Forro language
Encyclopedia
Forro is a 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...

-based 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...

 spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...

.

The name means "freed slave" in Portuguese. The language is also called crioulo santomense. It should not be confused with the dialect of Portuguese
São Tomean Portuguese
São Tomean Portuguese is a dialect of Portuguese spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe....

 spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe.

History

São Tomé is an island of the Gulf of Guinea, discovered by the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 in the 15th century. It was uninhabited at the time, but Portuguese settlers used the island as a center of the slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 trade, and there was a need for slaves in the island. Since both parties needed to communicate, a pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...

 was formed. The substrate languages were from the Bantu and Kwa groups. This pidgin then became fixed (creolized
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 became the mother language of children born from Portuguese men and African women slaves. (Mixed marriages were then encouraged by the Portuguese Crown, for the sake of settlement.)

Later because of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 pressure to gain the island, many Portuguese settlers left. It must be remembered that children of Portuguese and black women were, eventually, not considered as African or slaves, some were considered as full right Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 citizens. Those mixed-raced that did not have the status of Portuguese, darker skin, often gained a "forro" declaration; because their Portuguese fathers did not want to enslave their children. Thus they gained the name "forro". The São tomean Creole is most known as "Forro", language of the freed slaves or Crioulo Santomense, not to confuse Crioulo Santomense with Santomense (a variety and dialect of Portuguese in São Tomé and Príncipe). Portuguese is the main language for children until their early 20's, when they relearn Forro. The rich São Tomean culture also preserves a unique mixture of Portuguese and African cultures.

Classification and related languages

Forro is 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...

 based on 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...

, the superstrate language. The substrate languages were from the Bantu and Kwa groups. It is most similar to Principense
Principense language
The Principense language, called lunguyê by its speakers, is a Portuguese creole spoken in a community of some four thousand people in São Tomé and Príncipe, specifically on the island of Príncipe , according to a 1989 study...

, Angolar
Angolar language
Angolar, also Ngola is a minority language of São Tomé and Príncipe, spoken in the southernmost towns of São Tomé Island and sparsely along the coast. It is a creole language, based partially on Portuguese with a heavy substrate of a dialect of Kimbundu Angolar, also Ngola (Lungua N'golá) is a...

, and Annobonese
Annobonese language
The Annobonese language, known to its speakers as Fá d'Ambô or Fa d'Ambu, is spoken by 2,500 in the Annobon and Bioko Islands off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, mostly by people of mixed African, Spanish, and Portuguese descent....

.

Geographic distribution

Forro is spoken mainly in São Tomé Island
São Tomé Island
São Tomé Island, at , is the largest island of São Tomé and Príncipe and is home in 2009 to about 157,000 or 96% of the nation's population. This island and smaller nearby islets make up São Tomé Province, which is divided into six districts. The main island is located 2 km north of the...

 (most of it); there are some speakers in Principe Island.

Dialects

Due to their great similarity, Principe Island's Principense and Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...

's Annobonese
Annobonese language
The Annobonese language, known to its speakers as Fá d'Ambô or Fa d'Ambu, is spoken by 2,500 in the Annobon and Bioko Islands off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, mostly by people of mixed African, Spanish, and Portuguese descent....

 may be regarded as dialects of Forro.

Vocabulary

Although the São Tomean Creole had (and still has) a restricted contact with Portuguese (seen as a prestigious language), it did preserve a larger number of the substrate languages elements, more than the Creoles of Cape Verde, that preserve fewer traces. Roughly 93% of São Tomean Creole lexicon is from Portuguese and 7% of African origin.

Although 95% of São Tomeans speak 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...

; the islands' national language is Forro (spoken by 85%). Even though it does not have the prestige of the Portuguese language on the islands, it is evident that continuous contact with the large number Portuguese speakers did not destroy Forro, many relearn Forro when they become adults. The rich São Tomean culture also preserves a unique mixture of Portuguese and African cultures.

Writing system

There is no orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

, but the São Tomean government is already studying one, that is now being implemented.

Examples

Hello: Seja lovadu! (proposed: sejalovadu); From Port.
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...

seja louvado
Good Morning: Bom dja ô (proposed: Bondja o); From Port. Bom dia
Good Afternoon: Bos tadji ô (proposed: Boxtadji o); From Port. Boas tardes or Boa tarde
Good Evening: Boj notxi ô (proposed: Bojnotxi o); From Port. Boas noites or Boa noite
What's your name: Que nomi bo e? (proposed: Ke nomi bo e?); From Port. Que nome você tem?
My name's Pedro: Nomi mu sa Pedro; Possibly from Port. Nome meu é Pedro (somewhat incorrect Portuguese; only used in poetry).

Not everything is from Portuguese,
I live in Neves (São Tomean City): Nga-ta Tlaxa. (-ta is from "esta" and Tlaxa is from "praça")

External links

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