User:ACVMD/Equatoguinean Spanish

Equatoguinean Spanish
Equatoguinean Spanish (Español ecuatoguineano) is the variety of Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea. This is the only Spanish variety that holds national official status in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Cervantes Institute, in 2006-2007, 13.7% of the population had native-like or near native-like competency and about 74% of the population spoke it well. This constitutes a total of 87.7% that uses Equatorial Guinean Spanish as their second language. It is regulated by the Equatoguinean Academy of the Spanish Language.

Spanish has been an official language in Equatorial Guinea since its independence. Since 1984, French has also been an official language, which has been gaining ground from Spanish. Since then it has been a language used in the workplace. News is also given in French on the radio and television. Since 2007, Portuguese is also an official language, however, Spanish is the most widely spoken language.

History
Spanish Guinea (along with the islands of Bioko, formerly Fernando Pó) became a Spanish colony after being obtained from Portugal in exchange for American territories in 1778 under the First Treaty of San Ildefonso. Full colonization of the continental interior was not established until the end of the 19th century. The present nation of Equatorial Guinea became independent on October 12, 1968

After independence, with the dictatorship of Francisco Macias, Spanish was persecuted although its use was maintained to dictate laws and in international relations. In addition, Spanish was the only written language since the native languages (Budi, Ndowe, El Bisio, and the Bujena) are of oral tradition. At present, Spanish is recognized by its constitution.

Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa. It is also one of the richest thanks to the oil and gas deposits found there. The country maintains its own diversity of languages, but Spanish is the national language of official language and inter-ethnic communication.

Spanish is spoken in Bioko and the coastal area of ​​Río Muni by 90% of the population and in interior areas of the continent by about 60% and 70% of the population. Their knowledge is also related to the socioeconomic class of the speaker; Spanish in Equatorial Guinea is seen as a continuum between the more standardized varieties that speak the intellectual class down to a basic level spoken by farmers, fishermen, servants, etc. Many of them are illiterate and learn Spanish on the go, mixing it a lot with their mother tongues.

Since the French Cultural Center of Malabo was founded in 1982, French has spread rapidly among the population. The Government, considering that all its neighboring countries (and, therefore, its most immediate economic partners) are French-speaking, made the language official two years later. At present, there is a dynamic process of «miscegenation» of both languages.

Expectations
Although Spanish is currently in good standing in Equatorial Guinea, it runs the risk of losing its importance or even disappearing due to the influence of French, English and Portuguese. English due to the presence of North American oil companies; French because neighboring countries are French-speaking and Portuguese for the same reason.

Teodoro Obiang, the President of Equatorial Guinea  created the Equatorial Guinean Academy of the Spanish Language in October 2013. José Manuel Blecua Perdices, director of the Royal Spanish Academy, announced that for the first time the Dictionary of the RAE would contain terms from Guinean Spanish. In April 2014 Teodoro Obiang was invited to give lectures in Spanish in Africa at the Cervantes Institute in Brussels.

Linguistic Features
The first studies of Spanish as it was spoken in Equatorial Guinea are from Castillo Barril (1964, 1969). In these studies, the author concludes that the Spanish spoken by each ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea differs because the Bantu, Pidgin or Creole language they speak transfers different characteristics to the Spanish spoken by Equatorial Guineans, which at that time was generally a second language.

Equatoguinean Spanish is more like Peninsular Spanish than American Spanish dialects. Here are some features of Equatoguinean Spanish:


 * Both syllable- and word-final /s/ are strongly pronounced.
 * /ɾ/ and /r/ are merged. There is a total absence of the multiple vibrating phoneme "rr", making carro and caro homophones
 * Articles are omitted.
 * The pronoun usted can be used with the tú verbal conjugation.
 * There is no distinction between indicative and subjunctive moods.
 * Vosotros is used interchangeably with ustedes.
 * The preposition en replaces a to mark a destination: voy en Bata instead of voy a Bata.

Comparison to Caribbean Spanish
According to John Lipski, a comparison between the Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea and Caribbean Spanish does not hint at an influence of African languages in Caribbean Spanish, despite some earlier theories. Both varieties of Spanish are very different. The main influence on the Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea seems to be the varieties spoken by native Spanish colonizers. In a different paper, however, Lipski admits that the phonotactics of African languages might have reinforced, in Caribbean Spanish, the consonant reduction that was already taking place in Spanish from Southern Spain.