Linguistic Hybridity and Workplace Power in Chinese–Angolan Construction Sites: A Small-Scale Exploratory Study of Pidgin Play in Benguela

This study examines an emergent workplace contact variety used in Chinese–Angolan construction sites in Benguela Province, Angola. The research focuses on interactions between Chinese supervisors and technical staff and Angolan construction workers at the Catumbela, Baía-Farta, and Lobito project sites. These multilingual workplaces bring Portuguese, Mandarin, Angolan Portuguese, and local Angolan languages such as Umbundu, Kikongo, and Kimbundu into contact. The study investigates how workers maintain communication, how linguistic hybridity is deployed strategically, which language functions as the principal lexifier or superstrate, and how superstrate influence is manifested in the lexical, morphosyntactic, phonological, and pragmatic organization of the variety.

language contact; workplace pidgin; linguistic hybridity; Angolan Portuguese

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