“Ti Zé quando chupa a mbeta começa a sabular”: towards a sociolinguistic analysis of Angolan Portuguese slang

Abstract

Although Angolan Portuguese (AP) essentially follows the norm of European Portuguese (EP), there are, in fact, significant differences between the two varieties concerning the most diverse linguistic structures. In Angola, the profusion of contacts between languages and diverse peoples throughout its history stands out as an overriding factor in distancing the afore mentioned structures, thus setting up in the Angolan space a coexistence of the Portuguese language with the native languages, mostly of Bantu origin, in a sociolinguistic environment of idiomatic imposition. This hybridization results in a metaphorically-mestizo variety which from the post-independence period gave rise to a particular slang as an emblem of Angolan identity. This study of sociolinguistic nature analyses uses of slang in AP, by contrasting them, whenever possible, with EP. For this purpose, we resorted to the analysis of a survey addressed at 114 interviewees, which showed that Angolan slang has even influenced the European variety of Portuguese.