Angolar is one of two Portuguese base creole of São Tome, developed during the 1500s. It is one of the Gulf of Guinea Crioulo(GGC) that includes Principense and Annobón(Equatorial Guinea). As of 2004, the population of speakers was estimated at 9,000. It is called ngola by native speaking angolares. The other is São Tome Portuguese Creole (Sãotomense) spoken by forros or creoles of São Tome. Angolares tend to be fluent in both creoles.
Angolar developed in the maroon community on the island in the remote southern tip of the island. A slave ship was shipwrecked in the region, carrying slaves from Angola. The community remained isolated from the rest of the island population. They apparently mixed with other fugitive slaves deep within the southern interior.
Because of its isolation, Angolar retained strong African traits. Its lexicon displays strong Kimbundu (a Bantu language) traits. Sixty Seven percent of the lexicon(vocabulary) is shared with Sãotomense. Sixty two percent is also shared with Fa d’Ambu (Annobonese). It also has words originating from Kongo, Bini, and Yoruba.
Other linguistic traits include:
Work Cited
Holm, John A(1989). Pidgins and Creoles: Volume 2, Reference Survey. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521359406, 9780521359405.
Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com
Strazny, Philipp(2004). Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Taylor & Francis US, ISBN 1579583911, 9781579583910
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