Abstract
This study investigates the use of and attitudes towards, Spanish in the multilingual Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the only African country with Spanish as an official language. The Spanish dialect of Equatorial Guinea is an understudied area, although descriptive research on the Spanish language spoken there began in the 1950s. Very few research studies have been carried out on the sociolinguistic dynamic of this multilingual country. Four scales of language vitality were utilized and it was demonstrated that Spanish in Equatorial Guinea is not endangered and continues to thrive. An online survey was also performed to assess Spanish language use and attitudes towards the Equatoguinean variety of Spanish. Respondents were highly educated, middle-class and spoke at least two languages. It was observed that Spanish was the functional language in almost all the sociocultural contexts or domains. Equatorial Guineans share that Spanish is important to their identity as the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa.
Highlights
This study investigates the use of and attitudes towards, Spanish in the multilingual Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the only African country with Spanish as an official language (Lipski 2000; Schlumpf 2016)
The results of the survey are summarized under four categories: individual Spanish usage, societal use of Spanish, opinions about Spanish and attitudes toward Equatorial Guinean Spanish
The objective of the project was to answer two research questions: (1) how widespread is the use of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea in comparison with indigenous languages? and (2) what are the attitudes of citizens towards Equatorial Guinean Spanish? With respect to the first question, it was found that Spanish is the most preferred language used in individual interactions and in many social domains
Summary
This study investigates the use of and attitudes towards, Spanish in the multilingual Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the only African country with Spanish as an official language (Lipski 2000; Schlumpf 2016). 72% in the Continental region (Rio Muni) (Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Guinea Ecuatorial 2015). A linguistic survey shows that Spanish shares its official status in Equatorial Guinea with two other. Autochthonous languages are recognized as integral to the national culture (Ley Fundamental de Guinea Ecuatorial 2012). Annobones/Fa d’ambô and pidgin English (pichinglis or pichi) are spoken, the latter is not officially recognized due to its stigmatized status in society and is treated as an “invisible language”.
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