35.2184, Review: Dictionary of Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa: Baldi (2023)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-2184. Mon Aug 05 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.2184, Review: Dictionary of Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa: Baldi (2023)

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Date: 05-Aug-2024
From: Joana Aguiar [ijoana.aguiar at gmail.com]
Subject: Language Acquisition: Baldi (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.3638

AUTHOR: Sergio Baldi
TITLE: Dictionary of Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of
Sub-Saharan Africa
SERIES TITLE: Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture
PUBLISHER: Brill
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Joana Aguiar

Lexical cross-contamination results from language contact and language
influence that mirror not only power relations but also dominance in
specific areas of influence (commerce, trading, technology, and
political or cultural supplantation, among others). The influence of
European languages in other languages and the extension of the
loanwords are often documented in bilingual dictionaries and dispersed
volumes of different extensions and objectives, usually focusing on
one recipient language, the language into which the word was borrowed.
The "Dictionary of Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of
Sub-Saharan Africa" by Sergio Baldi offers a comprehensive perspective
on the influence of Portuguese on the multiple languages spoken in
Sub-Saharan Africa.

The “Dictionary of Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of
Sub-Saharan Africa” is an invaluable research work that combines
different sources (dictionaries, grammar books, and scientific
research papers) and systematises the Portuguese loanwords in
Sub-Saharan languages. Besides the linguistic explanation, it offers a
needed historical and socio-cultural contextualisation, tackling
relevant social vectors of linguistic influence, such as trading
routes, the Christianization process led by Portuguese missionaries,
and even the influence of Portuguese in words from the semantic domain
of gaming and gambling.

This dictionary gathers helpful linguistic information not only for
students and researchers who study morphology, language contact, or
the history of language but also for anthropologists and scholars from
other scientific areas interested in language and linguistic
fieldwork. Additionally, this volume is stimulating for curious people
who want to know more about the linguistic influence of the Portuguese
language in Africa.

SUMMARY

This reference volume is structured in three major parts: (i)
Introduction, which is further divided into four subsections on
Portuguese language, African loanwords in Portuguese, African
languages, and methodology (pages 1-88); (ii) the entry list or the
Dictionary itself (pages 91-288); and (iii) Bibliography and indexes
(pages 289-351). A list of abbreviations is provided at the beginning
of the volume. The Abbreviation section comprises grammatical
abbreviations as well as the authors’ names of the cited sources.
Overall, the volume is well structured and organised, facilitating the
reading and consultation.

As mentioned above, the dictionary itself is preceded by an
Introduction section. Within the Introduction section, there are four
subsections. These provide insightful information on the historical
context of the Portuguese presence in coastal Africa and give an
overview of the influence of the Portuguese language on African
languages (and vice versa).

Section 1 is entitled “Portugal and African Languages”. It succinctly
explores the relevance of Portuguese missionaries in describing the
main languages spoken by the native peoples and in producing religious
material, such as catechisms, in local languages. In this chapter, the
author also justifies the methodological decisions made due to the
numerous sources consulted when preparing this volume and
problematises loanwords' frequent intertwining linguistic origins.

Section 2, "African loanwords in Portuguese", delves into some
Portuguese words borrowed from African languages, namely Kimbundu. The
author highlights that, in some cases, the loan trajectory is not
unequivocal, as there are terms from African languages integrated into
European Portuguese via Brazilian Portuguese. This subsection also
makes reference to the cultural background of some loanwords in
Swahili. These may be grouped under three semantic fields: card games,
firearms, and ordnance. This is not always the case in all African
languages with Portuguese loanwords. In Temne, for example, the author
states that surviving loanwords fall under the semantic domain of
trade activities.

Section 3 explores the structure of African Languages. This section is
dedicated to the characterisation of Bantu, West Atlantic, and Gur
languages. The author systematically explores the noun classes of
these languages and, when relevant, provides information on their
morphology, meaning, and semantic characterisation. In addition, for
each African language, we find information on the distribution of
Portuguese loanwords according to the noun class.

Besides these sections, which are dedicated to some linguistic aspects
of Portuguese and Sub-Saharan languages, the author dedicates section
4 to explaining the microstructure of the dictionary of loanwords and
the methodological decisions made. Moreover, the author refers to the
constraints related to data access and the reliability of some sources
consulted.

Section 4 also includes a thorough list of the Sub-Saharan languages,
and the works consulted. It is worth mentioning that Baldi makes
reference to the linguistic diversity of Sub-Saharan Africa (even
mentioning some of the variants of each language), providing their
geographical distribution and the estimated number of speakers.
Although the Introduction section aggregates indispensable
considerations that frame the Portuguese loanwords from the historical
and linguistic point of view, this section could have been enriched
with a map of the African languages covered in the volume.

The Bibliography compiles the references and works consulted, ranging
from the end of the 17th century (see Dias 1697) to more recent
publications, including research papers, dictionaries, grammars, and
encyclopaedias.

At the end of the book, besides the bibliography, there are three
valuable indexes: (i) index of English keywords translated from
Portuguese; (ii) index of Portuguese words borrowed into African
languages; and (iii) index of the scientific names of plants and
animals in Latin.

The dictionary itself consists of 197 pages  (91-288) and contains 983
alphabetised entries. Regarding the microstructure of the dictionary,
each entry is organised as follows: headwords classified in
alphabetical order, etymological information, and translation into
English. Headwords of Arabic origin are accompanied by the source from
which the information was taken. Information on the lexical category
(part-of-speech label) is available if loan terms are not nouns. In
some cases, this initial information is followed by a comment on the
origin of the lexical term or the loaning process.

Under each entry, the African languages into which the Portuguese
etymon was borrowed are listed in alphabetical order. Once again, the
sources from which the information was taken are cited. The author
also provides the loanword term and its meaning for each African
language. In most cases, there are no semantic differences in the
meaning of the loanwords in the African languages listed. Nonetheless,
this volume includes some fascinating cases that are worth being
mentioned. Consider, for example, the Portuguese etymon “faca" (knife
in English), which in the majority of the languages is mapped as
“knife”, but in Bambara, it means "small imported knife", and in
Mandingo, it means “European import knife and especially pocket
knife”. Other semantic nuances are found in “camisa” (shirt) or
“carro”(car).

EVALUATION

Regrettably, the dictionary entries do not provide the phonetic
transcription or any other type of systematic information regarding
the pronunciation of the loanwords in the African languages under
analysis. Although we find scarce phonetic symbols and diacritics
(both acute and grave, typically used to mark stress) in the
loanwords, no table or annexe that conventionalises their use is
available, leaving room for misinterpretations.

The dictionary entries could also be enriched with example sentences
and (when applicable) explanations regarding their pragmatic and
idiomatic use. Another criticism that may be drawn is related to the
fact that some footnotes are meagre in explaining the methodological
choices adopted. Take Footnote 146, for example, in which the author
declares: "Sacleaux (1939: 219a) gives it as a loanword from French; I
do not agree," without further explaining the assertion.

Even though some minor critiques may be drawn, the "Dictionary of
Portuguese Loanwords in the Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa" is an
invitation to explore the intertwined fertilisation loan processes
from Portuguese into Sub-Saharan languages. Besides the significant
size of the dictionary section (197 pages), the volume fulfils the
extensive goals proposed by the author: "[to provide] the Africanist
scholar with a tool to identify the possible Portuguese origin of
terms present in African languages and (...) [to offer] (...) an
overview of the presence of Portuguese lexicon in African languages."
Besides these two macro-objectives, this reference volume has a
multiplier effect, as it inspires us to take a closer look at
Portuguese loanwords and opens room for further research on the
influence of Portuguese in other languages.

REFERENCES

Dias, Pedro. 1697. Arte da lingua de Angola : offerecida a Virgem
Senhora N. do Rosario, Mãy, & Senhora dos mesmos Pretos, pelo P. Pedro
Dias da Companhia de Jesu. Lisboa:  officina de Miguel Deslandes,
Impressor de Sua Magestade.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Joana Aguiar
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joana-Aguiar-4
https://www.cienciavitae.pt/portal/en/1715-E97E-4D82

Invited Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança
since 2016. PhD in Language Sciences - Specialisation in
Sociolinguistics. Has integrated research projects funded by the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology in phonological
frequency patterns, sociolinguistic variation, and online hate speech.
Her main research areas are language variation, syntax, and forensic
linguistics. Integrates the European COST Action CA22126 - European
Network On Lexical Innovation (ENEOLI). Currently developing research
on the sociolinguistic profile of the Portuguese migrant community in
Andorra (Cátedra Camões / University of Andorra).



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