Language

Kriolu

The Kriolu language in Cape Verde is probably the oldest of the many different Creole languages still spoken today, distinct from yet related to them by shared linguistic and historical processes of development. It arose in the 15th century as a consequence of Portuguese slave trading on the west coast of Africa . Initially, business was conducted in a pidgin language based on Portuguese. Africans taken by the Portuguese on the Coast as slaves were brought to Cape Verde for transshipment to the plantations of the New World . The work force for this transshipment process included Africans who had been captured earlier and had learned pidgin. Linguists theorize that the children of these enslaved workers learned the early pidgin as their first language. As the children grew, their innate linguistic capacities expanded the limited pidgin of their parents into a fully formed language, a creole, useful in all areas of human communication. The Kriolu of Cape Verde is also enriched by concepts, structures, and cadences from the languages of the many Africans who were brought there.

After the slave trade ended, Portuguese remained the language of empire, the official language of state institutions of justice, education, taxation, and defense. In colonial culture, using Kriolu was a mark of social inferiority. But among many workers and intellectuals, it became an element of cultural resistance to Portuguese colonialism. Poets wrote evocations of their native land and of the struggles of its inhabitants in Kriolu, while for independence leaders like Amilcar Cabral the use of Kriolu became a mode of anti-colonial struggle.

After independence, Portuguese remained the official language in Cape Verde , used in classrooms and news reportage. Kriolu is designated as the national language. Its use in grassroots organizations, labor unions, and children's programming in the media has grown, though hindered, in part, by its lack of standardization in both spoken and written forms. For example, the Kriolu of S. Antao differs markedly from that of Brava, and factions differ as to whether a back-tongued, unvoiced consonant should be represented as "k" or as "c."

For Cape Verdeans in the diaspora, Kriolu is an instrument of culture, a tool of transnationalism and re-encounter. Whether in Cape Verde or far from it, in places such as Holland, the United States, Angola, Senegal, Brazil, France, and Portugal, Kriolu is the medium for sharing feelings of brotherhood, hospitality, and nostalgia, which are nurtured by this umbilical cord to the mother country. Kriolu is part of our identity, our way of knowing, but also often our access to the world through radio, television, and the educational system. Cape Verdeans ' struggle to legitimize their language affects both Kriolu speakers themselves and the societies in which they live.

Portuguese

In Cabo Verde, Portuguese is the official language. Portuguese is used in administration, teaching, news media and international relations. The Portuguese spoken in Cabo Verde is different than the Portuguese spoken in Europe . In many cases, however, it approaches the Portuguese spoken in Brazil . Portuguese is a beautiful language full of nuances and softness, which is the expression of an enterprising and dynamic culture, a people of explorers and sailors, and a multicolor people. Portugal and Cabo Verde have a lot of history to tell and many things to say, and there's no better way to listen to them than by learning its beautiful language. Current Portuguese is spoken by 170 million native speakers. It is one of the most important languages in the world. It is the second most spoken Romance language after Spanish. Portuguese is a Romance language derived from Latin, which formed a linguistic unity with Galician until the XV Century.