Sao Tome languages

São Tomé and Príncipe: A Linguistic Melting Pot Shaped by Centuries of Sugar, Coffee, and Cocoa Cultivation 

The creoles of today reflect a blend of languages brought by waves of slaves and workers over the centuries, leading to a linguistic variety that defines São Tomé and Príncipe's cultural and social identity.

The twin islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, despite their compact size and modest population, exhibit a rich tapestry of languages shaped by two seminal eras in their development: the 16th-century era of sugar cultivation and subsequent 19th and 20th-century coffee and cocoa production

The linguistic portfolio of the islands includes the official language of Portuguese, suffused with idiosyncratic local variations, alongside three endemic creoles: Santome and Angolar on São Tomé, and Lung'ie on Príncipe. The linguistic landscape is further diversified by the existence of Cape Verdean Creole, the Portuguese of Tonga, and remnants of African Bantu languages.

Beginning in the late 15th century, the islands experienced a profound societal transformation with Portuguese and African slaves intertwining culturally and linguistically. The ensuing creolization comprises two main periods: the initial settlement phase, from 1493 until the early sugarcane cultivation around 1520, and the subsequent plantation phase, lasting until the sugar industry's decline at the 16th century's close. The early settlement phase created conditions ripe for creolization as African slaves adopted Portuguese, the settlers' language, out of necessity.

Historically and linguistically, the early slaves in São Tomé likely hailed from present-day Nigeria's Benin region, where the Edo language from the Edoid group was predominantly spoken. This was a region with which the Portuguese had already established ties. The language of these early slaves formed the basis for the creole languages now found in the Gulf of Guinea. Around 1520, with the proliferation of plantations, the source of slaves shifted to Bantu-speaking territories like the Congo, and later to Angola, changing the linguistic landscape with the infusion of languages such as Kikongo and Kimbundu.

"Creole Genesis: How Portuguese-African Encounters Forged New Languages in São Tomé and Príncipe"

The interactions of Portuguese settlers and African slaves on the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe gave rise to unique creole languages, namely Santome, Angolar, Lung'ie, and Fa d'Ambô. A common creole origin ties these languages together, with the probable creation of a pidgin language evolving into a full-fledged creole among slave descendants.

The formation and spread of these languages are deeply connected to the "forro" community of manumitted slaves, who shaped and maintained the new linguistic identity. By the mid-17th century, the Santome language is documented, marking its historical presence.

In the 19th century, a formal recognition of the relatedness among three creoles was established, while Angolar—originally misclassified as Bantu—shares significant Bantu vocabulary but structurally aligns with the other Gulf of Guinea creoles. These creoles, derived from an ancestral proto-creole, have diverged to the extent that they now have limited mutual intelligibility.

"Edo Roots and Bantu Branches: Tracing the Evolution of Gulf of Guinea Creoles"

The linguistic analysis of creole languages in the Gulf of Guinea suggests they derived from a proto-creole in São Tomé that shares a structural affinity with the Edo language group rather than Bantu languages. The Edo influence is evident in their syntactic patterns.

Lung'ie, primarily spoken on Príncipe, exhibits the most substantial Edo lexicon retention and possesses unique phonological traits that suggest a direct link to the Edo-speaking regions. Conversely, Angolar, found on São Tomé, has incorporated a considerable amount of Kimbundu vocabulary from the Bantu language family, alongside some ancient Edo terms, indicating Kimbundu as an adstrate contributing lexical and phonological features without significantly altering the proto-creole's core structure.

The genesis of the proto-creole is proposed to have occurred primarily during the early Portuguese-Edo contact period, reflecting the initial demographic composition of slaves from the Kingdom of Benin. Lung'ie likely emerged shortly after isolation in the early 16th century, before the substantial influx of Bantu slaves into São Tomé, and retained more Edo influence. Fa d'Ambô, spoken in Ano Bom and reflecting a settlement from São Tomé, would harbor a more pronounced Bantu influence.

The creoles of Santome and Angolar, while coexisting on São Tomé, exhibit different evolutionary paths: Santome represents the continuation of the proto-creole, whereas Angolar's distinct genetic footprint is attributed to escaped slaves from plantations who might have been increasingly influenced by Kimbundu speakers from Angola during the 1530s. This led to a relexification that preserved the underlying structure of the original creole.

In essence, the analysis indicates that the Gulf of Guinea creoles, including Santome, Lung'ie, Fa d'Ambô, and Angolar, solidified into distinct languages by the 16th century, shaped by their initial formative experiences, geographical isolation, historical slave trade patterns, and varying degrees of later Bantu impact. Edo substrate had a foundational influence, while Bantu languages served more as a lexical supplement.

19th-century- New Crops, New Words: Contract Workers Transform São Tomé and Príncipe's Language Landscape

The mid-19th-century cocoa and coffee economies in São Tomé and Príncipe reshaped the islands' linguistic landscape through the influx of contract workers from Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, and other African locales. These workers imported their languages, with Cape Verdean Creole taking strong hold, especially on Príncipe Island and in certain plantations, while other African languages were less enduring. The Cape Verdeans, arriving often as families and with a more homogeneous language, managed to sustain their mother tongue. In contrast, the linguistic influence from Angola and Mozambique was less permanent, as workers from these regions were more frequently repatriated. The interaction of Kimbundu and Umbundu speakers led to the creation of a contact language dubbed the Portuguese of the Tongas, unique to each plantation's context. Post-independence, Tongas' Portuguese began assimilating with São Tomé Portuguese, but due to its diversity, it faces eventual disappearance, leaving minimal linguistic footprints.

The ascendancy of Portuguese over local creole languages  

In São Tomé and Príncipe, the ascendancy of Portuguese over local creole languages marks a significant linguistic shift since the islands' independence, moving away from an era of balanced bilingualism. Some attribute the decline in creole use, especially among younger generations, to the increasing influence of Portuguese. While Portuguese theoretically follows the European norm, local variances influenced by education level, socioeconomic status, and whether one is from an urban or rural area suggest the development of a distinctive São Tomean Portuguese dialect.

The interaction between Portuguese and the native creoles predominantly manifests in a lexical exchange. Yet, the influence of creole languages on the islands' Portuguese is profound, affecting not just vocabulary but also the grammatical structure of the official language. These trends position São Tomé and Príncipe uniquely among Lusophone African countries, where it is transitioning to a community that primarily uses Portuguese as its first language, potentially leading to the birth of a new Portuguese dialect.

Note : this information of this section is based on an publication:  Línguas de S. Tomé e Príncipe1 Tjerk Hagemeijer Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa  > LINK to the article