A expansão colonial e o estudo das línguas exóticas pelos europeus nos séculos XV e XVI: o caso da África

Abstract

In the XVIth century Portugal acquainted itself with those languages spoken in Africa. In fact, besides of Arabic, already known by many sailors, many other languages were revealed to Europeans and they became known by many voyagers, merchants and missionaries. Meanwhile, only in the XVIIth century, in 1659, it was published the first grammar of an African language. African diaspora, beside of displacing Negroes away from their own land, would displace to other continents the missionary effort at convertting those people into Christianity. In this sense, it is necessary to refer to African languages grammars written in America. As an example of that, one should mention the grammar by father Pdero Dias, written in Brazil and published in 1698, the title of which was "Arte da Língua d'Angola".