Crioulo

…is used in formal situations, Crioulo, one of the oldest of the Portuguese creole languages, is by far the most widely spoken. The different dialects of Crioulo that exist on the islands may be broadly divided into Sotavento and Barlavento groups. There has been a struggle to legitimate and regularize…

…and formal language, it is Crioulo—a creole that emerged during the slave trade—that is spoken as the lingua franca and exerts a unifying influence in the rural areas.