Abstract
This article discusses the loss of the creole languages on São Tomé Island and the societal move from multilingualism to monolingualism in Portuguese. It argues that recognizing the ideologies attached to these languages is key in understanding the language shift, but also the processes leading toward monolingualism. This qualitative study is based on three main theories: Language as social practice, language ideology, and monoglot standardization. Data comes from ethnographic fieldwork and sociolinguistic interviews with 56 speakers from the capital of São Tomé and Príncipe. I argue that the existence of multilingualism on São Tomé Island is not valued at a societal level because of the pejorative ideologies that have been held about the creole languages since colonial times. Also, the use of the creole languages stood as a problem for the creation of a unified Santomean nation, as the different racial groups on the islands had their own creole. Results show how ideologies about the Portuguese language and its association with national unity, modernity, and European-ness favored its expansion on São Tomé Island and a move toward monolingualism.
Highlights
This article focuses on the growing loss of societal multilingualism on São Tomé Island as a consequence of ideologies held regarding the use of Portuguese and creole languages
I argue that the existence of multilingualism on São Tomé Island is not valued at a societal level because of the pejorative ideologies that have been held about the creole languages since colonial times
Portuguese was associated with national unity, modernity, European-ness, and the assumption that it would facilitate the creation of bonds with the international community (Espírito Santo 1983)
Summary
This article focuses on the growing loss of societal multilingualism on São Tomé Island as a consequence of ideologies held regarding the use of Portuguese and creole languages. From the seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century, Portuguese in São Tomé and Príncipe was in a diglossic relation (Ferguson 1959) with three creole languages indigenous to the islands (Forro, Angolar, Lung’ie)—a situation that favored the maintenance of the creoles on the islands. This article offers a social perspective on the processes of becoming collectively monolingual It situates the study of the growing loss of multilingualism on São Tomé Island in the domains of ideology and social practices (cf Heller 2007).
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