Angolan Portuguese - The Impact of Angolan Portuguese

The Impact of Angolan Portuguese

Many words of Angolan origin have reached other countries or regions where Portuguese is used. Among these words are bunda (backside or "bottom"); fubá (a maize flour); moleque ("kid"); samba; and several others. Also included are words not native to other regions, such as kizomba, kilapanda, kilapanga, ngoma, and kuduro. But regardless of the loanwords from Bantu languages in the lexicon, it must not be considered a Portuguese creole because the grammar and lexicon are truly Portuguese-based. In Brazilian Portuguese, there are a large number of words, whose origin lie in Angolan languages. Various aspects of Brazilian culture – samba, candomblé and capoeira – all bear linguistic traces of this contact.

In Portugal, Angolan Portuguese has had a large influence on the vernacular of the younger population, contributing significant amounts of lexicon. Examples include:

• bazar ("to go away/home")
• garina ("girl")
• bumbar ("working" in Angola, "partying" in Portugal; sometimes altered to become bombar)
• farra ("party" in Angola; "wild party" in Portugal)
• bué ("many", "a lot")
• iá ("yes")

and numerous other examples. Many of these words and expression made their way to Portugal during the period of decolonisation in the 1970s, with the arrival of so-called retornados, white Angolans who left the newly independent nation. This influence was reinforced by more recent immigration of black Angolans as a result of the Angolan civil war. These words were even brought to Brazil by white Angolan refugees during and after independence.