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

During the initial contact between Portuguese and Umbundu, the dominant idiom maintained an approximation to the standard of European Portuguese, in lexical, phonetic and morphosyntactic terms. Over time, an Umbundu Portuguese (PU) began to acquire characteristics that were increasingly distant from the European Portuguese. Thus, when the population census says that most of the Angolan population speaks and uses the Portuguese language as a means of communication, even in family relations, we must understand it as having its own variants as verified in "Kimbundizado" Portuguese (KP) – Portuguese spoken with solid traits of Kimbundu - , "Bakonguizado" Portuguese (BP) - Portuguese spoken with solid traits of Kikongo -, "Chokwizado" Portuguese (PC) - Portuguese spoken with solid characteristics of Chokwe, etc. This reality happens not only among those who have Portuguese as their L2 but also among those who, without the solid influence of any AL in their daily life since birth, have Portuguese as the language of communication, distanced, however, from the standard of the EP. However, it is a fact that the number of AL speakers has been decreasing over time. This increase in speakers of AP (Angolan Portuguese) and the consequent decrease in speakers of AL, contrary to what one might imagine, is a phenomenon that started during colonial times, as Costa (2015:63) confirms: Já antes da independência, num estudo feito na época, verificou-se que, em Luanda, o número de falantes monolingues Kimbundu tinha diminuído, favorecendo assim a subida da percentagem de falantes bilingues kimbundu/ português . 7 This same fact is also pointed out by Manuel (2015:14) who, citing various sources, points to the growth of Portuguese as the language of a growing number of Angolans: O facto de o Português se ter expandido durante este tempo fez com que o número de falantes que adquiriram esta língua como L1 e como L2 aumentasse. Pode ilustrar- se este facto apresentando os resultados de dois estudos. O de Endruschat (1990), que se centra no ano da independência (1975), estima que 1 a 2% da população tinha o português como L1 e 15 a 20% tinha-o como L2, apontando para uma tendência em que a maioria da população tem o português como L2 . 8 Portuguese does not possess and, sometimes, in certain types of discourses, when it wants to produce stylistic effects, emphasizing certain expressions. 7 Before independence, in a study done at that time, it was found that in Luanda, the number of monolingual Kimbundu speakers had decreased, thus favoring the rise in the percentage of bilingual Kimbundu/ Portuguese speakers. (Costa, 2015: 63) 8 The fact that Portuguese has expanded during this time has meant that the number of speakers who have acquired this language as L1 and as L2 has increased. Two studies illustrate these results. Endruschat (1990), which focuses on the year of independence (1975), estimates that 1 to 2% of the population had Portuguese as In certain situations, it is advantageous to use Portuguese as a means of communication because its use will capture a much wider audience than when using only one AL. As Fonseca (2012: 5) points out, some leaders who passed through Angola expressed themselves in their national languages, but only when they went to regions where that language was spoken. If a leader's AL was, for example, Umbundu, he could not go to regions of Northern Angola using his AL, because he would be understood only by a small number of people, which could be interpreted as a lack of respect. The studies made by Manuel (2015:14), citing several authors, show that in 2014, 42% of the population under nine years had Portuguese as L1. In the age group between 10 and 19 years percentage was 34%, which clearly shows the increasingly accentuated growth of Portuguese as the top language in communication among Angolans, with a consequent decrease in the use of AL. From early on, the existence of an official language was understood as a factor of unity and cohesion among people. Adopting of a single language that unites different people within the same territory was a good strategy to achieve this goal. (Fonseca, 2012:4). III. L1 and L2 of K uito's I nhabitants The mother tongue (L1) of an individual is the language spoken at home by close relatives and in the surrounding community. It is not necessarily the parents’, grandparents’, or any other local language. In Angola it is not unusual that different national languages coexist in the same community, and that is the case of the city of Kuito. For a language to be considered a speaker's L1, it must be part of the speaker's thought process, for it is in this language they think, talk, argue, or refute about the most diverse aspects of human life. A reasonable understanding of a particular language does not make it the L1 of a speaker. Although, in the distant past, Umbundu was the language most spoken by the natives of Kuito, after independence, there was a reversal of this trend, aggravated by the Angolan government's decision to elect Portuguese as the official language. To speak Portuguese boosts citizens' integration into the formal realm of society, making it easier to gain employment and facilitate contact between people of different origins and ethnic groups. The armed conflict that devastated the country for almost three decades had a strong influence concerning this issue, as there was an inevitable polarisation between the belligerent forces. To seek dividends, the people of the Ovimbundu region were, to their L1 and 15 to 20% had it as their L2, pointing to a trend whereby most of the population has Portuguese as their L2. (Manuel, 2015: 14) © 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue III Version I 61 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 G Preserving the Umbundu Language