Portuguese-based creole languages

Portuguese creoles (Portuguese: crioulo) are creole languages which have Portuguese as their substantial lexifier. The most widely-spoken creoles influenced by Portuguese are Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Papiamento.

Origins

The Portuguese word for "creole" is crioulo, which derives from the verb criar ("to raise", "to bring up") and a suffix -oulo of debated origin. Originally the word was used to distinguish the members of any ethnic group who were born and raised in the colonies from those who were born in their homeland. In Africa it was often applied to locally born people of (wholly or partly) Portuguese descent, as opposed to those born in Portugal; whereas in Brazil it was also used to distinguish locally born black people of African descent from those who had been brought from Africa as slaves.

In time, however, this generic sense was lost, and the word crioulo or its derivatives (like "Creole" and its equivalents in other languages) became the name of several specific Upper Guinean communities and their languages: the

• Upper Guinea
  • Cape Verdean Creole: Vigorous use, Cape Verde Islands.
  • Guinea-Bissau Creole: Vigorous use. Lingua franca in Guinea-Bissau, also spoken in Casamance, Senegal. Growing number of speakers.
  • Papiamento:^[1] Official language in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Although situated in the Caribbean, it belongs to this language family. It has a growing number of speakers.
• Gulf of Guinea
  • Angolar: A heavy substrate of Kimbundu, spoken on São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
  • Annobonese: Vigorous use. Spoken on Annobón island, Equatorial Guinea
  • Forro: Forro is becoming the language of social networks.^{[citation needed]} Spoken on São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
  • Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe
    .
• Indo-Portuguese
  • Indo-Portuguese
    • Indo-Portuguese
    • Malabar, India
      .
  • Northern Indo-Portuguese
    • Daman and Diu Portuguese, spoken in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
      , India. (old decreolization)
    • Korlai Indo-Portuguese, spoken in Korlai, India
      .
• Southeast Asian
  • Macanese: Spoken in Macau and Hong Kong, China. (old decreolization)
  • Malayo-Portuguese
    • Perth, Western Australia
      .
    • Português de Bidau: extinct.

Africa

Upper Guinea

The oldest Portuguese creole are the so-called crioulos of Upper Guinea, born around the Portuguese settlements along the northwest coast of Africa. Portuguese creoles are the mother tongues of most people in

• Gambia
  .
  • Casamance Creole (Kriyol): a dialect of Guinea-Bissau creole, spoken mainly in Casamance, Senegal and The Gambia.
• Cape Verdean Creole (Kriolu, Kriol): a dialect continuum on the islands of Cape Verde.
• Papiamento (Papiamentu), spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.

Gulf of Guinea

Another group of creoles is spoken in the Gulf of Guinea, in São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea.

• Angolar (Ngola, N'góla): in coastal areas of São Tomé Island
  .
• Annobonese (Fa d'Ambu): on Annobón Island
  .
• Forro:^[2]
  in São Tomé.
• Principense (Lunguyê) (almost extinct): on Príncipe Island
  .
• Tongas Portuguese (Português dos Tongas): variety of Cape Verdean Creole spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe.^[3]

Many other Portuguese creoles probably existed in the former Portuguese feitorias in the Gulf of Guinea, but also in the Congo region.^{[citation needed]}

Portuguese pidgins

Portuguese pidgins still exist in Angola and Mozambique.^{[citation needed]}

South Asia

India