Last Updated: 2020-07-28
COMPROMISED: possible conflation between /a/ and /ɐ/, /e/ and /ɛ/, and /ɾ/ and /ʀ/
Background
Language Family: Creole / Portuguese based
- Cape Verdean Creole, known by native speakers as Kriolu, Kriol, or Kabuverdianu, is a Portuguese-based creole spoken in Cape Verde, an island country west of Africa.
Phonology
Consonants
- The phonemic status of /j/ and /w/ is somewhat in question:
- Swolkien (2013) treats [j] and [w] as allophones of /i/ and /u/ (and sometimes /o/), respectively (p. 23). They surface when adjacent to other vowels. Swolkien and Cobbinah (2019), on the other hand, do include them (p. 182). Since two different varieties of the language are analyzed here (São Vicente in Swolkien 2013 and Santo Antão in Swolkien and Cobbinah (2019)), it may very well be the case that /j/ and /w/ are phonemic in one variety but not in the other. Regardless, I have chosen to treat them as allophones and not include them below.
- There is also some uncertainty regarding the flaps/trills of the language:
- Swolkien (2012) includes the alveolar flap /ɾ/ and uvular trill /ʀ/, both represented orthographically by ⟨r⟩ (p. 33). The same author, discussing the same variety (São Vicente), however, identifies the alveolar trill /r/ as opposed to the uvular trill (Swolkien 2013, 23).
- Also in reference to the São Vicente variety, Monteiro (2015) argues for the uvular fricative /ʁ/ as opposed to the trill.
- Although based on a different variety (Santo Antão), Swolkien and Cobbinah (2019) agree with the attestation of the alveolar flap and uvular trill; however, they are noted to be orthographically distinct (/ɾ/ = ⟨r⟩, /ʀ/ = ⟨rr⟩) (p. 182).
- I have opted to include the alveolar flap and the uvular trill in the inventory below.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Uvular
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Stops
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p b
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t d
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k ɡ
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Affricates
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tʃ dʒ
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Fricatives
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f v
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s z
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ʃ ʒ
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Nasals
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m
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n
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ɲ
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Trills
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ʀ
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Flaps
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ɾ
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Approximants
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l
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ʎ
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Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
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Vowels
- Cape Verdean Creole has eight oral vowels, each with a nasal counterpart (Swolkien 2012, 29–31). Nasal vowels are represented by a following ⟨n⟩.
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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High-mid
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e
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o
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Low-mid
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ɛ
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ɐ
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ɔ
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- Cape Verdean Creole is written with ALUPEC, the Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing) (Coonan 2007, 40). Spanish based conventions may also be used (e.g. ⟨c⟩ or ⟨q⟩ for /k/), but I have opted to focus on ALUPEC below.
- To differentiate from nasal vowels, oral vowel-/n/ sequences are indicated by a following ⟨nn⟩ (Swolkien and Cobbinah 2019, 181).
- e.g. ⟨an⟩ = /ã/, ⟨ann⟩ = /an/
- /ɾ/ and /ʀ/ are ultimately conflated, as it is unclear how they are orthographically represented (see Consonants above for explanation). Although there is some probability that ⟨r⟩ represents both /ɾ/ and /ʀ/, I have chosen to transcribe ⟨r⟩ to /ɾ/ and ⟨rr⟩ to /ʀ/.
- There is also possible conflation between /a/ and /ɐ/ and between /e/ and /ɛ/, especially in syllables that don’t have canonical stress, as the graphemes for /ɐ/ and /ɛ/ (⟨â⟩ and ⟨é⟩, respectively) in these positions are said not to be fully attested (Swolkien and Cobbinah 2019, 181). Both graphemes, however, are present in the Crúbadán corpus, but there is still a possibility for conflation.
- Due to the uncertainty around the transcription of the flap/trill and some vowels, the language is deemed compromised.
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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a
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/a/; /ɐ/
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/a/: default in ruleset
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á
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/a/
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â
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/ɐ/
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b
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/b/
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d
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/d/
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e
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/e/; /ɛ/
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/e/: default in ruleset
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é
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/ɛ/
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ê
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/e/
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f
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/f/
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g
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/ɡ/
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i
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/i/
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í
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/i/
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j
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/ʒ/
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k
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/k/
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l
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/l/
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n/
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o
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/o/
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ó
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/ɔ/
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ô
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/o/
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p
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/p/
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r
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/ɾ/; /ʀ/
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/ɾ/: default in ruleset
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s
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/s/
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t
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/t/
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u
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/u/
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ú
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/u/
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v
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/v/
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x
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/ʃ/
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z
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/z/
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Digraph
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dj
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/ɟ/
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lh
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/ʎ/
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nh
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/ɲ/
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rr
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/ʀ/
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tx
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/c/
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Misc. Rules
- /v/ is frequently realized as [β], especially when preceding /ɔ/ (Neves 2009, 6).
- In the Santo Antão variety, /ʃ/ becomes voiced preceding stops or vowels (ibid.). In some cases, it may also be realized as [s].
- In unstressed word-final positions, vowels are neutralized to either [i], [ɐ], or [u] (Lang 2013).
References
Lang, Jürgen. 2013. “Cape Verdean Creole of Santiago.” In The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages, edited by Susanne Maria Michaelis, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath, and Magnus Huber. Vols. 2: Portuguese-based, Spanish-based, and French-based Languages. Oxford University Press. https://apics-online.info/surveys/30.
Neves, Ana. 2009. “Young Learners and Phonological Variation in the Portuguese Mesolect of Cape Verde.” Linguistica Online, December.
Swolkien, Dominika. 2012. “The Cape Verdean Creole of São Vicente: Its Genesis and Structure.” Bibliographical record, Coimbra: University of Coimbra; University of Coimbra.
———. 2013. “Cape Verdean Creole of São Vicente.” In Portuguese-Based, Spanish-Based, and French-Based Languages, edited by Susanne Maria Michaelis, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath, and Magnus Huber, 2:21–30. Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swolkien, Dominika, and Alexander Cobbinah. 2019. “Cape Verdean Creole - Santo Antão: What We Know so Far.” Journal of Ibero-Romance Creoles.