Equatoguinean Spanish
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Equatoguinean Spanish () is the variety of Spanish spoken in
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...
. This is the only Spanish variety that holds national official status in
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
. It is regulated by the Equatoguinean Academy of the Spanish Language and is spoken by about 90% of the population, estimated at 1,170,308 for the year 2010 (though population figures for this country are highly dubious), all of them second-language speakers.


History

Spanish Guinea Spanish Guinea () was a set of Insular Region (Equatorial Guinea), insular and Río Muni, continental territories controlled by Spain from 1778 in the Gulf of Guinea and on the Bight of Bonny, in Central Africa. It gained independence in 1968 a ...
(along with the island of Bioko, formerly Fernando Pó) became a Spanish colony after being obtained from Portugal in exchange for American territories in 1778 under the First Treaty of San Ildefonso. Full colonization of the continental interior was not established until the end of the 19th century. The present nation of Equatorial Guinea became independent on October 12, 1968. While the country has maintained its indigenous linguistic diversity, Spanish is the national and official language. Spanish is spoken by about 90% of the population in Bioko and coastal
Río Muni Río Muni (called ''Mbini'' in Fang language, Fang) is the Continental Region (called ''Región Continental'' in Spanish language, Spanish) of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering . The name is derived fr ...
and between 60% and 70% in the interior of Río Muni.


Features

The Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea is influenced by
Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantÊŠÌ€), 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 ...
. Equatoguinean Spanish is more like
Peninsular Spanish Peninsular Spanish (), also known as the Spanish of Spain (), European Spanish (), or Iberian Spanish (), is the set of varieties of the Spanish language spoken in Peninsular Spain. This construct is often framed in opposition to varieties from ...
than American Spanish dialects. Here are some features of Equatoguinean Spanish: * Syllable-final /s/ is alveolar rather than the glottal found in southern Spain and much of Latin America. * Intervocalic /d/ is generally pronounced as a stop or a tap ¾ The fricative/approximant °~ð̞realization found in most other Spanish-speaking countries seldom occurs. * /ɾ/ and /r/ are merged. The merged phoneme is most commonly realized as ¾ occurs less frequently. * Like most dialects of
Peninsular Spanish Peninsular Spanish (), also known as the Spanish of Spain (), European Spanish (), or Iberian Spanish (), is the set of varieties of the Spanish language spoken in Peninsular Spain. This construct is often framed in opposition to varieties from ...
, Equatoguinean Spanish has no seseo or ceceo: /θ/ is distinguished from /s/. * Most of the Bubi ethnic group pronounce the "r" in the guttural form like the sound of the initial "r" in French. * Syllable-final /ɾ/ and /l/ are generally distinguished despite the native
Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantÊŠÌ€), 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 ...
having no such distinction. Both phonemes are very occasionally elided in word-final position. * Word-final /n/ is rarely velarized to * Articles are omitted. * The pronoun '' usted'' can be used with the ''tú'' verbal conjugation. * There is no distinction between indicative and subjunctive moods. * '' Vosotros'' is used interchangeably with ''ustedes''. * The preposition ''en'' replaces ''a'' to mark a destination: ''voy'' ''en'' '' Bata'' instead of ''voy'' ''a'' ''Bata''.


Comparison to Caribbean Spanish

According to John Lipski, a comparison between the Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea and
Caribbean Spanish * Caribbean Spanish (, ) is the general name of the Spanish dialects spoken in the Caribbean region. The Spanish language was introduced to the Caribbean in 1492 with the voyages of Christopher Columbus. It resembles the Spanish spoken in the Ca ...
does not hint at an influence of
African languages The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SI ...
in Caribbean Spanish, despite some earlier theories. Both varieties of Spanish are noticeably different. The main influence on the Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea seems to be the varieties spoken by native Spanish colonists. In a different paper, however, Lipski notes that the
phonotactics Phonotactics (from Ancient Greek 'voice, sound' and 'having to do with arranging') is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable struc ...
of African languages might have reinforced, in Caribbean Spanish, the consonant reduction that was already taking place in Spanish from Southern Spain.


See also

* Equatoguinean literature in Spanish * Pichinglis (Fernando Po Creole English) * Saharan Spanish * Equatoguinean Portuguese


References

{{Romance languages Spanish dialects Languages of Equatorial Guinea Spanish language in Africa