Marco Schaumloeffel

Category: Creole Languages

  • Historical Aspects of Forced and Free Black Migrations in the ABC Islands

    Chapter in Book

    Title of chapter: Historical Aspects of Forced and Free Black Migrations in the ABC Islands.


    Book: Many Rivers to Cross: Black Migrations in Brazil and the Caribbean. Elaine P. Rocha (Ed.). Vernon Press, 2024.

    Link: https://vernonpress.com/book/1847

    In the chapter Historical Aspects of Forced and Free Black Migrations in the ABC Islands, Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel examines the ABC islands – Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao – located in the southern region of the Caribbean archipelago. These islands, although they “functioned as an entrepôt for enslaved Africans, and the slave traders operated there as “middlemen” in the lucrative business of human trafficking”, were not drawn into the plantation economy. Schaumloeffel starts with a discussion about the importation of African people from various regions during the period in which the Dutch were heavily involved in slave trading, moving onto the arrival of Portuguese-Brazilian Sephardic Jews and their enslaved workers, which had a great impact in the islands. After the abolition of slavery, black people started to move from the islands to the continent, but the migrations increased during the twentieth century when workers moved from the ABC islands to parts of the British and Spanish Caribbean. He shows that movement in the region did not take place in only one direction, as people from other islands moved to Curaçao and Aruba, attracted by economic opportunities after oil was found in the region. This intra-Caribbean migration had a huge impact on the cultural identity of the region.

  • Língua como Patrimônio Cultural: O Caso do Papiamentu, Língua Crioula Afro-Caribenha

    Língua como Patrimônio Cultural: O Caso do Papiamentu, Língua Crioula Afro-Caribenha

    Apresentação de  “Língua como Patrimônio Cultural: O Caso do Papiamentu, Língua Crioula Afro-Caribenha” no III Congresso Internacional e Interdisciplinar em Patrimônio Cultural: Experiências de Gestão e Educação em Patrimônio, ocorrido de forma virtual de 7 a 11 de junho de 2021 a partir da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (campi Nova Iguaçu e Seropédica) e na Universidade Veiga de Almeida.

    Grupo de Trabalho 8: Patrimônio, Cultura e Relações Etnico-Raciais

    Apresentação PowerPoint: solicite por e-mail.

    Caderno de Resumos

    Resumo:

    Língua como Patrimônio Cultural: O Caso do Papiamentu, Língua Crioula Afro-Caribenha

    O Papiamentu é uma língua crioula afro-caribenha falada em Aruba, Bonaire e Curaçao (ilhas ABC). Apesar desta língua ter se formado há cerca de 350 anos e ser falada pela vasta maioria da população das ilhas ABC, ela só se tornou língua oficial em 2003 em Aruba e em 2007 em Curaçao, enquanto que em Bonaire, um município ultramarino especial do Reino dos Países Baixos, ele é apenas reconhecido como língua local sem status de língua oficial. Entre as línguas classificadas como crioulas no campo da Linguística, o Papiamentu se destaca por ser uma das poucas com status de língua oficial. Esta apresentação tem como objetivo analisar historicamente como se deu a formação do Papiamentu e como este idioma afro-caribenho de influência crioulo-portuguesa se tornou patrimônio cultural e símbolo de identitário nacional e regional, tendo como pano de fundo o sistema colonial holandês e sistemas educacionais que já usam parcialmente o Papiamentu, mas que ainda usam amplamente o holandês e, algumas vezes, até mesmo o inglês como línguas de instrução. Além disso, também serão examinados os principais fatores que transformaram e transformam o Papiamentu em um veículo de manifestações históricas, artísticas, identitárias, de emancipação e de independência cultural dentro do contexto afro-caribenho no qual se encontra inserido.

  • Papiamento y la conexión brasileña establecida mediante los judíos sefardíes

    Papiamentu and the Brazilian Connection Established through the Sephardic Jews (Papiamento y la conexión brasileña establecida mediante los judíos sefardíes)

    Marco A. Schaumloeffel

    Article published in English in Revista Letras, Universidad Nacional Costa Rica

    Schaumloeffel, M. (2020). Papiamento y la conexión brasileña establecida mediante los judíos sefardíes. LETRAS, 1(67), 75-89. https://doi.org/10.15359/rl.1-67.4

    Links: Schaumloeffel – Papiamentu and the Brazilian Connection Established through the Sephardic Jews – Letras Feb2020

    Abstract

    This study examines the linguistic contact between Papiamentu and Brazilian Portuguese established when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Dutch Brazil and some of them relocated in Curaçao. Three lexical items of PA (yaya, ‘nanny, nursemaid’; bacoba, ‘banana’; and fulabola ‘forefinger, index finger’) are analysed and put into their historical context to show that their presence in Papiamentu can be attributed to the contact between Brazil and Curaçao due to the forced migration of the Sephardic Jews and their servants.

    Resumen

    El estudio examina el contacto lingüístico entre el papiamento y el portugués brasileño, establecido cuando los judíos sefardíes fueron expulsados del Brasil Holandés y algunos se trasladaron a la isla Curazao. Tres unidades lexicales del papiamento (yaya, ‘niñera, niñera’; bacoba, ‘banana’; y fulabola, ‘dedo índice) se analizan y ponen en su contexto histórico para mostrar que su presencia en papiamento es atribuible al contacto entre Brasil y Curazao, con la forzada migración de los judíos sefardíes y sus criados.

    Keywords: Papiamentu, Brazilian Portuguese, origins of Papiamentu, Sephardic Jew

    Palabras clave: papiamento, portugués brasileño, orígenes del papiamento, judíos sefardíes

    Citas

    Buarque de Holanda Ferreira, Aurélio. Novo dicionário eletrônico da língua portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 2009.

    Câmara Cascudo, Luís da. Dicionário do folclore brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Ediouro, 2003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/335622.

    Duarte, Rojane. “A origem e o significado de iaiá.” Ciberdúvidas da língua portuguesa, 2007, 30 Nov 2017, <https://ciberduvidas.iscte-iul.pt/consultorio/perguntas/a-origem-e-o-significado-de-iaia/20689>.

    Goodman, Morris. The Portuguese Element in the American Creoles. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987.

    Holm, John. An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139164153.

    Houaiss, Antônio. Dicionário eletrônico Houaiss da língua portuguesa. 3.0. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11606/d.8.2009.tde-30112009-151358

    Jacobs, Bart. “The Upper Guinea Origins of Papiamentu Linguistic and Historical Evidence.” Diachronica 26, 3 (2009). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.26.3.02jac.

    Jacobs, Bart. Origins of a Creole: The History of Papiamentu and its African Ties. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511076.

    Johnen, Thomas. “Frederiks, Bernardus Th. J. (2009 [1859]): Woordenlijst der in der landstaal van Curaçao meest gebruikelijke woorden; alphabetisch neu geordnet mit dem heutigen Sprachstand verglichen und etymologisiert von Johannes Kramer, Hamburg: Buske (Kreolische Bibliothek; 22),” Lusorama 97-98 (2014): 254-265.

    Johnen, Thomas. Bakoba pa makaku: Sobre a problemática dos africanismos na lexicografia do Papiamentu (2014), manuscript.

    Karner, Frances P. The Sephardics of Curacao: A Study of Socio-Cultural Patterns in Flux. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1969.

    Kouwenberg, Silvia. “Papiamentu Structure Dataset,” Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 29 Jan 2017, <http://apics-online.info/contributions/47>.

    Kramer, Johannes. Kleines etymologisches Wörterbuch Papiamento-Deutsch Deutsch-Papiamento. Hamburg: Buske, 2013.

    Martinus, Frank. The Kiss of a Slave: Papiamentu’s West-African Connections. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2004.

    Pessoa de Castro, Yeda. Falares africanos na Bahia: Um vocabulário afro-brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Topbooks, 2001.

    Ratzlaff, Betty. Papiamentu/Ingles dikshonario, English/Papiamentu Dictionary. Kralendijk: TWR Dictionary Foundation/Science Press, 1995.

    Rossel, Gerda. Taxonomic-Linguistic Study of Plantain in Africa. Leiden: Research School CNWS, 1998.

    Rupert, Linda M. Creolization and Contraband: Curaçao in the Early Modern Atlantic World. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ tla.12005_4.

    Salles, Vicente. Vocabulário crioulo: contribuição do negro ao falar regional amazônico. Belém: Instituto de Artes do Pará, 2003.

    Van Putte, Florimon. “Dede Pikina, de Braziliaanse Connectie En de Yaya,” Kristòf XII, 4 (2003).

  • Papiamentu and the Brazilian connection established through the Sephardic Jews

    Papiamentu and the Brazilian connection established through the Sephardic Jews

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Presentation at the 22nd Biennial Conference of the The Society for Caribbean Linguistics (SCL)
    Heredia/Limón, Costa Rica 5th-12th August 2018
    Conference Programme
    Conference website

    Abstract

    Papiamentu and the Brazilian connection established through the Sephardic Jews

    A direct historical connection between Curaçao and Brazil was established due to the resettlement of Sephardic Jews, their assistants, and their free and enslaved African servants from Dutch Brazil to the Caribbean after the Dutch were expelled by the Portuguese from the Northeast of Brazil. Portuguese-speaking Jews from Brazil began to arrive in Curaçao in 1659. This period coincides with the period between 1634 and 1677, considered crucial for the formation of Papiamentu (Jacobs, The Upper Guinea origins of Papiamentu Linguistic and historical evidence 353). Portuguese was one of the languages spoken by the Sephardi in Curaçao. From the beginning, the Jewish congregation in Curaçao even used Portuguese for their religious services; they only changed to Spanish in the nineteenth century (Holm, An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles 78). The historical facts involving the dislocation of people from Pernambuco, Brazil to Curaçao naturally lead to the assumption of a possible influence of these Portuguese-speaking Sephardic Jews and their Afro-Brazilian servants in the formation of Papiamentu (PA). Although the current body of research in PA completely discards the hypothesis of a Brazilian origin of Papiamentu, as postulated in 1987 by Goodman (The Portuguese element in the American Creoles), the intention of this presentation is to show that there are effective links between these two areas and that there probably was some secondary degree of influence from Brazilian Portuguese during the formation process of PA. Even if they existed, it certainly would be difficult to prove that some of the PA features present in the deeper layers of the language could be specifically attributed to an influence from Brazilian Portuguese or the Portuguese spoken by the Sephardi, as it probably would be difficult to clearly set them apart from the features incorporated into PA that are also present in other Portuguese variants and in West African Portuguese-based creoles. However, specific lexical items that will be discussed in this presentation show that their transfer to PA may have happened because of the dislocation of Sephardic Jews and their servants from Brazil to Curaçao. Traces of at least one of those lexical items can also be found in French Guiana and in Suriname, the final destination for some of those expelled from Brazil or the temporary destination as place of passage for others that later headed to Curaçao. Some lexical items, including PA yaya ‘nanny, nursemaid’, bacoba ‘banana’ and fulabola ‘forefinger, index finger’, will be analysed to show that their presence in PA can probably be specifically attributed to the historical connection created between Brazil and Curaçao due to the forced migration of the Sephardic Jews and their servants.

  • The multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa and its similarities with Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese

    The multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa and its similarities with Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese

    Marco A. Schaumloeffel

    Article published in the Journal of Portuguese and Spanish Lexically-based Creoles / Revista de Crioulos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Espanhola 7 (2017), pp. 15-33. ISSN 1646-7000. Association of Portuguese- and Spanish-Lexified Creoles/Associação de Crioulos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Espanhola (ACBLPE). Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa. Released in March 2018.

    Link: http://www.acblpe.com/revista/volume-7-2017/the-multifunctionality-of-papiamentu-pa-and-its-similarities-with-vernacular-brazilian-portuguese

    Here you can also download the pdf file.

    Abstract

    The Papiamentu (PA) element pa covers a broad array of functions, operating as a preposition, a mood marker and a complementiser. Lefebvre and Therrien (2007) compare the functions of PA pa to those of para in standard Portuguese (PT), noting that the 15 functions of pa they identify do not match up with the significantly fewer functions of PT para. In this study, it is argued that the functions claimed by Lefebvre and Therrien (2007) to be shared by PA pa and PT para are not without questions. Moreover, we offer a comparison between PA pa and pra in Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese (VBP), showing that these two elements share all 15 functions identified by Lefebvre and Therrien (2007). Finally, we offer an account as to why this sharp discrepancy exists between the results of the PA pa – PT para.

    Keywords: Papiamentu, Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese, Multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa, Origins of Papiamentu

  • Considerations on the reciprocity and reflexivity in Papiamentu


    Considerations on the reciprocity and reflexivity in Papiamentu

    Captura de tela inteira 29072016 164536-001

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Presentation at the 21st Biennial Conference of the The Society for Caribbean Linguistics (SCL)
    Kingston, Jamaica 1st-6th August 2016
    Conference Programme
    Conference website
    References

    Abstract

    Considerations on the reciprocity and reflexivity in Papiamentu

    The Ibero-Romance clitic pronouns were not incorporated into Papiamentu (PA). Instead, PA has today several different possibilities to form reflexives, which replaced the Ibero-Romance clitics:  paña ‘cloth’, kurpa ‘body’, null reflexive, possessive + kurpa, object pronoun, object pronoun + mes < Portuguese mesmo ‘self’, and possessive pronoun + mes (cf. Muysken 1993:286). At least two other strategies of reflexivisation or quasi-reflexivisation are not discussed by Muysken: the use of kabes ‘head’ and of the reciprocal otro ‘other’. While some of those types of reflexives are a common strategy of reflexivisation in several creole languages (Muysken and Smith 1994:271-288), some of them can also be found in other Portuguese-based creoles. Therefore, this might indicate that there is a linguistic link between PA and those creoles when it comes to the realisation of this category of function words.

    The aim of this presentation is to ponder on how specifically the reflexives with kurpa, possessive + kurpa, kabes, otro and mes are realised in PA and compare them to their equivalents in other Portuguese and Spanish-based creoles in order to establish if there are linguistic ties that connect PA to them when it comes to reflexivity.

    Reflexives with kurpa and possessive + kurpa are also found in the Guinea Bissau and Casamance Portuguese creoles (GBC), which in turn are usually correlated with a Kwa / Bantu substrate (Jacobs 2012:130-131), but are also present in Asian creoles like Papiá Kristang (PK) and Zamboangueño (Holm 2000:225). Reflexives or quasi-reflexives can also be formed with PA kabes, which also encounters equivalents in GBC, Cape Verdean Portuguese-based creoles and PK. Another shared feature of PA with GBC and PK is the use of ‘other’ to express reciprocity, whereas a similar syntax for PA mes can also be found in the Cape Verdean creole of São Vicente, in Principense and in PK.

     

    Interestingly, the analysis of the available data always points towards the same direction, since the current realisation of reflexivity in PA seems to be etymologically, and sometimes even through its grammatical functions, linked to other Portuguese-based creoles and to Portuguese, rather than to Spanish or Spanish-based creoles. Holm raised two possibilities for the presence of a reflexive with ‘body’ in Asian creoles, which also can be extended to the other reflexives mentioned above: that they either spread by diffusion or arose independently through the influence of other substrate languages (2000:225). Based on their similar realisation, especially in PK, the former rather seems to be the case.

  • Why do Papiamento and a Creole Language Spoken in Malaysia have so many similarities?

    Why do Papiamento and a Creole Language Spoken in Malaysia have so many similarities?

    Two presentations at the Biblioteca Nacional Aruba, Oranjestad, Aruba

    Lecture in the series “Lifelong Learninig – Academic Lectures” – May, 17 2016

    Diario, 09 May 2016, p. 44

    IMG-20160509-WA0000

    Invitation

    IMG-20160510-WA0002

    Diario, 2 June 2016, p. 23

    IMG-20160603-WA0000

    Some pictures of the two events:

    2016-05-20 01.43.35 2016-05-22 14.33.24
    2016-05-20 01.43.42 2016-05-22 14.32.46
    2016-05-22 14.35.54 2016-05-22 14.33.46
    2016-05-22 14.33.09

    Abstract

    Why do Papiamento and a Creole Language Spoken in Malaysia have so many similarities?

    The aim of this presentation is to make relevant considerations on the origin of Papiamento (PA). The discussion on the origins of PA still is object of controversy. Some scholars classify it as a creole language of Spanish origins and others as a creole of Portuguese origins. Recent historical and linguistic evidence suggests that PA owes its origins to the West African Portuguese creoles (cf. Jacobs, Origins of a Creole 2012).

    In this presentation, the author provides further evidence in favour of the Portuguese origins of PA by doing an investigation on the historical and linguistic links existing between PA and Papiá Kristang (PK). Historical links are important, but linguistic data is the most reliable evidence of possible genetic ties between creoles. It may seem strange to compare a creole language that developed in Southeast Asia with a creole spoken in former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean, since they are worlds apart. PK, a Portuguese creole spoken in Malacca, Malaysia, is not directly linked to the West African Portuguese creoles like PA, but is a Portuguese creole undoubtedly unrelated to Spanish. This fact turns PK into an interesting tool of comparison to verify possible similarities and correspondences in the PA and the PK grammatical categories, and to establish if PA carries basic Portuguese creole features. The analysis is based on linguistic data from grammars, descriptions and texts in PA and in PK. The focus are grammatical similarities and correspondences that are observed in the structure of both creoles, and the implications these have to determine a possible common origin.

    To achieve this objective, a comparison of important linguistic features in the two languages will be made. The evidence suggests that the origins of PA cannot be completely analysed and understood if vital historical and linguistic links to the Portuguese language are ignored. It remains open to discussion whether these ties were solely formed via West Africa and the Portuguese creoles spoken there or not. However, this presentation intends to discard any hypothesis that excludes the fundamental role Portuguese and Portuguese creoles played in the formation of PA.

     

  • A formação do Papiamento, suas origens portuguesas, africano-ocidentais e brasileiras

    Picture

    Artigo publicado

    A formação do papeamento, suas origens portuguesas, africano-ocidentais e brasileiras
    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel

    (Syn)thesis,v. 7, n. 2 (2014), ISSN 1414-915X
    DOI  10.12957/synthesis.2014.19663
    UERJ, Rio de Janeiro

    Artigo em pdf

    Obs.: a publicação (Syn)thesis alterou o título original, revisou o texto e preferiu usar o termo “papeamento”, sem nova consulta após a submissão do artigo. Embora alguns dicionários aceitem o termo “papeamento” e ele também esteja correto, prefiro usar os termos mais correntes: “papiamento” na escrita de Aruba (assim também consta p.ex. no Dicionário Houaiss para o Português) ou “papiamentu” na escrita adotada em Curaçao e Bonaire. Artigo publicado em dezembro de 2015.

    Abstract
    O objetivo deste artigo é investigar as conexões históricas que contribuíram para a formação do Papiamentu, uma língua crioula falada nas ilhas caribenhas de Aruba, Bonaire e Curaçao (ABC). Através desta análise, pretende-se mostrar que as ligações históricas do Papiamentu indicam que sua origem não se deve ao Espanhol, como muitas vezes é erradamente propagado, mas sim ao Português e aos crioulos portugueses. Estas ligações foram estabelecidas através do tráfico de escravos, o qual usava variantes e crioulos do Português como língua franca de comércio, e através das conexões diretas e indiretas estabelecidas entre as ilhas ABC, a Europa, a África Ocidental e o Brasil.
    Palavras-chave: Papiamentu, História, Formação, Línguas Crioulas

    Abstract
    The objective of this article is to investigate the historic links that contributed to the formation of Papiamentu, a creole language spoken in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC). The intention is to show through this analysis that the historic links of Papiamentu do not point towards a Spanish origin, as many times erroneously disseminated, but to Portuguese and Portuguese creoles. These links were established through the slave trade, which used Portuguese varieties and creoles as their trade lingua franca, and through the direct and indirect connections established between the ABC Islands, Europe, West Africa and Brazil.
    Key words: Papiamentu, History, Formation, Creole Languages
    Title in English: Formation of Papiamentu, its Portuguese, West African and Brazilian Origins

    Source: Marco

  • A Comparison of Relators in Papiamentu and Papiá Kristang

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    A Comparison of Relators in Papiamentu and Papiá Kristang
    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Presentation at the SPCL + ACBLPE 2015 Conference
    Graz, Austria 7th-9th July 2015
    Conference Program
    Conference Booklet with Abstracts
    Conference website
    References

    Abstract

    A Comparison of Relators in Papiamentu and Papiá Kristang

    Papiá Kristang is a Portuguese-based creole mainly spoken in Malacca, Malaysia, whereas Papiamentu is a creole mainly spoken in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC Islands). The origin of Papiamentu still is controversial, since some scholars claim that it has genetic linguistic ties with Spanish, while others have sound evidence of its Portuguese origin, especially due to its links with West African Portuguese-based creoles (cf. Jacobs, Origins of a Creole, 2012, amongst others). The comparative study of the features of Papiamentu with Papiá Kristang still is a widely unexplored field. It is uncontroversial that Papiá Kristang is an Asian Portuguese-based creole with virtually no influences from Spanish or Spanish creoles. Therefore, if there are any similarities between Papiamentu and Papiá Kristang, those can certainly not be attributed to a Spanish common base in both creoles, but rather to another common base that they share, i.e., the Portuguese language. The main aim of this presentation is to compare and analyse relators in Papiamentu and Papiá Kristang. Relators are function words and as such pertain to the closed class words, which are much less likely to be replaced in borrowability or relexification situations if compared to content words, classified as open class words. The identification of the origin of relators can serve as indication towards linguistic genetic ties that might exist between creoles and the languages that were the base for their formation. The analysed relators will also be contrasted with the same features found in some other Portuguese and Spanish-based creoles in order to establish grammatical similarities and differences, and in doing so to investigate the origins of Papiamentu and the presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole features in this creole language that today is recognized by the Dutch government in Bonaire and has official status as native language in Aruba and Curaçao.

    Source: Marco

  • The multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa and its similarities with Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese

    The multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa and its similarities with Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese

    Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
    Presentation at the ACBLPE (Association of Portuguese and Spanish-Lexified Creoles) Annual Meeting. Stockholms Universitet. Stockholm, Sweden. June 13-15, 2017
    Conference programme
    Conference website
    Abstracts (pages 24-25)
    References

    Abstract

    The multifunctionality of Papiamentu pa and its similarities with Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese

    The Papiamentu (PA) lexical item pa can cover several functions, operating as preposition, mood marker and complementizer. Its functions actually clearly exceed those of its equivalent Portuguese lexical item para, not only covering the semantic load of para, but also that of por and a. An equivalent multifunctionality for this lexical item can also be found in other Portuguese-based creole languages like the Upper Guinea Portuguese Creoles (cf. Jacobs, Origins of a Creole) and the Asian Portuguese creole Papiá Kristang. When analysing the PA lexical item pa, Lefebvre and Therrien (On the properties of Papiamentu pa: Synchronic and diachronic perspectives, 2007) establish that it can perform fifteen different functions. Out of those, they only find five that have an equivalent realisation in current standard Portuguese. Lefebvre and Therrien believe that PA pa is derived from Portuguese para, and that its other properties would be derived from corresponding lexical entries in the PA substrate languages, more specifically from the properties of the Fongbe preposition and complementizer nú, and the mood marker and complementizer ní. However, when Brazilian Portuguese, and especially Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese (BVP) is considered, the degree of equivalence with the PA functions of pa changes dramatically. The aims of this presentation are to show the high degree of similarity that exists between PA and BVP when it comes to the functions of PA pa, and to make considerations as to why this sharp discrepancy exists if compared to the results found by Lefebvre and Therrien for current standard PT. Apart from that, the secondary aim is to ponder why this multifunctionality and equivalence in some functions can also be found in Papiá Kristang, a Portuguese-based creole from another branch that is knowingly not directly related to PA or to the West African Portuguese-based creoles.