Calunga and the Legacy of an African Language in Brazil

3: Linguistic Overview

52 CHAPTER THREE linguistic Overview Um estudo dessas vozes d’África, e das tribos indígenas do Brasil seria trabalho, além de curioso, de evidente utilidade, para se conhecer não só a influência que exerceram sobre a nossa sociedade os elementos negro e indiano, como também a direção que vai seguindo a língua portuguesa falada no Brasil. (A study of African words, and of words from indigenous tribes of Brazil, would be a task, besides being curious, of evident usefulness, in order to know not only the influence that these black and indigenous elements exert on our society, but also the direction in which the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil is heading.) —Antônio Joaquim de Macedo Soares, nineteenth-century Brazilian lexicographer (quoted in Alkmim and Petter 2008:147) this chapter examines the linguistic context in which Calunga evolved by reviewing linguistic literature on: (1) contact between Portuguese and African languages, (2) African languages spoken in Brazil and AfroBrazilian speech communities, (3) possible African contributions to Brazilian Portuguese, (4) theoretical models for analyzing Afro-Brazilian language and the African contribution to Brazilian Portuguese, and, briefly, (5) Afro-Hispanic language in the Americas. initial COntaCt Between pOrtuGueSe and aFriCan lanGuaGeS Portuguese has a long history of contact with the languages and cultures of Africa. For example, from the early eighth to the eleventh century AD the southern region of Portugal was occupied by Arabic-speaking Moors. Linguistic Overview 53 Following the reconquest of western Iberia, the Moors remained in Portugal for some time (Naro and Scherre 2007:26). Beginning in the fifteenth century Portuguese voyages, expansion, and subsequent slaving practices shaped Lusophone varieties throughout the world: on Atlantic islands (Madeira, the Azores), in Africa (Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique) and on nearby islands (Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe), and in South America (Brazil), India (Diu, Daman, Goa), China (Macao), Indonesia (East Timor), and Malaysia (Malacca) (Holm 1989:259– 63). Portuguese creole was even used as a lingua franca into the early nineteenth century in parts of Asia (Reinecke 1975:75). Furthermore, Portuguese linguistic traces can be found on virtually every continent, ranging from place-names and lexical items to dialects and a spectrum of creoles. The Portuguese word crioulo (creole), for instance, originally was used to categorize an African slave born in Brazil (Holm 1988:9). The early Portuguese explorers came into contact with a large diversity of languages along the African coast. According to recent estimates, there are more than two thousand languages spoken on the African continent , averaging thirty-five to forty languages in each of the contemporary fifty-five African nation-states and territories (Batibo 2005:14). In a recent study on the state of African languages, Batibo classifies language families and subfamilies (tables 3.1, 3.2). Table 3.1. African languages and language families Family Subfamilies Number of languages Niger-Congo (including the Bantu languages) Kordofanian, Mande, Atlantic, Ijoid, Dogon, Kru, Gur (Voltaic), Adamawa-Ubangi, Kwa, Benue-Congo 1436 Afro-Asiatic Berber, Chadic, Egyptian, Semitic, Cushitic, Omotic 371 Nilo-Saharan Songhay, Saharan, Kuliak, Maban, Fur, Central Sudanic, Berta, Kunama, Eastern Sudanic 196 ch a p t er t hr ee 54 Family Subfamilies Number of languages Khoesan Northern Khoesan, Southern Khoesan, Central Khoesan (Khoekhoe, Western Khoe, Eastern Khoe), East African Khoesan, Khoesanoid 35 Source: Adapted from Batibo 2005:5–9. Table 3.2. Niger-Congo languages Language subfamily Countries where spoken Sample languages Kordofanian Western Sudan Koalib, Logol, Tiro, Dengebu, Tegali Mande Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia Manding, Susu, Kpelle, Mende, Soninke, Gban Atlantic Senegal, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone Wolof, Fulfude, Diola, Serer, Temne, Basari, Konyagi Ijoid Nigeria Dogon Mali, Burkina Faso Toro, Kamba, Duleri, Bangeri, Yanda, Oru Naya Kru Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Burkina Faso Kouye, Ware, Bassa, Klao, Seme Gur (Voltaic) Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso Guma, Lobi, Gurunsi, Gan, Viemo Adamawa-Ubangi Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Republic, Sudan Mumunye, Nimbari, Mbum, Longuda, Gbaya, Banda, Ngbaka, Zande, Sango Linguistic Overview 55 Language subfamily Countries where spoken Sample languages Kwa Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria Akan, Anyi, Baule, Ga, Logba, Avatime, Ewe, Gen, Fon Benue-Congo Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, all countries south of the equator Yoruba, Igbo, Nupe, Idom, Jukun, Mambila, all the Bantu languages Source: Adapted from Batibo 2005...