Kriolu Ka Ten Tadju - Cape Verdean Language becoming official is inevitable

By Agnelo Montrond

(http://www.caboverdeonline.com/) Nos Jornal newspaper (USA) Posted: December 30, 2005

December 30, 2005 - An end of the fall semester dinner event was organized, on Thursday, December 22, at the Sodade restaurant in Brockton, where some distinguished guests, including college professors, educators, businessmen, college students, and many more participants, gathered together to celebrate with the students who have successfully completed the Cape Verdean Creole I course at Massasoit Community College. This course, which will be offered again in the spring semester, is intended for anyone who wants to initiate learning the Cape Verdean Language, namely all those who, on a daily basis, interact with the Cape Verdeans, in regards to education, law, health, business, etc. The dinner event was a success being that it was a unique and appropriate opportunity for them to socialize with native speakers and natural ambassadors of our culture.

In addition, they had an occasion to have a real taste of the Cape Verdean typical food, music and more, in a very supportive, friendly and nurturing atmosphere. José Luis Santos Spencer and Tony Lopes, two renowned Cape Verdean musicians provided an excellent musical background to the audience.

To complete the (almost salted) trio band, the singer Pedro Silva, brother of the deceased Ildo De Souza Silva Lobo, according to whom Ildo is forever the best singer of Mornas and Koladeras, sang and enchanted the audience with a voice resembling that of his brother, especially when he echoed the lyrics: Kuzas di korason, na altu kutelu sinbron dja ka ten, biografia di un kriol and many more. We need to urge Pedro Silva to continue the wonderful work that his deceased brother initiated for he is as much as a talented singer of traditional mornas and koladeras. As you may already know, since summer session I of the year 2002, Massasoit Community College has been offering Capeverdean Creole I course. It is a 3 credit course that offers residents of Greater Brockton the opportunity to initiate the development of their ability to speak, understand, read, and write Cape Verdean Creole with special emphasis on the Santiago Island dialectal variation. Students will learn the fundamentals of grammar, basic vocabulary, and correct pronunciation. Various aspects of Cape Verdean culture will be discussed. Perhaps due to the fact that Cape Verdean language is the language of Brockton's fastest growing population, this course has been of interest to school, business and community personnel in general. We must acknowledge that Massasoit has been a great partner of Cape Verde in promoting a greater visibility of the Cape Verdean language and valuing our native tongue. Massasoit Community College administration in general, President Charles Wall in particular, who has formally approved an educational tour to Cape Verde over the summer, Dean Peter Jonhston who oversees the department, professor Cristina Ajemian, ESL coordinator whose heart is half Portuguese and half Capeverdean, Joia Sousa, Admissions Counselor, who is working tirelessly to make our tentative educational tour a reality, Jacqueline Jones, Multicultural Outreach Coordinator/Admissions Counselor/Adjunct Professor of English, who was the keynote speaker for the event, as well as professor Susan Hall who is the Head of the Modern Languages Department, deserve more than one million thumbs up from all Cape Verdeans: more than four hundred thousand thumbs up from those living in the islands plus more than six hundred thousand thumbs up from all those living in the diaspora (including more than thirty thousand thumbs up from those residing in the Greater Brockton Area).

The Cape Verdean language must be proudly, boldly and continually cultivated, studied, and developed because it is the soul of our culture. In fact, the essence of capeverdianity is our native tongue. Nothing else is our linguistic identity but Creole. Cape Verdeans feel morna, koladera, funaná, and batuku because those songs are sung in the sole language that their souls can decode. As Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, said, "if you talk to a man in a language that he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Can you imagine batuku performed in Portuguese? It would be meaningless and it would fail to convey that genuine cultural message contained in the authentic batuku.

Cape Verdean Language has resisted, over centuries, to powerful colonial attempts to banish it from Capeverdean souls. Its use was restricted, controlled, marginalized, and disdained, but people of Cape Verde did not give up. They continued speaking Creole because the linguistic identity of Cape Verdean souls was more powerful than any colonial repressive attitude towards their de facto spiritual language. Cape Verde independence on July 5th, 1975 is a significant historical mark in Cape Verdeans quest towards the affirmation of our own identity and sovereignty. The independence ended the colonial ruling, but yet our compatriots are still living in a neocolonial or pseudocolonial linguistic era.

It is unbelievable but it is true: Cape Verdean Creole which had bravely resisted is now facing resistance in several ways. For instance, the unification of the orthography of the Cape Verdean language has been a victim of an unprecedented resistance. Believe it or not, but many capeverdeans (including some intellectuals, and well educated ones) are still embedded in the colonial inertia denying Cape Verdean language the dignity that it merits. To me, that is even more than resistance. It is a deliberate opposition.

As if more resistance was needed, our legal and administrative systems as well as our mass media (especially here, in the United States) are still observing the Portuguese only language policy, ignoring the Cape Verdean language potential to be aside Portuguese which is a language that for historical, cultural among other reasons is also another language which is vital for us.

Resistance is also isolated groups of Cape Verdeans trying to exclude each other in the endeavor of promoting and valuing the Cape Verdean language. Indeed, all of us united around that same goal, we are not enough to face such a strong resistance. Solidarity, cooperation, not competition among us, will enable us to provide the Cape Verdean Language the status that it deserves.

But Kriolu ka ten tadju, meaning there is no turning back. If the Cape Verdean constitution must be amended to reflect the so needed linguistic democracy in the islands, it should be done without any delay. We cannot understand how can we promote and value our cultural heritage by postponing the linguistic development of our native language.

They may attempt to do so but the people of Cape Verde will continue speaking Creole, singing morna in Creole, singing koladera in Creole, singing funaná in Creole, and Cape Verdean politicians will continue doing campaign in Creole.

In the United States of America, Cape Verdean bilingual teachers will continue using Capeverdean Creole as an instructional tool to help the students in their transitional period. Institutions of higher education in the United States, namely Massasoit Community College will continue offering courses in Cape Verdean language. We will continue making efforts to denounce the situation because we strongly believe that Cape Verdean Language becoming official is inevitable. It can happen, it will happen, it is about to happen.

Agnelo A. Montrond