Angolar Creole

Angolar Creole
Angolar Creole
n'golá
Native to	São Tomé and Príncipe
Native speakers	8,000 (2019)
Language family	Portuguese Creole Lower Guinea Angolar Creole; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aoa
Glottolog	ango1258
Linguasphere	51-AAC-ad

Angolar Creole (Angolar: n'golá) is a minority Portuguese-based creole language of São Tomé and Príncipe, spoken in the southernmost towns of São Tomé Island and sparsely along the coast, especially by Angolar people. It is also called n'golá by its native speakers. It is a creole language with a majority Portuguese lexicon and a heavy substrate of a dialect of Kimbundu (port. Quimbundo), a Bantu language from inland Angola, 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.^[2]

History

In the middle of the 16th century, a slave ship 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.^[3]

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 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

^ Angolar Creole at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Lorenzino, Gerardo A. (1998). The Angolar Creole Portuguese of São Tomé : its grammar and sociolinguistic history. München: LINCOM Europa. ISBN 978-3895865459.
^ Christóvão, Fernando, ed. (2005). Dicionário temático da Lusofonia (1 ed.). Lissabon/Luanda/Praia/Maputo: ACLUS. p. 614. ISBN 972-47-2935-4.