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53-447: There are different stages of Portuguese in Angola in a similar manner to other Portuguese-speaking African countries . Some closely approximate Standard Portuguese pronunciation and are associated with the upper class and younger generations of urban background. Angola is the country with the second-highest number of Portuguese speakers , behind only Brazil. The standard phonology in Angola

106-467: A first or second language in these 34 African countries and territories (some of which are not Francophone, but merely non-Francophone members or observers of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie or OIF), but it does not include French speakers living in other African countries. Africa is thus the continent with the most French speakers in the world, and African French speakers now form

159-951: A transitional dialect somewhat midway between the European and Brazilian varieties. Although most of the vocabulary is the same as in Portugal, Brazil or Mozambique, there are differences, many due to the influence of African languages spoken in Angola. In the capital, Luanda, indigenous languages are practically nonexistent. Examples of words borrowed from Kimbundu into Angolan Portuguese include: Many words of Angolan origin are used in other variants of Portuguese . Among these words are bunda (backside or "bottom"); fuba [ fubá in Brazil] (maize flour); moleque ("kid"); kizomba and kuduro . Various aspects of Brazilian culture – samba , candomblé and capoeira – all bear linguistic traces of this contact. In Portugal, Angolan Portuguese has had

212-472: A distinct dialect of French. Similarly to many other African dialects of French, many of the linguistic aspects are influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the linguistics of the local African languages. It is also essential to note that grammatical differences between local Congolese languages and the French language, such as the lack of gendered nouns in the former, result in linguistic changes when speakers of

265-542: A formidable world language, also making it an important language of the global economy. Portuguese is the language of journalism, which serves as a vehicle for the dissemination of the language. Literacy being an issue, radio serves as an important source of information for Lusophone Africans. Voice of America, BBC Para África , RFI and RTP África have regular services in Portuguese for listeners in Africa. Any discussion of

318-825: A large and integral part of the Francophonie . In Africa, French is often spoken as a second language alongside the Indigenous ones, but in a small number of urban areas (in particular in Central Africa and in the ports located on the Gulf of Guinea ) it has become a first language, such as in the region of Abidjan , Ivory Coast , in the urban areas of Douala , Yaoundé in Cameroon , in Libreville , Gabon , and Antananarivo In some countries, though not having official de jure status, it

371-714: A large influence on the vernacular of the younger population, contributing significant amounts of lexicon. Examples include: Many of these words and expressions made their way to Portugal through immigration of black Angolans as a result of the Angolan civil war . Portuguese language in Africa Portuguese is spoken in a number of African countries and is the official language in six African countries: Angola , Cape Verde , Equatorial Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe . There are Portuguese-speaking communities in most countries of Southern Africa,

424-531: A literary language, Portuguese has a strong role in the PALOP. Authors such as Francisco José Tenreiro , Luandino Vieira , Mia Couto , Pepetela , Lopito Feijóo , Rui Knopfli , Luis Kandjimbo , Manuel Rui or Ondjaki have made valuable contributions to lusophone literature, prompting an African scent and ideas to the language and creating a place for the Portuguese language in the African imaginary. Sub-Saharan Africa

477-613: A local language with its own pronunciation and some local words borrowed for the most part from Lingala. Depending on their social status, some people may mix French and Lingala, or code switch between the two depending on the context. Here are examples of words particular to Kinshasa French. As in Abidjan, there exist various registers and the most educated people may frown upon the use of slangish/Lingala terms. There are many linguistic differences that occur in Kinshasa French that make it

530-434: A mixture of Portuguese settlers and Angolans and Mozambicans who left their countries during the civil wars. A rough estimate has it that there are about 14 million people who use Portuguese as their sole mother tongue across Africa, but depending on the criteria applied, the number might be considerably higher, since many Africans speak Portuguese as a second language, in countries like Angola and Mozambique, where Portuguese

583-445: A new linguistic concept: le petit français . Le petit français is the result of a superposition of the structure of a local language with a narrowed lexical knowledge of French. The specific structures, though very different, are juxtaposed, marking the beginning of the creolization process. In the urban areas of Francophone Africa, another type of French has emerged: Français populaire africain ("Popular African French") or FPA. It

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636-591: A post-colonial language in Africa and one of the working languages of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Portuguese co-exists in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe with Portuguese-based creoles (Upper Guinea and Gulf of Guinea Creoles), but Portuguese continues to be the official language of these countries. Portuguese has become

689-518: A result of processes of decreolization in the archipelago. In São Tome e Principe, Santomense Portuguese is a variety of Portuguese strongly influenced by Forro in syntax and vocabulary. Since the lexicons of those languages are derived from Portuguese, even creole-speakers who do not speak Portuguese have a passive knowledge of it. In addition, Portuguese creoles have often been (and often continue to be) written using Portuguese orthography. An important issue in discussions of standardization of creoles

742-568: Is a first language among some social classes of the population, such as in Algeria , Tunisia , Morocco , and Mauritania , where French is a first language among the upper classes along with Arabic (many people in the upper classes are simultaneous bilinguals in Arabic/French), but only a second language among the general population. In each of the Francophone African countries, French

795-553: Is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and has observer status at La Francophonie. Conversely, Equatorial Guinea has announced its decision to introduce Portuguese as its third official language, in addition to Spanish and French, and has been accepted as a member CPLP . Mauritius and Senegal have also joined the CPLP as associate observer members . The nation-states with Portuguese as an official language in Africa are referred to by

848-505: Is also frequently done in French. Documents, forms, and posters are often in both French and Arabic. The usage of French among the Algerian population is different depending on social situations. One can find: French is the sole official language in Benin. In 2014, over 4 million Beninese citizens spoke French (around 40% of the population). Fongbe is the other widely spoken language of Benin. It

901-445: Is also unique in its grammatical differences present in spoken speech such as these: Without being an official language, French is frequently used in government, workplaces, and education. French is the default language for work in several sectors. In a 2007 study set in the city of Mostaganem , it was shown that French and Arabic were the two functional languages of banking. Technical work (accounting, financial analysis, management)

954-452: Is an official language, but also in countries like South Africa and Senegal, thanks to migrants coming from Portuguese-speaking countries. Some statistics claim that there are over 60 million Portuguese speakers in the continent. Africa is, therefore, the continent with the second-most Portuguese speakers in the world, only behind the Americas. Like French and English , Portuguese has become

1007-426: Is annoying me to death)" or "I'm dying (out of love) for him/her" depending on the circumstances. " Il ou elle commence à me plaire " signifies a feeling of exasperation (whereupon it actually means "he or she starts to appeal to me"), and friendship can be expressed with " c'est mon môgô sûr " or " c'est mon bramôgo. " FPA is mainly composed of metaphors and images taken from African languages. For example,

1060-690: Is attested not only in Côte d'Ivoire but also in Senegal , Mali , Niger , Burkina Faso , Chad , the Central African Republic , Benin , Togo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . As already mentioned, these local words range from slang to formal usage, and their use therefore varies depending on the context. In Abidjan, this is how the sentence "The girl stole my money." is constructed depending on

1113-465: Is based on the European standard, as in the rest of Lusophone Africa. Vernacular accents share similarities with Brazilian Portuguese and these similar features have historical reasons. As with Portuguese spoken in Mozambique , the Portuguese spoken in Angola is influenced by Bantu languages . However, the contemporary Standard European Portuguese is the preferred pronunciation , as such it has become

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1166-407: Is natural to hear both languages blending, either through loan words or code-switching. Few academic sources exist surrounding the particularisms of Beninese French. Nevertheless, it is evident that Beninese French has adapted the meanings of several French terms over time, such as: seconder (to have relations with a second woman, from the French second - second), doigter (to show the way, from

1219-546: Is shared with Lingala . Kinshasa French also differs from other African French variants, for it has some Belgian French influences, due to colonization. People of different African mother tongues living in Kinshasa usually speak Lingala to communicate with each other in the street, but French is the language of businesses, administrations, schools, newspapers and televisions. French is also the predominant written language. Due to its widespread presence in Kinshasa, French has become

1272-432: Is spoken by 75 to 99 percent of Abidjan 's population, either alone or alongside indigenous African languages. There are three sorts of French spoken in Abidjan. A formal French is spoken by the educated classes. Most of the population, however, speaks a colloquial form of French known as français de Treichville (after a working-class district of Abidjan) or français de Moussa (after a character in chronicles published by

1325-521: Is spoken with local variations in pronunciation and vocabulary. French proficiency in African countries according to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). There are many different varieties of African French, but they can be broadly grouped into five categories: All the African French varieties differ from Standard French , both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, but

1378-624: Is taught as a foreign language throughout the country. In 2008, Senegal became an observer nation in the CPLP . Equatorial Guinea , at one point a Portuguese colony, is home to a Portuguese-based Creole and is a member nation in the CPLP. Portuguese is now an official language in Equatorial Guinea, although it is practically not used. Mauritius , a multilingual island in the Indian Ocean, has strong cultural ties with Mozambique. The Portuguese were

1431-501: Is the arrival of Portuguese post-colonial expatriates in Angola in the recent years, because of Portugal's economic interests and the Angolan economic boom. Senegal has its own Lusophone connection with a significant community of Cape Verdeans in Dakar and speakers of Guinea-Bissau Creole in its southern region of Casamance , which was once part of the Portuguese colonial empire. Portuguese

1484-427: Is the dominant spoken language in the urban areas of the country. In the five former African Portuguese colonies, Portuguese is the language of: commerce, the government, courts, schools and mass media. In Africa, the Portuguese language experiences pressure and possibly competition from French and English . Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe are all members of La Francophonie and Mozambique

1537-412: Is the region where the Portuguese language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. It is estimated that for 2100, Africa will have the majority of Portuguese speakers in the world, surpassing Brazil. The Portuguese-speaking African nations together with Brazil, have turned Portuguese into

1590-464: Is used in the entirety of Sub-Saharan Africa , but especially in cities such as Abidjan , Côte d'Ivoire; Cotonou , Benin; Dakar , Senegal; Lomé , Togo; and Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso. At its emergence, it was marginalized and associated with the ghetto; Angèle Bassolé-Ouedraogo describes the reaction of the scholars: Administration and professors do not want to hear that funny-sounding and barbarian language that seems to despise articles and distorts

1643-615: Is whether it is better to devise a truly phonetic orthography or to choose an etymological one based on Portuguese. African French African French ( French : français africain ) is the generic name of the varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 167 million people in Africa in 2023 or 51% of the French-speaking population of the world spread across 34 countries and territories. This includes those who speak French as

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1696-498: The register : Another unique, identifiable feature of Ivorian French is the use of the phrase n'avoir qu'à + infinitif which, translated into English, roughly means, to have only to + infinitive . The phrase is often used in linguistic contexts of expressing a wish or creating hypotheticals. This original Ivorian phrase is generally used across the Ivory Coast's population; children, uneducated adults, and educated adults all using

1749-403: The "pure" language used by many African intellectuals and writers versus the mixtures between French and African languages. For this, the term "creolization" is used, often in a pejorative way, and especially in the areas where French is on the same level with one or more local languages. According to Gabriel Manessy , "The consequences of this concurrency may vary according to the social status of

1802-602: The French doigt - finger). French is the language of administration, education, and business in Burkina Faso and was the de jure official language until a constitutional change in 2024. While spoken fluently only by about a quarter of the population, French has progressively become a native language among urban populations since the late 20th century, notably in the cities of Ouagadougou , Bobo-Dioulasso , and Banfora . By 2010, about 10% of Ouagadougou residents spoke French as their first language. Linguists have observed

1855-477: The PALOP countries to one another, to Portugal and to East Timor , Macau and Brazil , which were also once Portuguese colonies. Music is one way in which the linguistic profiles of PALOP have increased. Many recording artists from PALOP, in addition to singing in their maternal languages, sing in Portuguese to one degree or another. The success of these artists in the world music industry increases international awareness of Portuguese as an African language. As

1908-581: The acronym PALOP ( Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa ) and include the following: Angola , Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau , Mozambique , São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea . Portuguese is a primarily urban language having a reduced presence in rural areas, except for in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, where the language is more widespread on a national level. South Africa also has approximately 300,000 speakers of Portuguese, primarily settlers from Madeira and white Angolans and Mozambicans who emigrated from 1975 onwards, following

1961-458: The creolization of French in 1968, naming the result "franlof": a mix of French and Wolof (the language most spoken in Senegal) which spreads by its use in urban areas and through schools, where teachers often speak Wolof in the classroom despite official instructions. The omnipresence of local languages in Francophone African countries – along with insufficiencies in education – has given birth to

2014-402: The development of a local vernacular of French in the country called français populaire burkinabè which is influenced by local languages such as Mooré and is used as a lingua franca in commerce. It is largely used as a spoken language whereas speakers continue to use standard French as the written language. With more than 11 million inhabitants, Kinshasa is the largest Francophone city in

2067-587: The existing linguistic diversity of the PALOPs, Portuguese also serves the purpose of lingua franca allowing communication between fellow citizens of different ethno-linguistic backgrounds. The standard Portuguese used in education, media and legal documents is based on European Portuguese vocabulary used in Lisbon, but African Portuguese dialects differ from standard European Portuguese both in terms of pronunciation and colloquial vocabulary. Additionally, Portuguese connects

2120-462: The first Europeans to encounter the island. In 2006, Mauritius joined the CPLP as an associate member. As a fellow member of the SADC , Zambia has introduced Portuguese language instruction in its primary school system, partially due to the presence of a large Angolan population there . As an official language, Portuguese serves in the realms of administration, education, law, politics and media. Given

2173-486: The formal African French used in education, media and legal documents is based on standard French vocabulary. In the colonial period, a vernacular form of creole French known as Petit nègre ("little negro ") was also present in West Africa. The term has since, however, become a pejorative term for "poorly spoken" African French. The difficulty linguists have in describing African French comes from variations, such as

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2226-661: The independence of the former colonies. The civil wars in Angola and Mozambique also resulted in more recent migrations of refugees (some of whom speak Portuguese) to neighbouring countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo , Namibia , Zambia and South Africa. Other migrations involved returning Afro-Brazilian ex-slaves to places such as Nigeria , Benin , Togo , Angola and Mozambique. There are also some returning white Portuguese African refugees and their descendants from Brazil, Portugal, and South Africa to their former African controlled territories, mostly to Angola (up to 500,000) and Mozambique (350,000), and most importantly, there

2279-471: The magazine Ivoire Dimanche which are written in this colloquial Abidjan French). Finally, an Abidjan French slang called Nouchi has evolved from an ethnically neutral lingua franca among uneducated youth into a creole language with a distinct grammar. New words often appear in Nouchi and then make their way into colloquial Abidjan French after some time. As of 2012, a crowdsourced dictionary of Nouchi

2332-506: The major phonetic and phonological variations of Abidjan French, as compared to a more "typical" French, include substituting the nasal low vowel [ɑ̃] for a non-nasal [a], especially when the sound occurs at the beginning of a word, and some difficulty with the full production of the phonemes [ʒ] and [ʃ]. There are also, to a certain degree, rhythmic speaking patterns in Ivorian French that are influenced by native languages. Ivorian French

2385-430: The national language of Angola, as it is so widely spoken in every segment of society, and serves as the home language of the majority of the Angolan population, particularly in the big towns and cities. A few native African languages continue to be spoken, but are losing ground to Portuguese. In Mozambique, in addition to Portuguese as the official language, it is fast becoming the lingua franca. And as in Angola, Portuguese

2438-472: The now standard uvular trill or ' guttural R .' The voiced velar fricative , the sound represented by ⟨غ⟩ in the Arabic word مغرب Ma gh rib , is another common alternative. Pronunciation of the letters ⟨d⟩ , ⟨t⟩ , ⟨l⟩ and ⟨l⟩ may also vary, and intonation may differ from standard French. According to some estimates, French

2491-483: The phrase relatively equally. Often in written speech, the phrase is written as Ils non cas essayer de voir rather than Ils n'ont qu'à essayer de voir . Many characteristics of Ivorian/Abidjan French differ from "standard" French found in France. Many of the linguistic evolutions are from the influences of native African languages spoken within the Ivory Coast and make Abidjan French a distinct dialect of French. Some of

2544-401: The role of the Portuguese language in Africa must take into account the various Portuguese creoles that have developed there. These creole languages co-exist with Portuguese and, in the countries where they are spoken, form a continuum with the lexifying language. In Cape Verde, crioulo levinho refers to a variety of Cape Verdean Creole which takes on various features of Portuguese and is

2597-621: The sense of words. They see in it a harmful influence to the mastery of good French. However, FPA has begun to emerge as a second language among the upper class. It has also become a symbol of social acceptance. FPA can be seen as a progressive evolution of Ivorian French. After diffusing out of Ivory Coast, it became Africanized under the influence of young Africans (often students) and cinema, drama, and dance. FPA has its own grammatical rules and lexicon. For example, " Il ou elle peut me tuer! " or " Il ou elle peut me dja! " can either mean "This person annoys me very much (literally he or she

2650-590: The speakers, to their occupations, to their degree of acculturation and thus to the level of their French knowledge." Code-switching , or the alternation of languages within a single conversation, takes place in both DR Congo and Senegal , the former having four "national" languages – Ciluba , Kikongo , Lingala , and Swahili – which are in a permanent opposition to French. Code-switching has been studied since colonial times by different institutions of linguistics. One of these, located in Dakar, Senegal , already spoke of

2703-408: The upper social class is called " les en-haut d'en-haut " (the above from above) or " les môgôs puissants " (the powerful môgôs). Pronunciation in the many varieties of African French can be quite varied. There are nonetheless some trends among African French speakers; for instance, ⟨r⟩ tends to be pronounced as the historic alveolar trill of pre-20th Century French instead of

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2756-450: The world, surpassing Paris in population. It is the capital of the most populous francophone country in the world, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , where an estimated 43 million people (51% of the total population) can speak French (essentially as a second language). Contrary to Abidjan where French is the first language of a large part of the population, in Kinshasa French is only a second language, and its status of lingua franca

2809-605: Was being written using mobile phones. Here are some examples of words used in the African French variety spoken in Abidjan (the spelling used here conforms to French orthography , except ô which is pronounced [ɔ] ): When speaking in a formal context, or when meeting French speakers from outside Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan speakers would replace these local words with the French standard words une fille , un restaurant or une cantine , un copain , battre and l'argent respectively. Note that some local words are used across several African countries. For example, chicotter

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