Principense Creole


Principense Creole is a minority Portuguese-based creole language spoken in a community of some four thousand people in São Tomé and Príncipe, specifically on the island of Príncipe. It is also called by its native speakers as lunguyê creole. There are two Portuguese-based creoles on the island of São Tomé, Angolar Creole and Forro Creole, according to a 1989 study. 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, while most of the island's community speaks noncreolized Portuguese; some also speak another, closely related creole language, Forro Creole.
Principense Creole presents many similarities with the Forro Creole on São Tomé and may be regarded as a Forro dialect. Like Forro, it is a creole language based on Portuguese with substrates of Bantu and Kwa.