The Spanish Language of Equatorial Guinea

Abstract

The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea is one of the best kept secrets among world languages, and when men tioned, immediately evokes curiosity and wonder. Many people have never even heard of Equatorial Guinea, and few know that Spanish is the official language of a sub Saharan African nation. Even fewer have ever heard Equa torial Guinean Spanish or have any information about its characteristics. Given that Spanish is in contact with sev eral African languages of the Bantu family, some might sup pose that Guinean Spanish would have the characteristics attributed to language in previous centu ries (e.g. in Golden Age Spain, then in various South Ameri can nations, and finally in the Spanish Caribbean), or that it would bear some resemblance to the various Afro-Hispanic and Afro-Portuguese Creole languages found in West Africa and the Caribbean (Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, S?o Tome and Principe, Annobon, Afro-Colombian Palenquero, Papia mentu, etc.). Alternatively, given the minimal usage and pro ficiency in ex-colonial official languages among many other West African nations, it might be supposed that Spanish has no real presence in Equatorial Guinean life, but is rather a political symbol used actively only by a privileged elite. In fact, Spanish of Equatorial Guinea has none of the charac teristics just enumerated, although it shares enough internal coherence to be considered a legitimate sub-dialect of world Spanish. As a result, a detailed description of the status of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea transcends the limits of this