Languages of Guinea-Bissau
Voter education posters in the Kriol language for Guinea-Bissau legislative election, 2008, Biombo Region.
OfficialPortuguese
RecognisedBadyara, Bainouk-Gunyuño, Balanta-Kentohe, Bassari, Bayot, Biafada, Bijago, Fula, Jola-Felupe, Jola-Fonyi, Kasanga, Kobiana, Mandinka, Manjak, Mankanya, Mansoanka, Nalu, Papel, Soninke
VernacularGuinea-Bissau Creole
ForeignFrench, English
SignedGuinea-Bissau Sign Language
Keyboard layout
Languages of Guinea-Bissau
according to the 2009 Census[1]
Languages percent
Portuguese Creole
 
 90.4%
Portuguese
 
 32.1%
Fula
 
 16.0%
Balanta
 
 14.0%
French
 
 7.1%
Mandinka
 
 7.0%
Manjak
 
 5.0%
Papel
 
 3.0%
English
 
 2.9%
Felupe
 
 1.0%
Spanish
 
 0.5%
Russian
 
 0.1%
Other
 
 1.8%
The National Assembly with signs in Portuguese.

The official language of Guinea-Bissau is Portuguese, which was spoken by 32.1% of the population according to the 2009 census.[1] It is the language of instruction in schools, the language of literary production, the written press, legislation and administration.

The local lingua franca, spoken by 90.4% according to the same census, is a creole language on a Portuguese basis which officially is called Guinea-Bissau Creole but colloquially is called Crioulo or Kiriol.

Several indigenous African languages are spoken by about half of the population, much more in rural than in urban settings.

French is taught in schools as foreign language, because Guinea-Bissau is surrounded by French-speaking countries and is a full member of the Francophonie as well as the Lusophone CPLP.[2] English is also taught but to a lesser degree than French.

Guinea-Bissau Creole

In 1983, 44% of Guineans spoke Guinea-Bissau Creole,[3] in 1995 it was reported that Creole was spoken by 69% of the population,[2] and in 2009 by 90.4%.

Guinea-Bissau Creole is in the process of decreolization. As summary of his 2021 dissertation, João Fernando Cá states: Guinea-Bissau Creole "is in a process of continuous change as the society where it is spoken changes, detaching itself from its old modality and getting closer and closer to its base language, Portuguese, which gave way to the so-called Modern Guinean [creole language] which is more present in the speech of the young and literate people."[4]

Guinea-Bissau Creole is closely related to Cape Verdean Creole and the process of decreolization that occurs in Cape Verde in many aspects is similar the same process in Guinea-Bissau.

Native languages

Native languages include Balanta, Fula, Mandjak, Mandinka, Jola, and Papel.[2] The number of speakers of these languages are indicated by the table on the left.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Recenseamento Geral da População e Habitação 2009 Características Socioculturais" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estatística Guiné-Bissau. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Guinée-Bissau". Tlfq.ulaval.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
  3. ↑ A língua portuguesa: Guiné-Bissau
  4. ↑ João Fernando Cá: Aspectos linguísticos do Guineense: Reflexões acerca de uma língua, pages 95/96, 2021.

Further reading

  • Barbosa, José Augusto (2015). Língua e desenvolvimento: o caso da Guiné-Bissau [Language and development: the case of Guinea-Bissau] (Master's thesis) (in Portuguese). Universidade de Lisboa. hdl:10451/18319.
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