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3.4. Portuguese in Africa

Angola and Mozambique are the African countries where the Portuguese language was more strongly implanted as the spoken language, side by side with numerous aboriginal languages. A sufficiently pure Portuguese is spoken, even with some proper traces, in general Lusitanian archaisms or dialectalisms similar to the ones found in Brazil. The influence of the black languages on the Portuguese of Angola and Mozambique was very light, only concerning the local lexicon.

In the other African countries of Portuguese official language, the Portuguese language is used in the administration, the education, the press and the international relations. In the situations of the daily life, national languages or Creoles of Portuguese origin are also used. In some countries, more than one Creole sprouted up, but speakers of different Creoles can understand each other.

This proximity with local languages is distancing the regional Portuguese of these countries from the European Portuguese; in many cases, they approach the Brazilian Portuguese.


Index

3.4.a. Angola
3.4.b. Cape Verde
3.4.c. Guinea-Bissau
3.4.d. Mozambique
3.4.e. Sao Tome and Principe
3.4.f. Other regions of Africa

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Last updated: Feb/09/2006