Global Journal of Human Social Science, G: Linguistics and Education, Volume 23 Issue 3

Preserving the Umbundu Language Ana Alexandra Silva α & Hermenegildo Pinto σ Abstract- The present article discusses the current sociolinguistic situation of the city of Kuito, the capital of B ié province, fro m a historical persp ective. It examines the use of the Umbundu language among the inhabitants of Kuito. In addition to presenting historical inf ormation of the linguist ic contact between the Portuguese and the Umbundu languages, this article also presents the linguistic situation surveyed at the time of the 2014 population census, as well as data from another study that show the diminishing use of Umbundu as a communication language. The older generation had Umbundu as L1, but the younger generation does not. From the procedures and techniques point of view, this work is configured on bibliographical or documental research, combined with a case study approach. The exploratory research approach consisted of the use of surveys. 135 students of Escola Superior Pedagógica do Bié, in the 2018 academic year, were chosen as our sample group. The objective was to determine the percentages of L1 and L2 speakers of Umbundu and Portuguese. The factors that have led to the decrease in Umbundu as a communication language among the inhabitants of Kuito and possible solutions to increase the use of the Umbundu language are also addressed. Keywords: first language (l1) - second language (l2) - angolan languages (al) - linguistic contact. I. I ntroduction ngola, as well as most of the Sub-Saharan nations, is a group of nations with several ethnic groups in plurilingual coexistence. Due to historical reasons associated with a long period of colonial domination, most African countries use only one official language of European origin. That is the case in all Portuguese-speaking African countries, such as Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tomé and Príncipe. The colonial powers occupied the various Angolan territories and grouped them, giving rise to new territorial configuration, different from the pre-colonial period. Portuguese people, encouraged by the outcomes of the Berlin conference, occupied 2 the 1 This research was financed with Nacional Funds through FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, within the scope of the projects: Ref.ª UIDB/00707/2020 e Ref.ª UIDP/00707/2020 [CEL/UÉ (UI&D 00707)/2020] 2 The occupational wars were called, according to Coelho (2015: 2), “(…) campaigns for pacification of «indigenous», «savage», «primitive» people of Angola.” territories that they deemed to be theirs by right, by the secular contacts previously established, fighting and destroying the territories’ socioeconomic and political structures (Coelho, 2015:2). The result of the land division did not consider the ethnolinguistic diversity of the people who inhabited the occupied territories. Angola is a plurilingual, multicultural, and multi-ethnic nation, a reality of great complexity at the linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and policies levels. This brings about the challenge of building national unity while, at the same time, preserving the respect and promotion of diversity (Leite, 2015:7). The Constitution of the Republic of Angola , in its 19th article, defines the language policy of the Angolan State: 1. The official language of the Republic of Angola shall be Portuguese. 2. The State shall promote the study, teaching, and usage of Angolan national languages (…). As to be expected, the adoption of Portuguese as the official language diminished the importance of the Angolan languages, which has led to a decrease in their usage. Since the formation of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola in 2010, not much has been done to honor the stated language policies. There is still no national language teaching policy that covers all regions of the country. In contrast, the Portuguese language seems to be gaining more and more speakers. Despite the immense linguistic diversity, in terms of national languages and their dialects, most of the Angolan population, especially in urban areas, speaks Portuguese, the communication and education language. The 2014 general census conducted in Angola shows that 71% of the Angolan population speaks and uses Portuguese as an L1. As the country is rejuvenating, there is a growing population of Portuguese-speaking individuals and a decrease in the number of Angolan national language speakers. If Angola was inhabited by 26 million people in 2014, that number today will be much higher (data from United Nations agencies show a very rapid population growth). The annual report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the population state, released on April 2, 2019, and published on the "Observador " 3 website on April 4, 2019, indicates that the population in Angola has almost tripled in the last 15 3 https://observador.pt/2019/04/09. A © 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue III Version I 59 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 G Author α : Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Évora, Research Centre in Letters 1 , Portugal. e-mail: aasilva@uevora.pt Author σ : Assistant Professor of Portuguese Language, Su perior Pedagogical School of Bié, Angola. e-mail: hermenetina@gmail.com