Resumen de Reflections on Language Policy in African Countries with Portuguese as an Official Language

Mário Vilela

• This paper examines the place of Portuguese in Portugal's former African colonies. The postcolonial position of Portuguese in Africa is characterised by a complex relationship between Portuguese as the official language and the other languages of these countries. This means that postcolonial language planning has had to recognise the complementarity of languages which exists in African communities and to respond to the multilingual nature of Africa, especially in the area of education.