Maio Creole - Dialects

Dialects

In spite of Cape Verde's small size, each island has developed its own way of speaking Creole. Each of these nine ways (there are 10 islands, one of which is uninhabited) is justifiably a different dialect, but the scholars in Cape Verde usually call them “variants”. These variants can be classified into two branches: in the South there are the Sotavento Creoles, which comprise the Brava, Fogo, Santiago and Maio variants; in the North there are the Barlavento Creoles, which comprise the Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão variants.

Since some lexical forms of Cape Verdean Creole can be different according to each variant, the words and the sentences in this article will be presented in compromise model, a kind of “middle Creole”, in order to ease the understanding and in order not to favor any variant. Whenever it will be necessary the phonemic transcription (or sometimes the phonetic transcription) will be shown immediately after the word.

For the writing system, check the section Writing system.

From a linguistic point of view, the most important variants are the Fogo, Santiago, São Nicolau and Santo Antão ones, and any deep study of Creole should approach at least these four. They are the only islands that have received slaves directly from the African continent, that possess the most conservative linguistic features, and that are the most distinct from each other.

From a social point of view, the most important variants are the Santiago and São Vicente ones, and any light study of Creole should approach at least these two. They are the variants of the two bigger cities (Praia and Mindelo), the variants with the greatest number of speakers, and the variants with a glottophagist tendency over the neighboring ones.

These variants have significant literature:

Brava: Eugénio Tavares
Fogo: Elsie Clews Parsons
Santiago: Carlos Barbosa, Tomé Varela da Silva, Daniel Spínola
São Vicente: Sérgio Frusoni, Ovídio Martins
Santo Antão: Luís Romano Madeira de Melo

Dialectal differences

Sotavento Creoles		Barlavento Creoles			English
Fogo	Santiago	São Nicolau	São Vicente	Santo Antão	English
Ês frâ-m’.	Ês flâ-m’.	Ês fló-m’.	Ês dzê-m’.	Ês dzê-m’.	They told me.
Bú câ ê bunítu.	Bú câ ê bunítu.	Bô câ ê b’nít’.	Bô câ ê b’nít’.	Bô n’ ê b’nít’.	You are not beautiful.
M’ câ sabê.	M’ câ sâbi.	M’ câ sabê.	M’ câ sabê.	Mí n’ séb’.	I don’t know.
Cumó’ qu’ ê bú nômi?	’Módi qu’ ê bú nómi?	Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?	Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?	Qu’ menêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?	What is your name?
Bú podê djudâ-m’?	Bú pôdi djudâ-m’?	Bô podê j’dó-m’?	Bô podê j’dá-m’?	Bô podê j’dé-m’?	Can you help me?
Spiâ lí!	Spía li!	Spiâ li!	Spiá li!	Spiá li!	Look at here!
Ê’ cantâ.	Ê’ cánta.	Êl cantâ.	Êl cantá.	Êl cantá.	He/she sang.
Bú tâ cantâ.	Bú tâ cánta.	Bô tâ cantâ.	Bô tâ cantá.	Bô tâ cantá.	You sing.
M’ stâ cantâ.	M’ sâ tâ cánta.	M’ tâ tâ cantâ.	M’ tí tâ cantá.	M’ tí tâ cantá.	I am singing.
Screbê	Scrêbi	Screbê	Screvê	Screvê	To write
Gossím	Góssi	Grinhassím	Grinhassím	Grinhessím	Now
Pôrcu	Pôrcu	Pôrcu	Tchúc’	Tchúc’	Pig
Conxê	Cônxi	Conxê	Conxê	Conxê	To know
Dixâ	Dêxa	D’xâ	D’xá	D’xá	To leave
Dixâ-m’ quétu!	Dexâ-m’ quétu!	D’xó-m’ quêt’!	D’xá-m’ quêt’!	D’xé-m’ quêt’!	Leave me alone!
Dôci	Dóxi	Dôç’	Dôç’	Dôç’	Sweet
Papiâ	Pâpia	Papiâ	Falá	Falá	To speak
Cúrpa	Cúlpa	Cúlpa	Cúlpa	Cúlpa	Fault
Nhôs amígu	Nhôs amígu	B’sôt’ amígu	B’sôt’ amíg’	B’sôt’ emíg’	Your (plural) friend
Scúru	Sucúru	Scúr’	Scúr’	Scúr’	Dark
Cárru	Cáru	Córr’	Córr’	Córr’	Car
Lébi	Lébi	Lêb’	Lêv’	Lêv’	Light (Weight)