São Nicolau Creole

Characteristics

• The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting tâ tâ before the verbs: tâ + tâ + V.
• In the verbs that end by ~a, that sound is represented by when the verb is conjugated with the first person of the singular pronoun. Ex.: panhó-m’ instead of panhâ-m’ “to catch me”, levó-m’ instead of levâ-m’ “to take me”, coçó-m’ instead of coçâ-m’ “to scratch me”.
• The sounds and are pronounced by some speakers as and when they are before palatal vowels. Ex.: f’djêra instead of f’guêra “fig tree”, patchê instead of paquê “because”, Pr’djíça instead of Pr’guiíça “Preguiça”, tchím instead of quêm “who”.
• The sound is partially represented by. Ex. jantâ instead of djantâ “to dine”, jôg’ instead of djôgu “game”, but in words like djâ “already”, Djõ “John” the sound remains.
• The unstressed final vowel does not disappear when it follows the sounds or. Ex.: tabácu instead of tabóc’ “tobacco”, frángu instead of fróng’ “chicken”.

  Vocabulary

Grammar

Phonology

Alphabet