Everything about Alupec totally explained
The
Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing), commonly known as
ALUPEC, is the
alphabet that was officially recognized by the
Cape Verdean government to write the
Cape Verdean Creole.
Description
It is a phonetic system based on the
Latin alphabet, and only states which letters should be used to represent each sound. This system doesn't establish the orthography rules, in how each word should be written or in how the words should be written within the sentence context. That is why the Cape Verdean Creole writing isn't standardized yet, the same word or the same sentence may appear represented in different ways. Each Cape Verdean is still writing idiosyncratically, i. e., each person that writes in Creole writes in his/her own dialect, own sociolect and own idiolect.
The descriptive texts about the ALUPECclaim that it's “a system composed by 23
letters and four
digraphs”. What those texts don't specify is that it also has the letter
Y and the digraph
RR.
Older documents (1994) showed the following order:
A B S D E F G H I J DJ L LH M N NH N
̈ O P K R T U V X TX Z
Later documents (after 1998) show the following order:
A B D DJ E F G H I J K L LH M N NH N
̈ O P R S T TX U V X Z
The ALUPEC comes close to a perfect phonetic system where almost every letter represents only one sound, and almost every sound is represented by only one letter. The vowels may have a graphic accent, but the system doesn't consider the letters with accents as separated letters.
| Letter |
Sound according the IPA |
Description |
| a |
/a/
or /ɐ/ |
like a in Portuguese pá
or like a in (European) Portuguese para |
| á |
/a/ |
like a in Portuguese pá |
| â |
/ɐ/ |
like a in (European) Portuguese para |
| b |
/b/ |
like b in English but |
| d |
/d/ |
like d in Portuguese dedo |
| dj |
/ʤ/ |
like j in English just |
| e |
/e/ |
like e in Portuguese dedo,
never like i in Portuguese filho |
| é |
/ɛ/ |
like e in Portuguese ferro |
| ê |
/e/ |
like e in Portuguese dedo |
| f |
/f/ |
like f in English for |
| g |
/ɡ/ |
always like g in English go,
never like s in English pleasure |
| h |
|
used only in the digraphs lh and nh |
| i |
/i/
or /j/ |
like i in Portuguese vi
or like y in English yes |
| í |
/i/ |
like i in Portuguese vi |
| j |
/ʒ/ |
like s in English measure |
| k |
/k/ |
like c in Portuguese caco |
| l |
/l/ |
like l in French elle |
| lh |
/ʎ/ |
like lh in Portuguese filho |
| m |
/m/ |
like m in English me |
| n |
/n/ |
like n in Portuguese não |
| nh |
/ɲ/ |
like nh in Portuguese ninho |
n̈
(n with diaeresis) |
/ŋ/ |
like ng in English king |
| o |
/o/ |
like o in Portuguese amor
never like u in Portuguese tu |
| ó |
/ɔ/ |
like o in Portuguese porta |
| ô |
/o/ |
like o in Portuguese amor |
| p |
/p/ |
like p in Portuguese para |
| r |
/ɾ/
or /ʀ/ |
like r in Portuguese porta
or like r in Portuguese rato |
| rr |
/ʀ/ |
like rr in Portuguese ferro |
| s |
/s/ |
always like s in Portuguese sim,
never like z in Portuguese zero |
| t |
/t/ |
like t in Portuguese tu |
| tx |
/ʧ/ |
like ch in English chair |
| u |
/u/
or /w/ |
like u in Portuguese tu
or like w in English wet |
| ú |
/u/ |
like u in Portuguese tu |
| v |
/v/ |
like v in English vain |
| x |
/ʃ/ |
like sh in English ship,
never like the Portuguese words sexo, próximo or exame |
| z |
/z/ |
like z in Portuguese zero |
Additional notes:
- The letter y is used only to represent the copulative conjunction (corresponding to «e» in Portuguese).
- The letter r has the sound /ʀ/ only in the beginning of the words.
- The letter n in the end of the syllables isn't pronounced, it only indicates the nasality of the preceding vowel.
- The personal pronoun that represents the subject form of the first person of the singular is always written with the capital letter N, whatever the pronunciation, whatever the Creole variant.
- The graphic accents are used to indicate the stressed syllable in proparoxitone words, and to indicate the stressed syllable in oxitone words that don't end in a consonant; the acute accent is also used in paroxitone words when the stressed syllable has the sounds /ɛ/ or /ɔ/.
History
The ALUPEC emerged in 1994, from the alphabet proposed by the
Colóquio Linguístico de Mindelo, in 1979.
In July 20th,
1998, the ALUPEC was approved by the Cape Verdean government as a viable system for writing the Cape Verdean Creole, being until now the only one
officially recognized by the same government. In spite of being the only one officially recognized, the same law allows the usage of alternative writing models, “as long they're presented in a systematized and scientific way”.
Present situation
In spite of having been officially recognized by the Government, the ALUPEC has neither official, neither mandatory usage, being used only by enthusiasts.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Alupec'.
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