Principense
lunguyê
Principense is an Indo-European language spoken in São Tomé & Príncipe, by about 100 people. Glottolog rates it nearly extinct.
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Principense Creole (endonym: Lunguyê) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe, specifically the island of Príncipe. There are two Portuguese creoles on the island of São Tomé, Angolar and Forro. Today, younger generations of São Toméans are not likely to speak Principense, which has led to its fast decline and moribund status. It is mostly spoken by the elderly (Ethnologue gives a figure of approximately 200 native speakers in total), while most of the island's community speaks noncreole Portuguese; some also speak another, closely related creole, Forro.
Principense presents many similarities with the Forro on São Tomé and may be regarded as a Forro dialect. Like Forro, it is a creole language heavily lexified by Portuguese with substrates of Bantu and Kwa.
From Wikipedia · Principense Creole · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Principense
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| woman | mye | |
| person | nige* | |
| name | nomi* | |
| eye | uwe* | |
| ear | urya* | |
| nose | iriSi* | |
| tooth | idiTi* | |
| hand | uma* | |
| blood | isEgi* | |
| bone | osu* | |
| knee | uze* | |
| breast | mama* | |
| water | awa | |
| fire | ufogo* | |
| sun | isolu* | |
| star | tEla* | |
| stone | pEda* | |
| mountain | okye* | |
| tree | alvure* | |
| leaf | fya* | |
| night | unoTi* | |
| dog | kaso* | |
| fish | peSi* | |
| louse | idu* | |
| two | dosu* | |
| I | ami* | |
| we | no* | |
| drink | bebe* | |
| hear | tede* | |
| die | mwe* |
* in the simplified ASJP transcription
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
- SãotomenseIndo-European58% alike
- AngolarIndo-European41% alike
- Malacca-Batavia Portuguese CreoleIndo-European36% alike
- PortugueseIndo-European36% alike
- Daman-Diu PortugueseIndo-European32% alike
- PapiamentoIndo-European31% alike
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · prin1242 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · pre