English language dictionaries are common in the United States, but the effort to create dictionaries of indigenous languages is growing, including one capturing Cabo Verdean Creole.
After years of work, that dictionary is now available for purchase. Under The Radar looks back at a 2024 conversation with the local publisher behind the first English-to-Cabo Verdean Creole dictionary.
Manuel Da Luz Gonçalves, founder and owner of Mili Mila Incorporated in Roxbury and author of two Cabo Verdean Creole dictionaries, said writing down the native tongue of the Cabo Verdean people is essential to Cabo Verdeans living on the island off the coast of West Africa and those around the world.
“All of the music, all the traditions, all of the folklore, all of the literature and poetry are in [Cabo] Verdean,” Gonçalves said in January 2024. “It’s important to have dictionaries, to have grammar, to have books in Creole for the preservation of the language. Because if language is the soul of a country – of the people, of the culture – it needs to be protected.”
Abel Djassi Amado, associate professor in the department of politics and policy at Simmons University, said this also allows the language to be passed down more formally, rather than just through the oral tradition, which could lead to the possibility of expanded bilingual education.
“The introduction of dictionaries … will boost the entry of Cabo Verdean in the realm of the written language,” Amado said last year. “It becomes something that can be recorded and … in a standardized way of writing the language. If we are going to talk about bilingual education, you do need a lot of materials, you do need a lot of resources, and a dictionary is, perhaps, a key tool.”
Guests
- Manuel Da Luz Gonçalves, founder and owner of Mili Mila Incorporated, author of two Cabo Verdean Creole dictionaries
- Abel Djassi Amado, associate professor in the department of politics and policy at Simmons University
This segment originally aired on January 28, 2024.
