Repertorios multilingües en Guinea Ecuatorial en el tránsito del mundo fernandino al colonial hispánico

Abstract

This article deals with the history of the different ethnolinguistic groups of Santa Isabel (present-day Malabo, Bioko, Equatorial Guinea) during the second half of the 19th century, in order to contextualize the background against which the Spanish language was implanted. I use historical sources to establish the multilingual repertoires of Spaniards, (Afro-) Cubans, “Fernandians”, Krumen, “Portuguese” and Bubis. Finally, I reconstruct the dynamics of linguistic interactions among these groups. In addition
to the omnipresence of the English language, a restructured Spanish-based vehicular language was used, which constituted the first historical context in which Spanish played a role in Equatorial Guinea.