3.4.a. Angola
The Portuguese is the official language of Angola. In 1983, 60% of
the inhabitants had declared that the Portuguese is their mother
tongue, even if some estimates indicate that 70% of the population
speak one of the native languages as first or second language.
Beyond the Portuguese, Angola shelters about eleven main linguistic
groups, that can be subdivided in various dialects (about ninety). The
main languages are: Umbundu, spoken for the Ovimbundu group (central
part of the country); Kikongo, spoken for the Bakongos, to the north,
and Chokwe-Lunda and Kioko-Lunda, both to the northeast. There is also
the Kimbundu, spoken by the Mbundos, Mbakas, Ndongos and Mbondos,
related groups that occupy part of the coast, including the capital,
Luanda.
Perhaps because of this original linguistic variety, the Portuguese
finished by becoming a sort of lingua franca, that
facilitated the communication between the diverse groups. In contact
with the native languages, the Portuguese also suffered modifications,
originating some Creole speeches, known as small Portuguese, or
popularly, as pretoguês (black Portuguese).
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