As línguas nativas de São Tomé e Príncipe como línguas de herança

The three native languages of São Toméand Príncipe, Angolar, Forro, and Lung’ie, whose formation dates back to the settlement of the islands, are perhaps the most visible face of a new society and new identities that have emerged. Once widely spoken, they are now minority threatened minority languages in light of the hegemonic role of Portuguese. Due to their social and linguistic characteristics, we propose that they should (also) be treated as heritage languages, with heritage speakers, whose decline is observed simultaneously at the individual level (attrition) and societal level (shift). In view ofthe increasingly critical situation in which this linguistic heritage finds itself, we briefly review their state of documentation and planning and outline a few general points concerning regarding the process of linguistic revitalization.