Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Setting I 66

The Setting

3.1 The linguistic situation in Mozambique

3.1.1 African Languages and Portuguese

Mozambique is a multilingual country. In describing the linguistic
panorama, it is important not only to report on the number of languages
spoken, but also the degree of their mutual intelligibility : all African
languages used belong to the Bantu group of languages and present
therefore some similarities, but the number of varieties is quite large .
Some of the languages have lingua franca function, and are used in a
wider speech community. This traditional bilingualism is to be taken into
∞nsideration, as it is part of the linguistic environment of the child
entering school (Meijer,1980), but it refers more to adults entering into
contact with other groups through travel or work than to schoolchildren.
However, a survey conducted In Maputo shows that between 11 and 14% of
school children aged 10-11 are multilingual, l.e. know more than one
African Language (.IFDE 83a). It is estimated that 5 or 6 languages (see
Annex 3.1) would secure an effective communication in the country
(Meijer,1980); radio stations broadcast in 7 languages that are called
'Iational Languages', and are used occasionally in political displays
alongside the Portuguese text. The policy of assimilation of the colonial
regime had as one consequence little interest in linguistic research on
Mozambican languages, but as all of them (with the exception of Makua)
are spoken in neighbouring countries, information can be drawn from

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