Native speakers 200 (1999) Glottolog prin1242 | Ethnicity 1,560 (1999) ISO 639-3 pre | |
Language family Portuguese-based creoleLower GuineaPrincipense Creole |
Principense Creole, called lunguyê ("language of the island") 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 (there are two Portuguese-based creoles on São Tomé, Angolar and São Tomense), according to a 1989 study. Today it is mostly spoken by some elderly women (the Ethnologue entry lists 200 native speakers); most of the island's community speaks noncreolized Portuguese; some also speak 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 based on Portuguese with substrates of Bantu and Kwa.
References
Principense Creole Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA