Cafundó language
Encyclopedia
Cafundó, or Cupópia, is a 'secret' language spoken in the village of Cafundó, São Paulo (Brazil
). The language is structurally similar to Portuguese
, with a large number of Bantu
words in its lexicon.
Cafundó was at first thought to be an African language, but a later study (1986) by Carlos Vogt and Peter Fry
showed that its grammatical and morphological structure are those of Portuguese, specifically the Southeast countryside (Caipira) variety; whereas its lexicon is heavily drawn from some Bantu language
. It is therefore not a creole language
, as it is sometimes considered.
n descent. They also speak Portuguese, and use Cafundó as a "secret language". A Cafundó speaker and an African-born Bantu (Angola
n or Mozambican
) speaking Portuguese and Bantu languages can understand each other, because Angolan
and Mozambican dialects also added many Bantu words.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
). The language is structurally similar to Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, with a large number of Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
words in its lexicon.
Cafundó was at first thought to be an African language, but a later study (1986) by Carlos Vogt and Peter Fry
Peter Fry
Sir Peter Derek Fry is a British Conservative Party politician.Born in High Wycombe, Fry was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and Worcester College, Oxford. He became an insurance broker and a director of the family retail clothing business...
showed that its grammatical and morphological structure are those of Portuguese, specifically the Southeast countryside (Caipira) variety; whereas its lexicon is heavily drawn from some Bantu language
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
. It is therefore not a creole language
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
, as it is sometimes considered.
Speakers
The speaker community is very small (40 people in 1978). They live in a rural area, 150km from the city of São Paulo, and are mostly of AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n descent. They also speak Portuguese, and use Cafundó as a "secret language". A Cafundó speaker and an African-born Bantu (Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
n or Mozambican
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
) speaking Portuguese and Bantu languages can understand each other, because Angolan
Angolan Portuguese
Angolan Portuguese is a variety of Portuguese used mostly in Angola where it is an official language. It is generally used in Angola by 80% of all residents, of which 60% of the inhabitants of Luanda, with around 7.5 million first-language speakers....
and Mozambican dialects also added many Bantu words.