3.4.c. Guinea-Bissau
In 1983, 44% of the population spoked Creoles of Portuguese base,
11% spoked Portuguese and the remainder, innumerable African
languages. The Creole of Guinea-Bissau has two dialects, the one of
Bissau and the one of Cacheu, in the north of the country.
The presence of the Portuguese language in Guinea-Bissau is not
consolidated, since a small percentage of the Guinean population has
the Portuguese as their mother tongue and less than 15% has an
acceptable domain of the Portuguese language. The lusophone zone
corresponds to the geographic space known as "a praça" (the square),
that corresponds to the central and commercial zone of the capital
(Bissau).
The situation is aggravated due to the fact that Guinea-Bissau is
stuck between francophone countries and with a significant immigrant
community coming from the neighbour Senegal and Guinea. Because of the
opening to the subregional integration and of the great participation
of the francophone immigrants in the commerce, there is a great trend
of people using and learning more the French language than the
Portuguese language. Some people advocate that, currently, the French
language is already the second more spoken language in Guinea-Bissau,
after the Creole.
|
