| Cafundó | |
|---|---|
| Cupópia | |
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | Cafundó, São Paulo |
Native speakers | (40 cited 1978)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ccd |
| Glottolog | cafu1238 |
Cafundó (Portuguese pronunciation:[kafũˈdɔ]), orCupópia ([kuˈpɔpjɐ]), is anargot ("secret language") spoken in theBrazilian village ofCafundó, São Paulo, now a suburb ofSalto de Pirapora. The language isstructurally similar to Portuguese, with manyBantu words in its lexicon.
Cafundó was at first thought to be an African language, but a later study (1996) byCarlos Vogt and Peter Fry showed that its grammatical and morphological structure are those ofBrazilian Portuguese, specifically the rural hinterland Southeastern variety,caipira. Whereas its lexicon is heavily drawn from some Bantu language(s). It is therefore not acreole language, as it is sometimes considered. In contrast to Vogt and Fry (1996), Álvarez López and Jon-And (2017) suggests that when speakers code-switch from Cafundó Portuguese to Cupópia, they produce something different from a contemporary regional variety of Portuguese with a number of African-derived words.[2] Rather, the passages in which Cupópia is used comprise specific grammatical features, suggesting that the variety has its own grammar.
The namecafundó means "a remote place" or "a hard-to-reach place", referring to thequilombo of Cafundó. TheBrazilian filmCafundó also takes its name from the same location.
The speaker community is very small (40 people in 1978). They live in a rural area, 150 km from the city ofSão Paulo, and are mostlyof African descent. They also speak Portuguese, and usecafundó as a "secret"home language.