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4: Sociolinguistic and Sociohistorical Considerations of Calunga
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103 CHAPTER FOUR Sociolinguistic and Sociohistorical Considerations of Calunga Nós aprendemos [Calunga] com os pais porque na época, na nossa época, a escravidão ainda era assim mais próxima. Então, nossos pais, nossos avós, falavam demais a calunga. (We learned [Calunga] with our parents because at that time, in our time, slavery was still much closer. So, our parents, our grandparents, spoke Calunga a lot.) —Calungador Senhor Cabrera, circa 1980 (quoted in Vogt and Fry 1996:253) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Minas Gerais became heavily populated with slaves of African descent (African- and Brazilian-born), constituting up to 80 percent of the state’s total population during those centuries (Barbosa 1970:315–16). As a result of this influx of slaves into Minas Gerais, African languages, pidgins and/or creoles , (restructured) Portuguese, and intertwined varieties were likely spoken within colonial plantations, mining communities, urban areas, and fugitive slave communities known as quilombos. In attempting to piece together the historical and linguistic puzzle that is Calunga, it must be underscored that many pieces are missing. On the one hand, it is evident that Calunga’s linguistic roots stem from colonial Minas Gerais and its ties to the Atlantic slave trade, particularly slaves from the region of Congo and Angola. On the other hand, how Calunga evolved is not presently known. Calunga informants trace its origins simply to “a língua dos escravo” (the slave language) or “a língua dos preto (velho)” (the [old] black language). From Calunga’s Bantu lexicon, which is examined in chapter 5, it is evident that these slaves were speakers of Kimbundu, Umbundu, and Kikongo. However, Calunga’s phonology and morphosyntax, which are 104 ch a p t er fou r discussed in chapter 6, are on par with contemporary rural Brazilian Portuguese vernacular. Hence, traveling historically and linguistically “from there to here” is not a straightforward endeavor. In order to provide some understanding of the problems listed above, this chapter examines the sociolinguistic aspects of the Calunga speech community and considers hypotheses regarding the historical origins of Calunga. OS CalunGadOreS: a SOCiOlinGuiStiC prOFile It is not currently known how many Calunga speakers there are in and around the Triângulo Mineiro. Based on interviews conducted by Daniela Bassani Moraes and this author from 2003 to 2005, a possible estimate is in the hundreds. But this figure is not verifiable. This is in large part because members of the Calunga speech community are evasive: that is, many people who know Calunga deny knowledge of it. It is therefore difficult to provide a comprehensive sociolinguistic profile of this speech community. Nevertheless, interviewees tended to agree on a general profile of the calungadores in Patrocínio and thereabouts. Calunga informants came from all backgrounds, though typically they were cowboys, farmers, and miners who worked around the city of Patrocínio; other informants were urban construction workers who spoke Calunga on the job in Patrocínio. Many Calunga speakers were former tropeiros who ran cattle to the states of São Paulo and Goiás. In fact, many white Calunga speakers claimed to have learned Calunga from fellow Afro-Brazilian tropeiros while driving cattle. The most fluent Calunga speakers of the community were Afro-Brazilian men over forty years of age; the very best speakers were typically over seventy years of age. In particular, the elder Calunga speakers were regarded within Patrocínio as the most knowledgeable of Calunga. Indeed, these speakers understood Calunga’s sociohistorical and sociolinguistic links to Africa and the past regime of slavery in Brazil. For example, Joaquim Luís linked Calunga to slavery in the Triângulo Mineiro and explained that it was spoken primarily as a “secret language.” He also recited “fantastic” stories in Calunga that spoke of the struggle and perseverance of Afro-Brazilians in the region (see his excerpted dialog in chapter 1). [18.209.66.87] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 14:43 GMT) 105 Sociolinguistic and Sociohistorical Considerations of Calunga Another elder Calunga speaker, Inácio de Souza, reiterated stories similar to those of Joaquim Luís. Here he explains how he learned Calunga, along with its social function: Eu aprendi essa língua desde menino, trabalhando com os pais. Ia para a roça, o pai lá enrolava a língua com o companheiro e a gente lá escutando. De vez em quando o pai mandava a gente fazer alguma coisa, mandava na calunga. E assim, a gente foi aprendendo . Até hoje...