understand that a little bit more?

Of course those of us who were born in the U.S. have lost much especially people my age who moved away from Caboverdiano's community and for me moving into Boston,New York an Philadelphia because of what I look like in order to survive I assimilated into what was called back in the day colored or Negro. Not until sixties that the word black became prominent from that came African American.

I am only sharing my experience with you. Now on the other side of the coin, many CVs who wanted to be caucasion(White) or Portuguese traveled in a different circle. It was only when we would return to the larger CV community we were all CVs. With our families who knew the real deal.

Then you are also right on the money when you say some Caboverdianos looked down on dark skin CV because they thought they were better and I have had it said to me many times criolu a lingua de genti ke ka tain skola. We would be put down. Bo ka poder sinta ku brancu bo e mutu
sucuru. Oh boy what a time that was. My English was a lot better.
Many CVs assimilated in order to make their mark at the place they found themselves. I know many CVs that became prominent but others thought they were Negros. And even today they will tell you I am African American or those who are into a black thing. Many were members of the Nation of Islam, NAACP and other African American movements.

Well I am sure you aware of all that. During Cabral's time of PAIGC, many African Americans supported PAIGC in the USA. JUst read the book RETURN TO THE SOURCE. Amilca Cabral received the honorary doctrate from Lincoln University at Oxford ,Pa. I was there in 1972. That is where I met Cabral after coming back from Guinea. In the back of the book,further readings see the name Salahudin Matteos who spoke at UCLA ("The Cape Verdeans and the PAIGC Struggle for National Liberation"). My mission was also to inform African Americans and the USA in general. Cabral and the Black Star on the PAIGC flag had great meaning in the African American neighborhoods. Congreeman Diggs from Detroit had much influence as well as Congressman Dellum from California,and the Congress of African People ( Imamu Baraka) Leroy Jones the poet. lll Pyramids out of Duxbury, Massachusetts was also very involved directly with many militants from PAIGC. You can read about that on the web under the name (Salah Mateus)

We have come a long way and we have a long way to go for our unity the way Amilcar Cabral set down the foundation.
Victory is our for sure. "Tell no lies and Claim no easy Victories" Cabral.

No Pintcha!

Manu Salah

that's right cv2k,

english is a creole of germanic languages and french+latin. the fact is that the original population of england was celtic and germanic (angles). The latin invasion brought a lot of new words from latin.

Then the saxons invaded england, But the most significant input in the creolisation of english was when Whilliam the conqueror a french renegade lord, invaded england and became the king of england. Then old-french became the official language of england, but was only spoken by nobles and priests...the peasant still kept talking the germanic based language. French could have overcame the germanic dialects in england but the dark-peast decimated almost all the priest of england who were the teaching old-french to the peasants...

Nowadays, we can reasonably tell that english is a mix of 60% of old french+some latin words and 40% germanic words. The fact is that the old french and latin words are more used by the upper class and intellectuals and that the germanic vocabulary is used by the lower class(the majority).

Very interestingly, there is the same problem than for criolo...the pronounciation...thats were we are forced to recognised that the english people are germanic and not latin. Their pronounciation of the latin and old-french words are completly inintelligible for someone who speaks french although they use french-based words.

But into the 21st century context, english is not a creole and the creole is senmantically related to languages spoken in islands were europeans mixed with other cultures, that was the case first in capeverde in 1460, then in the caraibeans after 1600 and also for example in mallaca (malaysia). In the modern context and in the modern meaning of creole, the capeverdean creole is the first creole ever. we are the origine of creole and also for its structuration, 200 years before the caraibean islands.

Cabarla,

Interestingly, I understand better italian than spanish although I speak portuguese. Concerning the fact that portuguese could be a dialect of spanish, this shows that you don't understand the iberian peninsula historical context...The language called Spanish is in fact the castillian. Castillian is one of the dialects that came from the latin in the iberian peninsule. And Portuguese (or gallego), is not more linked to castillian than to catalan. So no, portuguese is not a dialect of castillian (or call it spanish if you want), portuguese is the result of the evolution of the latin spoken in galicia that gave a different langage compared to the evolution of the latin spoken in castillia (area around madrid).
The latin langage that is the matrix for all the other latin languages is Italian. As it is the one that stayed the closer to the original latin.

Capeveredean is a dialect of portuguese. Any governement have the choice to decide to make their dialect an official language and then give the the status of a language. If criolo becomes the official language and is taugth, then it will be more easy for the capeverdeans to understand and learn portuguese...

St_Antao,
Creole languages are defined as having syntax
based on African languages and lexical items
based on other languages such as French, Portuguese
or Dutch. A dialect is a variation of any language: for example,
English from England and Enlglish from the U.S. are dialects
of the English language, with regional variations. Creole
can be difined as a language becuase it has a literary tradition,
and it has grammatical rules that govern it. Otherwise we would
not be able to understand each other.

Someone said: "The slaves deliberately created Kriolu as a language they could use to communicate among themselves yet not be understood by their owners."

So what about the Brazialian Portuguese? Who created it? the slaves, also?