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Creole in Cape Verde

Language, identity and power

University of Kurdistan-Hawler, Iraq, carterkatherine{at}fastmail.fm

Judy Aulette

University of North Carolina, USA, jraulett{at}uncc.edu

Cape Verde is an island country 450 kilometers off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. Creole is the common language throughout Cape Verde but Portuguese is the official language, the language of its colonizer. Through surveys and interviews, this article reveals the power inequalities that exist among Cape Verdeans because of language use. We particularly explore the perceptions of the significance of speaking Creole in order to fully understand the culture of Cape Verde. As a way to investigate the importance of Creole to Cape Verdean identity, we focus on the use of Creole proverbs and sayings by the women in Cape Verde as they express solidarity, provide support, and show criticism of power structures in the society. Through their use of Creole, Cape Verdeans are preserving their history and local identity as different from their colonizers as well as using the language and the proverbs as ways to challenge the dominant contemporary power structures.

Key Words: African women • language • power • identity • Cape Verde • Creole • proverbs

Ethnography, Vol. 10, No. 2, 213-236 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1466138108099590


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