Angolan Portuguese - Lexicon

Lexicon

Although most of the vocabulary is the same as in Portugal or Brazil, there are some differences, many due to the influence of several languages spoken in Angola. Each area has different lexicon originating from the distinctive languages. In the capital, Luanda, a very standard Portuguese is spoken, and tribal culture and languages are practically nonexistent. Still, there are several Kimbundu influences. This lexicon is not used in documents or business, for example, as it is mostly seen as slang, but there are exceptions. Most of this lexicon is mostly used by younger Angolans and Portuguese, similarly to younger African-Americans in the US.

Younger Luandese, who speak primarily Portuguese, have even a wider lexicon of slang. It does not correspond to a dialect, but a sociolect. Because of immigration and because of the slang's novelty, the younger generations in Portugal often adopt its use. Angolans in Lisbon also have a tendency to create new words for use socially and as group expressions, and often even newcomers from Angola cannot understand them. The newcomers are known as exportados ("exported ones"). The following list has Luandese followed by Standard Portuguese:

• está anduta - está fácil ("it is easy")
• apanhar uma tona - apanhar uma bebedeira ("to get drunk")
• kota - velho ("older person"; originally a respectful word and still so between Angolans, but younger Portuguese use it as a slang for older people, sometimes kindly, but often pejoratively, e.g. for "old geezer").
• iofé - feio ("ugly"; maybe a Portuguese inversed sland; see verlan).
• nboa - mulher ("woman").
• piô, candengue - criança ("child")
• pitéu - comida ("food"; Between Portuguese, it indicates "tasty food").
• latona - mulata ("mulatto woman").
• mboio - comboio (abbreviation for "train").
• tape - televisão ("television").
• bila, bilau - camisa ("shirt").
• bóter - carro ("car").

Examples of words borrowed from Kimbundu, for instance, into Angolan Portuguese include:

• cubata 'house'
• muamba 'chicken stew'
• quinda 'basket'
• giumbo 'machete'
• milongo 'medicine'
• quituxe 'crime'