Arte da língua de Angola de Pedro Dias (1697) sob o prisma da dialetologia kimbundu

Arte da Língua de Angola by Dias (1697), historically the first recorded Kimbundu Grammar, has been the subject of passionate interpretations in Brazil, including the argument that Kimbundu was the common language used in Salvador by all the Bantu slaves during the XVII century, in spite of the very diverse origins of the slaves. Historical and field data collected in Angola by an integrated research team of Brazilian and Angolan Bantuists point to the pedagogical decision taken by the Jesuits to use the Mbaka-Kahenda subdialect spoken in the vicinity of the famous Cahenda Mission located near Ambaca, as an imposed operational common tool for indoctrinating the various Angolan ethnic groups and also the Bantu slaves. The supposed use of the Kimbundu language, described by Dias as the general language in Salvador and in Quilombo de Palmares, would appear to be an historically groundless hypothesis.