Angolan Portuguese

Angolan Portuguese (Portuguese: Português de Angola) is a variety of Portuguese used mostly in Angola where it is an official language. It is generally used in Angola by 80% of all residents, of which 60% of the inhabitants of Luanda, with around 7.5 million first-language speakers.^{[citation needed]}

Beer advertisement in Portuguese, in Luanda

History

Portuguese explorers started to explore Angola in the late 15th century. Portuguese, although spoken earlier, has largely entered Angola during the 19th century, after the division of Africa between the former colonial powers (Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain). For the Africans to be considered Portuguese, they had to be Roman Catholics and speak Portuguese. These conditions made a rush between Africans to speak proper Portuguese, thus a local variant did not arise, and a competition between the rival tribes had arisen to provide their children with the best education along with speaking the best Portuguese, which is still common today. The local languages came to be viewed as inferior by both colonizers and locals. In the late 20th century, Portuguese became an instrument for independence, as it was perfectly spoken by the African native and political elite, becoming a symbol of national identity unifying the various rival tribes for the same goal—independence. Portuguese is still seen as something that unifies Angola. The government relies on it because it is a widely spoken, unifying element, as well as being a widely spoken international language.

Phonology

Angolan Portuguese shares similarities with Brazilian Portuguese and these similar features have historical reasons. The contemporary Standard European Portuguese is the preferred pronunciation, as such it has become a transitional dialect somewhat midway between the European and Brazilian varieties. In its phonology, Angolan Portuguese is not significantly influenced by the local languages. The standard phonology in Angola is the European standard, like in Portugal and the rest of Africa. But there are some phonological features similar to Brazilian dialect, such as that <nh> is pronounced as a nasal palatal approximant [^~j] which nasalizes the vowel that precedes it and dropping of word-final /r/ ([ɾ] and [ʁ]), especially for people who speak Portuguese as their second language. It is also commonly seen as the African accent of Portuguese, and when dubbing an African character in cartoons and TV and film productions, Portuguese usually mimic an Angolan accent.

Lexicon

Although most of the vocabulary is the same as in Portugal or Brazil, there are some differences, many due to the influence of several languages spoken in Angola. Each area has different lexicon originating from the distinctive languages. In the capital, Luanda, a very standard Portuguese is spoken, and tribal culture and languages are practically nonexistent. Still, there are several Kimbundu influences. This lexicon is not used in documents or business, for example, as it is mostly seen as slang, but there are exceptions. Most of this lexicon is mostly used by younger Angolans and Portuguese, similarly to younger African-Americans in the US.

Younger Luandese, who speak primarily Portuguese, have even a wider lexicon of slang. It does not correspond to a dialect, but a sociolect. Because of immigration and because of the slang's novelty, the younger generations in Portugal often adopt its use. Angolans in Lisbon also have a tendency to create new words for use socially and as group expressions, and often even newcomers from Angola cannot understand them. The newcomers are known as exportados ("exported ones"). The following list has Luandese followed by Standard Portuguese:

• está anduta - está fácil ("it is easy")
• apanhar uma tona - apanhar uma bebedeira ("to get drunk")
• kota - velho ("older person"; originally a respectful word and still so between Angolans, but younger Portuguese use it as a slang for older people, sometimes kindly, but often pejoratively, e.g. for "old geezer").
• iofé - feio ("ugly"; maybe a Portuguese inversed sland; see verlan).
• nboa - mulher ("woman").
• piô, candengue - criança ("child")
• pitéu - comida ("food"; Between Portuguese, it indicates "tasty food").
• latona - mulata ("mulatto woman").
• mboio - comboio (abbreviation for "train").
• tape - televisão ("television").
• bila, bilau - camisa ("shirt").
• bóter - carro ("car").

Examples of words borrowed from Kimbundu, for instance, into Angolan Portuguese include:

• cubata 'house'
• muamba 'chicken stew'
• quinda 'basket'
• giumbo 'machete'
• milongo 'medicine'
• quituxe 'crime'

The impact of Angolan Portuguese

Sign in Portuguese at the Avenida de Lenin (Lenin avenue) in Luanda

Many words of Angolan origin have reached other countries or regions where Portuguese is used. Among these words are bunda (backside or "bottom"); fubá (a maize flour); moleque ("kid"); samba; and several others. Also included are words not native to other regions, such as kizomba, kilapanda, kilapanga, ngoma, and kuduro. But regardless of the loanwords from Bantu languages in the lexicon, it must not be considered a Portuguese creole because the grammar and lexicon are truly Portuguese-based. In Brazilian Portuguese, there are a large number of words, whose origin lie in Angolan languages. Various aspects of Brazilian culture – samba, candomblé and capoeira – all bear linguistic traces of this contact.

In Portugal, Angolan Portuguese has had a large influence on the vernacular of the younger population, contributing significant amounts of lexicon. Examples include:

• bazar ("to go away/home")
• garina ("girl")
• bumbar ("working" in Angola, "partying" in Portugal; sometimes altered to become bombar)
• farra ("party" in Angola; "wild party" in Portugal)
• bué ("many", "a lot")
• iá ("yes")

and numerous other examples. Many of these words and expression made their way to Portugal during the period of decolonisation in the 1970s, with the arrival of so-called retornados, white Angolans who left the newly independent nation. This influence was reinforced by more recent immigration of black Angolans as a result of the Angolan civil war. These words were even brought to Brazil by white Angolan refugees during and after independence.

Dialects

Angolans have retained features of Old Portuguese and have become influenced by African languages. Luanda has the most variety known of Portuguese in Angola: phonetically, vowels tend to be open: dedo ("finger") is pronounced [dɛdu], while in standard Portuguese it is pronounced [dedu]. This always occurs with the popular parlance and occasionally in cultivated Luandese Portuguese. Another feature is the excessive use of lhe substituting other forms, as in O frango, comeram-lhe ("The chicken, they ate it") instead of Eles comeram o frango ("They ate the chicken"); or even A Maria, lhe bateram ("Maria/Mary, they beat her") instead of Bateram na Maria ("They beat Maria/Mary") or A Maria, Bateram-na ("Maria/Mary, they beat her").

With origin in Kimbundu, a second language for several people, there is an exotic popular grammar use, and unlike the first it doesn't occur anywhere else: A Maria é mais nova da Inês ("Mary is younger of Agnes") instead of A Maria é mais nova que a Inês ("Mary is younger than Agnes").

Another local use is the use given to the word só ("only") to emphasize the verb: Anda só! ("Come on!") instead of just Anda!

See also

• Portuguese language in Africa
• São Tomean Portuguese
• Simple Portuguese
• Kimbundu

External links

• O Português na África — Angola
• Particularidades Lingüísticas no Português de Angola
• Alguns aspectos da língua portuguesa em Angola

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