Bart Jacobs - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

During my Masters in Spanish (with Portuguese as a minor), I became increasingly interested in the debate surrounding the origins of Papiamentu. By that time, I had already written a bachelor’s thesis on the Papiamentu tonology and had some Papiamentu-speaking Antilleans among my closest friends. Among some of the Dutch Antilleans, the myth existed that somewhere on some islands along the African West Coast some form of Papiamentu is spoken. I soon found out that it was Cape Verdean Creole they referred to. I had the tremendous privilege of spending the winter semester of 2007 in Coimbra, where I worked on my Master’s thesis (a comparison of Papiamentu and Cape Verdean Creole) under the inspiring guidance of the renowned creolist Dr. John Holm. In Coimbra, I also had the chance to get acquainted with the people from Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and could now hear with my own ears how similar their creole is to the one I had become familiar with in the Netherlands. After finishing my Masters, I got the opportunity to continue my research on a doctoral level at the University of Munich. My promotor there is Dr. Ulrich Detges and Dr. John Holm is still attached to my research as a co-promotor. I visited Curaçao in November 2008 and hope to visit the Cape Verde Islands in September 2009 to do archival research there.