“We need to adopt a language policy of inclusion, which means that we recognise Portuguese, an Angolan language of European origin, as Angolan languages, as Angolan languages of African origin, as Angolan sign language and the Braille system,” said the director of the National Language Institute of Angola (ILNA), João Pedro.
The legislative package on Angolan languages, which establishes “equity” between the languages spoken in the country, was drawn up by the Ministry of Culture and is now before the Council of Ministers.
According to the director, today the Portuguese language and the Angolan languages coexist in the same space and the important thing is to adopt "a linguistic policy that takes into account the presence of all these languages, that there are no hegemonic languages”.
“It is important that all of them participate in the development of Angola”, he stressed.
In statements made during the International Colloquium on Methodologies for the Treatment of Non-Graphic Languages (without standardized graphic representation), which began this Wednesday in Luanda, the director of ILNA recalled that the Portuguese language is the only official language in Angola, pointing out the need for Angolan languages to have the same status.
“A majority argues that we should have some languages of African origin as co-official, at least”, he stated, noting that the Constitution of the Republic of Angola recognizes the Portuguese language as an official language, “but also recognizes Angolan languages of African origin”.
João Pedro also highlighted the importance of the legislative package, within the framework of the linguistic policy of inclusion, stating that the legal diploma advocates the cohabitation of the Portuguese language with Angolan languages of African origin.
He explained that the inclusion of the Braille system in the Angolan language package is the result of fair complaints from Angolans with disabilities who felt marginalized.
The official language of the Republic of Angola is Portuguese. The State values and promotes the study, teaching and use of the other languages of Angola, as well as the main languages of international communication, as stated in article 19 of the Constitution.
The International Colloquium on Methodologies for the Treatment of Non-Graphic Languages is promoted by the Ministry of Culture and ILNA within the scope of the International Mother Language Day and ends this Thursday.
