Sylwia Mikołajczak

Abstract

Portuguese is a native language of only a handful of people in Mozambique. However, it successfully plays the role of a common language of communication in the field of politics and economics. At the same time, it is a determinant of social status and, in the world of literature, it gives one the opportunity to break through to the readers around the Globe. Portuguese in Mozambique presents many differences from the European standard, and the specific characteristics of this variant can be found in the texts of Mia Couto. The purpose of this article is to present the differences between the variant of Mozambiqueand the European model of Portuguese, mainly in the field of morphosyntax, observed in the texts of Mia Couto. The marked differences can be seen, among others, in the use of prepositions, order of pronominal elements, in the structure of periphrastic and passive constructions, and the selection of verbal arguments. The features are highly repetitive, but at the same time, they occur quite irregularly, together with the structures accepted by the standard. It is, therefore, difficult to speak of a systematic language variant, but surely it is on its way to be established.

Keywords

• mozambican portuguese
• language differences
• comparative syntax