Official language politics in Cape Verde

Authors

  • Cloris Porto Torquato

Keywords:

language politics, Cape Verde, colonial period.

Abstract

The present work analyzes the official language politics carried on in Cape Verde (Africa) in the colonial period. The administrative-juridic documents of the Portuguese colonial
system are the subject of our analisys (decrees and administrative instructions). The analysis, grounded on the conception of language politics formulated by Calvet (2002; 2005; 2007), reveals that the actions over the languages carried on by the Portuguese colonial administration were related to the construction of the Portuguese Nation-Empire and constituted themselves as answers to the international organisms. This occurred as an attempt to justify the maintenance of the
colonialism, as well as a legal mechanism of State control over the ultramarine populations. These politics are characterized by the imposition of the Portuguese language upon the Cape-Verdians.

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Published

2016-04-04

How to Cite

Torquato, C. P. (2016). Official language politics in Cape Verde. Estudos Linguísticos (São Paulo. 1978), 40(2), 1045–1059. Retrieved from https://revistas.gel.org.br/estudos-linguisticos/article/view/1360

Issue

Section

Sociolinguística e Dialetologia