Portuguese in Mozambique ( port. Português moçambicano ) is one of the national variants of Portuguese, the only official language of the Republic of Mozambique (enshrined in the 1990 constitution ), the fourth most native language in the country and the main language of the population of the capital city of Maputo. Used since the end of the XV century. It relies generally on European Portuguese in the written norm (until 2008), in vocabulary and orthoepy, but modern Brazilian influences are also noticeable. According to the latest national census of 1997, about 40% of the population speaks Portuguese, mainly as a lingua franca , and for 6.5% it is a native language. Recently, with the spread of media and literacy, both figures tend to grow rapidly. The African languages of Mozambique also enrich the Portuguese language in this country with new words and expressions.
Content
Demolingistics
According to the 1997 census:
- 39.6% of the total population speaks Portuguese
- Including 87.0% of the population of the capital Maputo .
- Including 50.4% of men and 20.7% of women.
- Including 72.4% of urban residents and 36.6% of rural residents.
- 6.5% of residents said that they consider Portuguese as their native language, of which 3.0% (489 thousand) is the only native language.
- Including 25.0% of the population of the capital consider it their home.
- 8.8% of Mozambicans stated that they use it as the main language of household and intrafamily communication.
- Including 40% of residents of the capital said that they use it as the main language of household items and intra-family communication.
Historical and social context
The Portuguese language was brought to Mozambique at the end of the 15th century by Portuguese colonialists. Despite the fact that the Portuguese themselves never made up a significant proportion of the country's population, with the exception of the capital Lawrence-Marques (modern Maputo ), it was he who became the official language of independent Mozambique because of its tribal neutrality and long written history . It was the common language of the autochthonous elites of the most diverse tribes who received education in Portugal. Portuguese language played an important role in the rhetoric of the country's national liberation movement. In modern Mozambique, no autochthonous language prevails absolutely. In the first years after independence, most of the Portuguese left the country. The country is also quite far from the rest of the Luzosphere . This explains the fact that the number of native speakers of Portuguese in Mozambique fell and for a long time remained at a much lower level than in Angola .
Modern Development
One of the consequences of the civil war was the internal movement of refugees from north to south and the increasing urbanization of the population of Mozambique. These factors contributed to the growth of the spread of the Portuguese language. Particularly should describe the language situation in the city of Maputo , the capital of Mozambique. According to the 2007 census, 55.2% of the residents of the capital said that Portuguese was their main everyday language , and 42.9% named it their mother tongue . [1] Ten years before, there were only 25% of them. The growth of the Portuguese suburbanization of the capital contributes to the growth of the Portuguese.
See also
- Portuguese in Angola
Notes
Links
- Moçambique: O estado da Língua Portuguesa - Instituto Camões (port.)
- Moçambique: português ganha espaço na população jovem - Diário Liberdade (port.)
- ASPECTOS DO PORTUGUÊS DE MOÇAMBIQUE (port.)