Portuguese-based creole languages

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Portuguese Creole is a creole language based on the Portuguese language.

The Portuguese-based Creoles are classified by geographical order and by substrate language (the language that contacted with Portuguese):

  • Portuguese-African Creoles. It includes the High-Guinean and Golf of Guinea Creoles.
  • Portuguese-Asian Creoles. These Creoles are divided into Portuguese-Indian, Portuguese-Malay and Portuguese-Chinese.
  • Portuguese-American Creoles. Spoken in the Antilles and Suriname.

Today, some people believe that in Angola and Mozambique new creoles are being created. Possibly in the past there were Portuguese Creoles in Brazil, but the Portuguese population was so large that they were rapidly extinct. Almost half of Brazilians are of Portuguese origin. Anything in Brazilian Portuguese dialects indicate any similarity with a creolization, they are, in fact, continuous dialects from those of Portugal. Even if in some African influenced Brazilian religions there are songs in an ancient Portuguese creole.

Origins

Portugal in the Age of Discovery and colonization created a linguistic contact with native languages of the discovered lands and thus pidgins were formed. Until the 18th century, these Portuguese pidgins were used as Lingua Franca in Asia and Africa.

Later, the Portuguese pidgins were expanded grammatically and lexically, as it became a native language. Today, these languages are known Portuguese Creoles. The Portuguese Creoles or Portuguese-based Creoles are the ones that have almost all lexical content bases on Portuguese, while grammatically they are very different.

According to the monogenetic theory of pidgins advanced by Hugo Schuchardt, most of the pidgins and creoles of European base in the world derived from a version of Lingua Franca relexified by the Portuguese. This "broken Portuguese" would be used by European sailors whenever they met new peoples. Items like the preposition na would be marks of this common origin.

Portuguese-African Creoles

Spoken in Africa, the Guinean Creoles, are divided by those of High-Guinea, spoken in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia. These creoles are the most ancient Portuguese Creoles. There is also the Creoles of Gulf of Guinea, spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea.

Kriol

The Creoles of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal are known as Kriol or Kriulo (or Crioulo da Guiné); it is originated from the Kriol that was spoken mainly in the Portuguese Praças (Eng. Plazas) from Senegal to Sierra Leone, such as, of Cacheu, Ziguinchor and Geba, in early 16th century. The Creole of Guinea is among the first Portuguese Creoles that came to exist. Portuguese merchants and settlers almost immediately started to mix with locals, what became a rule among Portuguese explorers and the main reason for the large number of Portuguese Creoles throughout the world. This mixed race was called Lançados (Eng. launched) and contributed for the spread of the Portuguese language by a pidgin. There are three main dialects of this Creole in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal: Creole of Bissau and Bolama, Creole of Batafa and Creole of Cacheu-Ziguinchor. The Creole have as substrate language the language of the local peoples: Mandingas, Manjacos, Pepéis and others, but most of the lexicon (marginally 80%) comes from Portuguese.

The Creole is used as lingua franca in Guinea-Bissau it is spoken by 60% of the population. Portuguese itself is spoken by 12-14%. 159,000 first language speakers in Guinea-Bissau (1996) and more that 0,6 million that use it as second language.

The dialect of Casamance (Ziguinchor), similar to the one of Cacheu (Guinea-Bissau) has some influence of French; Fijus di Terra (Port. Filhos da Terra, Eng. Land’s Children) and Fijus di Fidalgu (Port. Filhos de Fidalgo, Eng. Noble’s Children) speak it, all of them are known, locally, as Portuguis because they adopt European habits, are catholics and speak a Portuguese Creole. In fact, they are descendant of Portuguese men with African women. Most of them still have Portuguese surnames, such as da Silva, Carvalho or Fonseca. Ziguinchor was, in fact, formed by Portugal in 1645, it name derives from the Portuguese, Cheguei e choram (Eng. I came and they cry), because the native assumed they came to enslave them. But the Portuguese implemented a plaza for trade and started to intermarriage with African women. The former Kingdom of Casamance made a friendship alliance with the Portuguese and the local king adopted European lifestyle and in his court there were Portuguese. In 1899, the city was ceded to France and in the middle of the 20th century, the language spread to the surrounding area. After Senegal’s independence from France, the Creole people were seen as friends of the French, and a discrimination by the more numerous northern Wolof speaking community started, what made Casamance struggled for independence since 1982. Today, although they continue to struggle, the movement is more quiet, and learning Portuguese became popular in Senegal, because they see it has a link to their past. In Senegal, the Creole is the first language of at least 46,500 people (1998), it is mainly spoken in Ziguinchor but also there are speakers other Casamance cities and in The Gambia.

external link: Crioulo da Guiné: Declaraçom Universal di Diritu di Omis Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kriol

Crioulo (Creoles of Cape Verde)

Each inhabited island of Cape Verde has its own creole (crioulo). The greatest differences are between the creole of Santiago and Santo Antão.

external link: Declaraçon di mundo intêro di Dréto di tudo homi co tudo mudjer Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kriolu of Santiago (Badiu).

Angolar

Língua Angolar (or Lungua N`golá) is mainly spoken in south of the São Tomé Island (main island of São Tomé and Príncipe) and by some in the coast of the same island by Angolar fishermen. The Creole uses, as substrate, a dialect of Umbundo, a Bantu language from inland Angola, but is extensively influenced by Portuguese, mainly in lexicon level. This is not a major São Tomean Creole.

Fá d'Ambô

The Creole of the island of Ano Bom (Equatorial Guinea) acknowledged as Falar de Ano Bom (Fá d’ambô or even Fla d’Ambu) is analogous to Forro, spoken by 9,000 people in Ano Bom and Fernando Póo Islands. In fact, Fá d'Ambô is derived from Forro as it shares the same structure (82% of lexicon). In the 15th century, the island was uninhabited and discovered by Portugal but, by the 18th century, Portugal exchanged it and some other territories in Africa for Uruguay with Spain. Spain wanted to get territory in Africa, and Portugal wanted to enlarge even more the territory that they saw as the “New Portugal” (Brazil). Nevertheless, the populace of Ano Bom was against the shift and was hostile towards Spaniards. This with the isolation towards mainland Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe is just 400 km from the island as assured the maintenance of its identity.

Fá d’ambô has gained some words of Spanish origin (10% of lexicon), but some words are dubious in origin because Spanish and Portuguese are also based on the same language (Spoken Latin or Vulgar Latin).

see also: History of Equatorial Guinea

external link: Declaraçón Universal di Dirêtu di Hómé Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Forro (co-dialect of Fá d'Ambô)

Forro

São Tomé is an island of the Gulf of Guinea revealed in the 15th century by the Portuguese, it was uninhabited, but it gain importance, as a slave distributor, also there was a need for slaves in the island. Since both parties needed to communicate, a pidgin was formed. The substrate languages were from the Bantu and Kwa groups. By the arrival of several settlers from Portugal, there was a need for women and the Portuguese early started to have affairs with African women that became free. This was not only a cultural matter, however the Portuguese kings for the sake of settlement also supported it. But the continuous flux of slave, shaped the Portuguese pidgin to become a stable, systematic and structured native language. Later because of the Dutch and French pressure to gain the island, many Portuguese settlers left. It is not much to remember that children of Portuguese with black women were, eventually, not considered as African or slaves, some were considered as full right Portuguese citizens.

Although the São Tomean Creole had (and still has) a restricted contact with Portuguese (seen as a prestigious language), it did preserve a larger number of the substrate languages elements, more than the Creoles of Cape Verde, that preserve fewer traces. Roughly 93% of São Tomean Creole lexicon is from Portuguese and 7% of African origin. The São tomean Creole is most known as Forro (language of the freed slaves or Crioulo Santomense) forro is a declaration of freedom of a specific slave, not to confuse Crioulo Santomense with Santomense (a variety and dialect of Portuguese in São Tomé and Príncipe). Although 95% of São Tomeans speaks Portuguese; the islands' Lingua Franca is Forro (spoken by 85%), as it is the vehicle of communication that the different languages (Portuguese, Forro, Linguyê and Angolar) most understand. Even though it hasn’t the prestige of Portuguese language in the islands, it is evident that the contact with the large number (and continuous) of Portuguese speakers did not destroyed Forro, many relearn Forro when they become adults. The São Tomean rich culture also preserve an unique mixture of Portuguese and African cultures.

Examples of Forro

note: There is no writing system for Forro, but some entusiastics have already proposed one. In the article, we will use it as also from the Portuguese form for a better understanding of the origin of the words, Portuguese spelling and also it is a possible writing system (when diverging).

Hello: Seja lovadu! (proposed: sejalovadu); From Port. seja louvado (the sound is the same as Port. Estremenho and Carioca dialects)
Good Morning: Bom dja ô (proposed: Bondja o); From Port. Bom dia
Good Afternoon: Bos tadji ô (proposed: Boxtadji o); From Port. Boas tardes or Boa tarde
Good Evening: Boj notxi ô (proposed: Bojnotxi o); From Port. Boas noites or Boa noite
What's your name: Que nomi bo e? (proposed: Ke nomi bo e?); From Port. Que nome você tem?
My name's Pedro: Nomi mu sa Pedro; Possibly from Port. Nome meu é Pedro (somewhat incorrect Portuguese; only used in poetry).

Not everything is from Portuguese,

I live in Neves (São Tomean City): Nga-ta Tlaxa.

external link: Declaraçón Universal di Dirêtu di Hómé Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Forro

Lunguyê

Lunguyê is from Portuguese and means Language of the Island (Port. Língua da Ilha), it is sometimes called as Principense. Lunguyê presents many similarities with Forro, the substrate language are the same (Bantu and Kwa). Lunguyê Creole can be seen as a dialect of Forro. This specific Creole is only spoken in Principe Island in São Tomé and Príncipe.

Portuguese-Asian Creoles

In Asia, there are three groups of Portuguese-Creoles: The "Portuguese-Indian Creoles" that are spoken in India and Sri Lanka. The "Portuguese-Malay Creoles" spoken in Malaysia, Singapore and formerly in Indonesia and East Timor. And, the "Portuguese-Chinese Creole", known as Macaista, spoken in Macao and formely in Hong-Kong.

Burgher

The interaction of the Portuguese and the Sri Lankans let to the creation of a Creole language, the Burgher (or Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole), which was Lingua Franca in the Island for 350 years (From 16th to mid-19th century). The interaction also created a Creole people, the Mestiços or Casados (eng. Married). The Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka was extended to non-urban areas, there is much of Portuguese heritage in Sri Lankan society, culture and administration. Portuguese origin lexicon can be found in the Sinhala language (at least 1,000 words), but there can be more, no sufficient study has been made.

When the Dutch took over Coastal Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), the Portuguese descendants took refuge in the central hills of Kandyan Kingdom under Singhalese rule.

After a while, the Dutch and Portuguese descendants started intermarriages. Thought Dutch rule banned Portuguese; the Portuguese speaking community was so large and natural that even the Dutch started to speak Portuguese. In the 18th century, the Eurasian community (a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, Singhalese and Tamil) started to grow and they spoke Portuguese or Dutch.


Later, the Burgher community developed into two different communities: the Dutch Burghers and the Portuguese Burghers. The Portuguese Burghers were more mixed and were Catholics and spoke Portuguese Creole. Despite their socio-economic disadvantage, the Burgher maintained their Portuguese cultural identity. In Batticaloa, the Catholic Burgher Union reinforced this. The Portuguese Creole continued to be used amongst the Dutch Burghers families as the informal language until the end of the 19th century.

In today's Sri Lanka, the Creole is limited to the spoken form. Most of the Speakers are the Burghers in the Eastern province (Batticaloa and Trincomalee). But there are also the Kaffirs (people of African origin) in the Northwestern province (Puttalam). The Portuguese, Dutch and British brought the Kaffirs to Sri Lanka, for labour purposes. They have assumed Portuguese culture and religion; there was intermarriage between them and the Portuguese Burgher.

At the 1981 Census, the Burghers (Dutch and Portuguese) were almost 40,000 (0,3% of the Population of Sri Lanka). But, the Portuguese Creole is losing ground as a spoken language. Burgher is now only used at home and several can’t speak well the Creole, it is nearly extinct. Many Burghers and Kaffirs emigrated to other countries. There are still 100 families in Batticaloa and Trincomalee and 80 Kaffir families in Puttalam that still speak the Portuguese Creole; they lost contact with Portugal since 1656. Burgher as syntax and phonology similar to Tamil.

external link: The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka

Crioulo de Diu

The Crioulo de Diu of Diu, Daman and Diu, India is near extinction because of Gujarati, largely spoken, and because schools obliges the study of this language and does not teach Portuguese or its Creole. Only uninstructed elderly speaks it at home. Meanwhile, younger people restarted to use Portuguese words in their vocabulary. The death of Crioulo de Diu is eminent; in the past there was a fluorescent community of Portuguese-Indians that spoke it.

Crioulo de Vaipim

Língua da Casa

Daman and Korlai are now the only vivid Portuguese Creoles of India. The Creole of Daman is known as Língua da Casa (Eng., Home Language), spoken at home by a population of 2,000 or more Christians. The Creole of Daman is a descendant of the Portuguese-Indian Norteiro Creole of the Coast from Chaul, Bassaim, Bombay, Daman and Diu. Before the Indian annexation of the territory, the Creole of Daman had become more similar to standard Portuguese. The Associação Luso Indiana Damaense (Eng. Portuguese-Indian Association of Daman), to which most Catholics of Daman are members, says that there are 10-12 thousand Portuguese speakers (all Christians) in the territory of 110,000 residents. A Sunday mess is spoken in Portuguese. The Portuguese heritage in Daman is more popular and vivid than in Goa what permitted the maintenance of its Creole. Both the substrate (Gujarati) and superstrate (Portuguese) languages are still found in the territory.

Kristi

In an isolated Indian village known as Korlai in the District of Kplaba (Bombay), the Portuguese-based Creole known as Kristi is the only language of the 1,000 Christians inhabitants. Few is known about Kristi, only that is similar to Papiá Kristang of Malacca (Malaysia). The village is near the Chaul ruins, a 16th century Portuguese colonial city that was destroyed by the Marathas. The city was abandoned, left in ruins. In the middle of the forest one can see palaces, towers, convents among other ruins. Kristi was recognized because it was very different from the neighbouring languages.

Examples of Kristi

Thanks a lot: Muit'obrigad! From Port. Muito Obrigado
Me: io; From Port. eu
You (singular): vo; From Port. Você
You (plural): uzo; Port. Vocês, vós
First, Second: Primer, Sigun; From Port. Primeiro, Segundo
Everyone eat and drink a lot: tud gent cumen beben tem fart; From Port. toda a gente come e bebe com fartura

Song of Korlai:

Maldita Maria Madulena,
Maldita firmosa,
Ai, contra ma ja foi a Madulena,
Vastida de mata!

Portuguese translation:

Maldita Maria Madalena,
Maldita Formosa,
Ai, contra minha vontade foi a Madalena,
Vestida de matar!

English translation:

Cursed Maria Madalena,
Cursed Beautiful one,
Oh, against my will it was Madalena,
Dressed to Kill!

Papiá Kristang

Following the take-over of Malacca (Malaysia) in 1511, Portuguese were encouraged to marry local women. A Portuguese-based Creole was shaped and is still spoken today by more than 1,000 Christians. It is known as Papiá Kristang (Port. Papia Cristã, Eng. Christian Language) in a community known, by themselves, as Gente Kristang (Port. Gente Cristã, Eng. Christian People). Cristão is the Portuguese for Christian. Although written differently, in Portuguese, the sounds for Kristang and Cristão are exactly the same. Kristang reflects how an English speaker would write Portuguese language throw sounds. About 80 % of the older residents of the Portuguese settlement in Malacca regularly speak Kristang. There are also some speakers in today's Singapore and Kuala Lumpur because of emigration. Kristang is very close to Malay in its grammatical construction, but its vocabulary is for 95% derived from Portuguese.

Even though Portugal lost Malacca and almost all contact in 1641, the Gente Kristang maintained its traditions, religion and language almost unharmed, which is a curiosity and unique in the world; the cultural and linguistic link towards today's Portugal (especially, Minho region), is astonishing. Because of some aspects of the language and culture, the Malay Government and people still refer to the Portuguese-Malay as «Portuguese» and they are not treated as locals, even if they are a mixture between Portuguese and Malays for centuries. Needless to say that their language is not taught at school. Portuguese and Brazilian people, traveling in Asia, that discovered Kristang find it remarkable, exciting and unexpected.

Examples of Kristang

Thank You: Mutu Merseh (Port. Muito Obrigado)
How Are You?, Teng Bong? (From Port. Estás bom?)
Good Morning, Bong Pamiang (From Port. Boa Manhã)
Good Afternoon: Bong Midia (From Port. Bom Meio-dia)
Good Evening: Bong Atadi (From Port. Boa Tarde)
Good Night: Bong Anuti (From Port. Boa Noite)
Me: yo (From Port. eu)
You (singular): bos (From Port. vós)
You (plural): bolotudu (From Port. vós todos, vocês todos)
Mother: mai (From Port. mãe)
Father: pai (From Port. pai)
Wife: muleh (From Port. mulher)
Husband: maridu (From Port. marido)
Old Women: bela (From Port. velha)
Old Man: belu (From Port. velho)
Little one: Quenino or Kenino (From Port. Pequenino)
Fat: godru (From Port. gordo)
Beautiful: Bonitu (From Port. bonito)
Party: festa (From Port. festa)
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, teen: ungua, dos, tres, kuatu, singku, sez, seti, oitu, novi, des (From Port. um, dois, três, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove, dez)

Poem of Malacca:

Keng teng fortuna ficah na Malaka,
Nang kereh partih bai otru tera.
Pra ki tudu jenti teng amizadi,
Kontu partih logo ficah saudadi.
Ó Malaka, tera di San Francisku,
Nten otru tera ki yo kereh.
Ó Malaka undi teng sempri fresku,
Yo kereh ficah atih moreh.


Portuguese translation:

Quem tem fortuna fica em Malaca,
Não quer partir para outra terra.
Por aqui toda a gente tem amizade,
Quando partir logo fica a saudade.
Ó Malaca, terra de São Francisco,
Não há outra terra que eu quero.
Ó Malaca, onde tem sempre ar fresco,
Eu quero ficar até morrer.

English translation:

Who has wealth stays in Malacca,
Doesn't want to go to another land.
In here everyone has friendship,
When one leaves, stays saudade¹.
Oh Malacca, land of San Francisco,
There is no other land that I want.
Oh Malacca, where there's allways fresh air,
I want to stay where until I die.

(1) Saudade, is the Portuguese sentiment of Miss (Missing in pain and remembering). Feeling miss in translated into Portuguese as Sentir Falta.

external links:

Papia, Relijang e Tradisang, The Portuguese Eurasians in Malaysia
Malacca Portuguese Eurasian Association
Malacca Portuguese Settlement
Papia kristang, the language

Macaista Chapado

Known by the Macanese people as Macaista Chapado, but also known as Patuá or Papiá Cristám di Macau (Port. Papia Cristã de Macau, Eng. Christian language of Macau) or even Dóci Língu de Macau (Port. Doce Língua de Macau, Eng. Sweet language of Macao) is a Creole language almost extinct (spoken by few Macanese families), came to exist in Macao in 1557, brought there by the Portuguese of Malacca. Most lexicon of Macaista is from Malay and from the papiás of Malacca and Indonesia, but also from the Indian and Singhalese languages. The structure of the language is from Portuguese-Malay, but also in a manner Portuguese-Indian with Chinese syntax. Also, It has in it a big influence from the dialects of Southern Portugal.

In early 20th century, the language was spoken widely as mother tongue language well differentiated from Portuguese, but the development of the teaching of Portuguese, after 1850, created a discriolization. Macanese people also started to immigrate to Hong Kong. The language was spoken as a group language in Hong Kong, until the Japanese attacks in the Second World War, when the language started to disappear in there. In Macao, the language almost disappeared in use because the Macao's High Society and Portuguese administration saw the Creole has a peasant's Portuguese dialect. The younger generations are bringing back this Creole, because they see it has part of their culture and History. Like Língua da Casa, Macaista can be seen as a demi-Creole because of a discriolization process.

Examples of Macaista Chapado: Macaese Poem

Nhonha na jinela
Cô fula mogarim¹
Sua mâe tancarera
Seu pai canarim²

Portuguese translation:

Senhora na janela
Com flor mogarim¹
Sua Mãe Chinesa do mar
Seu pai canarim²

English translation:

Lady in the window
With a moramgim Flower¹
her's mother is Chinese from the sea
her's falter is Canarim²

(1) Flower similar to jasmin, that the Chinese and Indian women used in the head. (2) Canarim is the name given to Portuguese-Indian from Macao.

Portuguese-American Creoles

The Portuguese-American Creoles spoken in Antilles and Suriname have been influenced by other languages, Spanish and English, respectively. Yet Portuguese influence is still vast.

Papiamento

Saramacano

Descendants of fugitive slaves in former Dutch Guyana (today's Suriname) speak Saramacano. Unlike other Creoles of running slaves that are based on a blend of English, Dutch and Portuguese words, Saramacano had no English base or structure. The Creole contains large numbers of Portuguese origin words; its structure is very similar to other Portuguese Creoles, even to Portuguese-Indian ones. Saramacano was firstly classified has English-based, because people that studied the Suriname's Creoles considered they were all based on the same. But in the 19th century, English starts to be a big influence in Saramacano; in the meantime, the structure was maintained has a Portuguese-based Creole. Most Portuguese origin elements are verbs, adverbs, pronouns and every day used objects.

25,000 individuals of the Saramacano tribe and 2,000 of the Matawi tribe speak Saramacano. It is not known, why Saramacano is Portuguese-based. Some say that they already came from Western Africa with a Portuguese pidgin or their lords were Portuguese.

Extinct Portuguese Creoles

India

Until 1811, Christians even in Calcutta used Portuguese. A Portuguese Creole was still spoken in early 20th century. The Creoles of Bengal were found in places such as Balasore, Pipli, Chandernagore, Chittagong, Midnapore and Hugli.

The Creoles of the Coast of Coromandel, India (such as of Meliapor, Madrasta, Tuticorin, Cuddalore, Karikal, Pondicheri, Tranquebar, Manapar, Negapatam) were already extinct in the 19th century, the Portuguese-Indian (known locally as Topasses) shifts to English when the British conquered their lands.

Most of the Creoles of the coast of Malabar, India (Cananor, Tellicherry, Mahé, Cochin, Vaipim and Quilom) have become extinct in the 19th century. The Creole of the island of Vaipim (near Cochin) prevailed till these days, spoken by some families of the Christian community. In Cananor and Tellicherry, until the 1980s, some elder still spoke some Creole.

Most of the Norteiro Creoles (language of Christian Indo-Portuguese in Northern India) have died, such as of Baçain, Salsete, Thana, Chevai, Mahim, Tecelaria, Dadar, Parel, Cavel, Bandora-Badra, Govai, Morol, Andheri, Versova, Malvan, Manori, Mazagão and Chaul. No more than the Creoles of Daman (known as Língua da Casa), Korlai (known as Kristi) and Diu are still lively. But the Creole of Diu is in danger of extinction. The two surviving suffered drastic changes; Standard Portuguese re-influenced the Creole of Daman in the mid-20th century. And Kristi became isolated from Portuguese language and culture in 1739.

Indonesia

In early 16th century, Portuguese traders and missionaries established in the Flores island, Indonesia after the dutch attacks in Indonesia, they settled in Larantuca and Sikka. The Portuguese influence in Sikka is still vast in the language, religion and culture. While in Larantuka, people only speaks local language or Larantuka Malay. Rituals called Tuan Ma in Larantuka still use Portuguese for praying.

The Mardijkers of Batavia (Today’s Jakarta, Indonesia) are descendant of old slaves from Malacca and India, converted to Protestantism, they spoke a Portuguese Creole, also there was a local Portuguese community. Portuguese was the First language until 1750, in spite of Dutch efforts against it. After 1750, Portuguese was replaced by a kind of Malay which called Betawian Malay or Omong Betawi. It was spoken until the 19th century. All Mardijkers are now speaking Betawian Malay and Bahasa Indonesia as their daily uses. However, they still maintain old lyrics in their music called Keroncong Moresco or Keroncong Tugu.

In Tugu, village north of Jakarta, descendants of Portuguese maintained its Creole, known as Papiá (similar to Papiá Kristang), as mother-tongue until the1940s, the last speaker died in 1978.

See also Malay-based creoles

In Ambon and Ternate, in Moluccas Islands (Indonesia), Portuguese mixed with locals and created a community of Christians that spoke Portugis. They spoke it until the middle of the 20th century. When the Dutch conquered the islands, many Portuguese were imprisoned and exported as slaves to Batavia (today's Jakarta), the rest of Indonesia and to South Africa. Because the population still continue to spoke Portugis, the Dutch also started to speak it for communication with locals. Then, gradually replaced by a creolized Malay called Ambonese Malay. The Elder still speak Dutch at home, while the younger speak the Malay.

East Timor

In East Timor a variety of Portuguese-based Creole was spoken in Bidau, known as Português de Bidau. Possibly it became extinct in the 1960s. The Creole was never widespread in the colony. Soldiers and officials from Lifau, and Portuguese settlers and Mestiços of Flores, Indonesia introduced it.

Brazil

In modern Brazil, specially in the North (vice-kingdom of Grão-Pará) but as far down as São Paulo in the then vice-kingdom of Brazil, pure Portuguese was used almost exclusively by government officials when in their official capacity, much as it happened in Macau. The common people, not only Indians but also the Portuguese that immigrated, used either Tupi-Guarani or a pidgin that came to be called (in Portuguese) a Língua Geral. This was dominant in the North until the Marquês de Pombal expelled the Jesuits, who were the major influence in accomodating the native and Portuguese elements in the colonies, and simultaneously enforced the use of Portuguese in both the vice-kingdom of Grão-Pará and the vice-kingdom of Brazil proper.

Portuguese-influenced indigenous languages

Portuguese influenced several languages, such as Japanese, Swahili or Malay. Some languages are deeply influenced by the Portuguese language, but are not classified as Creoles.

Tetum is sometimes, by some, confused to be a Portuguese Creole is, in fact, only heavily influenced by it. Tetum is a co-official language of East Timor with Portuguese.

See also

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