Brava Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Brava Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Sotavento Creoles branch. The speakers of this form of Capeverdean Creole are 8,000 (1.36% of the national population). One of the least spoken being seventh place and one of the firsts to have written literature, in which Eugénio Tavares wrote some of his poems. Characteristics Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles the Brava Creole has also the following ones: The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting stâ before the verbs: stâ + V. The sound that originates from Portuguese (written ão) is rather than . For example, coraçã , not coraçõ “heart”; mã , not mõ “hand”; razã , not razõ “reason”. Vocabulary Grammar Phonology Alphabet References Further reading The Creole dialect of the island of Brava (Meintel, Deirdre, 1975) in Miscelânea luso-africana coord. Marius F. Valkhoff The syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties (Baptista, Marlyse, 2002) Crioulo de Cabo Verde — Situação Linguística da Zona do Barlavento (Delgado, Carlos Alberto; Praia: IBNL, 2008) External links A short poem in Brava Crioulo on a Cape Verde banknote. Brava, Cape Verde