Angolar Creole () is a
Portuguese-based
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...
of
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...
, spoken in the southernmost towns of
São Tomé Island
São Tomé Island, at , is the largest island of São Tomé and Príncipe and is home in May 2018 to about 193,380 or 96% of the nation's population. The island is divided into six districts of São Tomé and Príncipe, districts. It is located ...
and sparsely along the coast, especially by
Angolar people. It is also called ''n'golá'' by its native speakers. It is a
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...
with a majority
Portuguese lexicon and a heavy substrate of a dialect of
Kimbundu (port. Quimbundo), a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...
from inland
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, where many had come from prior to being enslaved. It is rather different from
Sãotomense, the other creole language spoken on the island.
Description
It is a Portuguese-based creole language different from other Portuguese-based creole languages in Africa. The main difference is the substrate form
Kimbundu and
Kikongo from Angola.
History
In the middle of the 16th century, a
slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...
from Angola sunk before the southern coast of
São Tomé. The surviving people aboard settled the coast as free fishermen. Their language was different from other creole language on the island. Today, between 10% and 20% of its linguistic elements are still of African origin.
European Portuguese is mostly spoken in formal situations, in the media, business, education, judicial system and legislature, while Angolar and Sao Tomean Portuguese are preferred for informal situations as a
vernacular language
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...
in day-to-day life and daily activities, and
code switching even occurs between Angolar, standard European Portuguese, and São Tomean Portuguese in informal speech.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
APiCS Online - Survey chapter: Angolar
Portuguese-based pidgins and creoles
Languages of São Tomé and Príncipe
Portuguese language in Africa
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