Pera saberem pronunciar o que acharem escrito: ler quimbundo, língua estrangeira, no século XVII

Abstract

The Society of Jesus had to supply its missionaries in Angola and Brazil with materials in Kimbundu. The earliest known book in Kimbundu (and Portuguese) is "Gentio de Angola sufficientemente instruido nos mysterios de nossa sancta Fé", a catechism written by the Jesuit Fathers Francesco Pacconio and Antonio do Couto (Lisboa: Domingos Lopes Rosa, 1642). Fifty five years later the "Arte da lingua de Angola" was published. This book was a Kimbundu grammar written in Portuguese by Father Pedro Dias (Lisbon: Miguel Deslandes, 1697). In its first pages Dias’ grammar established the similarity between spelling words out in Kimbundu and Latin, and some divergence too. Both books were intended for Jesuit missionaries while beginners in the learning of the African language. This work focuses on reading the Kimbundu examples in the Arte da lingua de Angola. I try to support the hypothesis of a kind of reading sound-oriented, with the meaning being extracted from the part written in Portuguese. Experimental studies on reading and historical documents are the source for the evidences.