Country Economic Memorandum for Sao Tome and Principe - Background Note 14

Abstract Creole languages have generally not figured prominently in cross-linguistic studies of word-prosodic typology. In this paper, we present a phonological analysis of the prosodic system of Lung’Ie or Principense (ISO 639-3 code: pre), a Portuguese-lexifier creole language spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe. Lung’Ie has produced a unique result of the contact between the two different prosodic systems common in creolization: a stress-accent lexifier and tone language substrates. The language has a restrictive privative H/Ø tone system, in which the /H/ is culminative, but non-obligatory. Since rising and falling tones are contrastive on long vowels, the tone must be marked underlyingly. While it is clear that tonal indications are needed, Lung’Ie reveals two properties more expected of an accentual system: (i) there can only be one heavy syllable per word; (ii) this syllable must bear a H tone. This raises the question of whether syllables with a culminative H also have metrical prominence, i.e. stress. However, the problem with equating stress with H tone is that Lung’Ie has two kinds of nouns: those with a culminative H and those which are toneless. The nouns with culminative H are 87% of Portuguese origin, incorporated through stress-to-tone alignment, while the toneless ones are 92% of African origin. Although other creole languages have been reported with split systems of “accented” vs. fully specified tonal lexemes, and others with mixed systems of tone and stress, Lung’Ie differs from these cases in treating African origin words as toneless, a quite surprising result. We consider different analyses and conclude that Lung’Ie has a privative /H/ tone system with the single unusual stress-like property of weight-to-tone.

Download Full-text

Redefining Forro as a marker of identity: Language contact as a driving force for language maintenance among Santomeans in Portugal

Multilingua ◽

10.1515/multi-2020-0082 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Eve Bouchard

Keyword(s):

Language Contact ◽

Language Maintenance ◽

Attitudes And Beliefs ◽

Speech Community ◽

Group Code ◽

Community Members ◽

Sao Tome And Principe ◽

Semistructured Interviews ◽

Changing Attitudes

AbstractIn São Tomé and Príncipe, the language shift toward Portuguese is resulting in the endangerment of the native creoles of the island. These languages have been considered of low value in Santomean society since the mid-twentieth century. But when Santomeans are members of a diaspora, their perceptions of these languages, especially Forro, change in terms of value and identity-marking. It is possible to observe such changes among the Santomeans who learn Forro when they are abroad, who use it as an in-group code, and start to value it more. In this article, I address the role of language contact in the maintenance and expansion of Forro. I investigate the mechanisms of language maintenance by focusing on the shifts in community members’ attitudes and beliefs regarding their languages, as a result of contact. The changing attitudes and beliefs have led to a redefinition of the role of Forro in the speech community. This qualitative study is based on semistructured interviews conducted on São Tomé Island and in Portugal. Findings suggest that the change in value attributed to Forro by Santomeans as a result of contact contribute to the valorization of the language.

Download Full-text

Taxonomic revision of the Jita snakes (Lamprophiidae: Boaedon) from São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea), with the description of a new species

African Journal of Herpetology ◽

10.1080/21564574.2020.1832152 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-31

Author(s):

Luis MP Ceríaco ◽

Ana Lisette Arellano ◽

Robert C Jadin ◽

Mariana P Marques ◽

Diogo Parrinha ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Taxonomic Revision ◽

Gulf Of Guinea ◽

Sao Tome And Principe ◽

A New Species

Download Full-text

Word Prosody in Lung’Ie: One System or Two?

Probus ◽

10.1515/probus-2021-0002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Ana Lívia Agostinho ◽

Larry M. Hyman

Keyword(s):

Surprising Result ◽

African Origin ◽

Tone Language ◽

Split Systems ◽

Sao Tome And Principe ◽

Heavy Syllable ◽

Word Prosody ◽

Creole Languages ◽

Mixed Systems ◽

Unusual Stress

Abstract Creole languages have generally not figured prominently in cross-linguistic studies of word-prosodic typology. In this paper, we present a phonological analysis of the prosodic system of Lung’Ie or Principense (ISO 639-3 code: pre), a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe. Lung’Ie has produced a unique result of the contact between the two different prosodic systems common in creolization: a stress-accent lexifier and tone language substrates. The language has a restrictive privative H/Ø tone system, in which the /H/ is culminative, but non-obligatory. Since rising and falling tones are contrastive on long vowels, the tone must be marked underlyingly. While it is clear that tonal indications are needed, Lung’Ie reveals two properties more expected of an accentual system: (i) there can only be one heavy syllable per word; (ii) this syllable must bear a H tone. This raises the question of whether syllables with a culminative H also have metrical prominence, i.e. stress. However, the problem with equating stress with H tone is that Lung’Ie has two kinds of nouns: those with a culminative H and those which are toneless. The nouns with culminative H are 87% of Portuguese origin, incorporated through stress-to-tone alignment, while the toneless ones are 92% of African origin. Although other creole languages have been reported with split systems of “accented” vs. fully specified tonal lexemes, and others with mixed systems of tone and stress, Lung’Ie differs from these cases in treating African origin words as toneless, a quite surprising result. We consider different analyses and conclude that Lung’Ie has a privative /H/ tone system with the single unusual stress-like property of weight-to-tone.

Download Full-text

COUP D'ÉTAT IN SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE

African Security Review ◽

10.1080/10246029.2003.9627247 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 33-35

Author(s):

JOÃO GOMES PORTO

Keyword(s):

Coup D'etat ◽

Sao Tome And Principe

Download Full-text