Language Policy in Cabo Verde

This chapter critically describes the history and development of language policy in Cabo Verde. It argues that to discuss language policy in Cabo Verde implies necessarily critically examining the politics it involves. Therefore, two language political games have characterized the islands since independence. On the one hand, there is question of making the Cabo Verdean language an official language of state, along with Portuguese. On the other hand, given the archipelagic condition of the country, with each island perceived to have a peculiar variety of the language, the language ideological debate has often boiled down to inter-dialectal competition. This political linguistic situation has effectively stalled any progress toward making the Cabo Verdean language an official language of the country, on equal standing with Portuguese, the language of power and prestige. In the last section of the chapter, I discuss the use of the two languages in different domains.