Portuguese language

Portuguese (português) is a Romance language predominantly spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and East Timor. With more than 200 million native speakers, Portuguese is one of the few languages spoken in such widely-distributed parts of the world, and is the fifth or sixth most-spoken first language in the world.

The language was spread worldwide in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Portugal created the first and the longest lived modern-world colonial and commercial empire (1415–1975), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China. As a result, Portuguese is now the official language of several independent countries and is widely spoken or studied as a second language in many others. There are still more than 20 Portuguese Creole languages. It is an important minority language in Andorra, Luxembourg and Namibia. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, including Paris in France and Boston, New Bedford, and Newark in the United States.

Portuguese is nicknamed A língua de Camões ("The language of Camões", after Luís de Camões, the author of The Lusiad); A última flor do Lácio ("The last flower of Latium"). Portuguese language speakers are known as Lusitanic or Lusophones.

History

Ajuda Library, created in the 15th century as "Royal Library". Mother of the Portuguese and Brazilian National Libraries. (courtesy IPPAR)

Portuguese developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from the spoken Latin language brought there by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. The language began to differentiate itself from other Romance languages after the fall of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions in the 5th century. It started to be used in written documents around the 9th century, and by the 15th century it had become a mature language with a rich literature.

Romanization

The Romans conquered the Western Iberian Peninsula, which they called Hispania: later part of the Roman provinces of Lusitania and Gallaecia, currently Portugal and Galiza (the northwestern region of Spain). Arriving on the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC, they brought with them the Roman people's language, Vulgar Latin, from which all Romance languages (also known as "New Latin languages") descend. Roman control of the western part of Hispania was not consolidated until the campaigns of Caesar Augustus in 26 BC, but already in the 2nd century BC southern Lusitania was Romanized, and very few traces of the native languages persist in modern Portuguese. Strabo, a 1st-century Greek geographer, comments in one book of his Geographia: "they have adopted the Roman customs, and they no longer remember their own language."

Lusitanic Romance

In the 3rd century the Roman emperor Diocletian split the Tarragonensis province in three and the Gallaecia province was created, western Hispania was then made of Lusitania in the south and Gallaecia in the north.

Between 409 A.D. and 711, as the Roman Empire was collapsing, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by peoples of Germanic origin, known by the Romans as Barbarians. The Barbarians (mainly Suevi and Visigoths) largely absorbed the Roman culture and language of the peninsula; however, since the Roman schools and administration were closed and Europe entered the Dark Ages, the Latin Vulgar language was left free to evolve on its own and the uniformity of the Peninsula was soon disrupted. In the western part of the Peninsula (today's Northern Portugal and Galicia), Vulgar Latin gained some local characteristics and in that region the Suevi settled, leading to the formation of the "Lusitanian Romance Language". The Germanic languages influenced Portuguese in words linked to the military, such as guerra ("war").

From 711, with the Moorish invasion of the Peninsula, Arabic was adopted as the administrative language in the conquered regions. However, the population continued to speak their Romance dialects, the Mozarabs; so that when the Moors were overthrown, the influence that they had exerted on the language was small. Its main effect was in the lexicon: modern Portuguese still has a large number of words of Arabic origin, especially relating to food, agriculture and crafts, which have no cognates in other Romance languages. But there is no loan word in the lexicon related to human feelings, all being of Latin origin. The Arabic influence is also visible in placenames throughout the Southern provinces, such as Algarve, Alfama and Fátima.

Proto-Portuguese

The earliest surviving records of a distinctively Portuguese language are administrative documents from the ninth century, still interspersed with many phrases in Latin. Today this phase is known as "Proto-Portuguese" (spoken in the period between the 9th to the 12th century).

Old Portuguese: Portuguese-Galician Period

Portugal became an independent country in 1143, with King Afonso Henriques. In the first period of "Old Portuguese" (from 12th to the 14th century), the language came gradually into general use in the following centuries. In 1290, king Diniz created the first Portuguese University in Lisbon (the Estudo Geral) and decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the "Vulgar language" (i.e. Vulgar Latin) should be used in preference to Classical Latin and known as the "Portuguese language". In 1296, Portuguese was adopted by the Royal Chancellary and was used not only in poetry but also when writing law and in notaries.

Until 1350, the language Portuguese-Galician remained the native language of Galicia and Portugal only; but by the 14th century Portuguese had become a mature language with a rich literary tradition, becoming a popular language for poetry in Iberia, adopted by many Leonese, Castilian, Aragonese and Catalan poets. For instance, Cantigas de Santa Maria was written by Alfonso X, a Castillian king. Some time later, when Spanish also became written in Castilian realms, Galicia came under the influence of the Castilian language, and the southern variant became the language of Portugal.

Old Portuguese: Discoveries Period

Sagres, in the ancient Roman "Promontorium Sacrum", dedicated to god Saturn. Symbol of the Portuguese discoveries and the 15th century world's leading scientific and technological center. (from IPPAR)

In the second period of Old Portuguese, between the 14th and the 16th centuries, with the Portuguese discoveries, the Portuguese language spread to many regions of Asia, Africa and America. By the 16th century it had become a lingua franca in Asia and Africa, used not only for colonial administration and trade but also for communication between local officials and Europeans of all nationalities. In Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) several kings became fluent speakers of Portuguese, and nobles often took Portuguese names. The spread of the language was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people (also very common in other areas of the world) and its association with the Catholic missionary efforts, which led to its being called Cristão ("Christian") in many places. The language continued to be popular despite the severe measures taken by the Dutch to abolish it in Ceylon and Indonesia.

Some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal. The language has largely changed in these communities and has evolved through the centuries into several Portuguese creoles. Also, many words of Portuguese origin have entered the lexicons of many other languages, such as pan 'bread' (from pão) in Japanese, sepatu 'shoe' in Indonesian (from sapato), keju 'cheese' in Malay (from queijo), and meza 'table' in Swahili (from mesa).

Modern Portuguese

The end of "Old Portuguese" was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende, in 1516. But a variant of Old Portuguese is still spoken, as a dialect, especially in São Tomé and Príncipe, but also in Brazil, Portugal and Angola. The period of "Modern Portuguese" (from the 16th century to the present) saw an increase in the number of words of Classical Latin origin and erudite words of Greek origin borrowed into Portuguese during the Renaissance, which augmented the complexity of Portuguese.

Classification and related languages

Indo-European - Italic - Romance - Italo-Western - Western - Gallo-Iberian - Ibero-Romance - West-Iberian - Portuguese-Galician

Portuguese is orthographically similar in many ways to Spanish, but is very different in speech. A speaker of one may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other. Compare, for example:

Ela fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar. (Portuguese)

Ella cierra siempre la ventana antes de cenar. (Spanish)

Some less common phrasings and word choices have closer cognates in Spanish:

Ela encerra sempre a janela antes de cear. (less common Portuguese)

(Which translates as "She always closes the window before having dinner.")

In some places, Spanish and Portuguese are spoken almost interchangeably. Portuguese speakers are generally able to read Spanish, and Spanish speakers are generally able to read Portuguese, even if they cannot understand the spoken language.

Portuguese also has significant similarities with Mirandese, Catalan, Italian, French and with other Romance languages. Speakers of other Romance languages may find a peculiarity in the conjugating of certain apparently infinitive verbs. In particular, when constructing a future tense or conditional tense expression involving an indirect object pronoun, the pronoun is placed between the verb stem and the verb ending. For example, Dupondt said trazer-vos-emos o vosso ceptro. Translating as literally as possible, this is "bring (stem)-to you (formal)-we (future) the your scepter". In English we would say, "We will bring you your scepter." The form Nós vos traremos o vosso ceptro. is also correct, used mainly in spoken Portuguese, while the first form is preferred for written Portuguese.

Geographic distribution

Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, and the most widely used language in Mozambique.

Portuguese is also one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and Macau (with Chinese). It is widely spoken, but not official, in Andorra, Luxembourg and Namibia. Portuguese Creoles are the mother tongue of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau's population.

The majority of Portuguese speakers live on four continents: Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. However, still almost two million speakers are found in North America (most in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and Antigua and Barbuda). Fewer than 50 thousand speakers live in Oceania.

The table "Portuguese language countries and territories" includes countries where the Portuguese language is official and while not official, where it is spoken by more than 1% of the population. The data are based on projections made by local governments, public institutes, associations and language official census (Angola — 1983; Mozambique — 1997).

South America

The language of Camões is growing in importance in South America. Because of Brazil, it is being taught (and is popular, especially in Argentina) in the rest of the South American countries that constitute Mercosul. There are 182.1 million people in Brazil who use Portuguese as their main language, but there are also first-language speakers in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, where a hybrid dialect, known as "portuñol" or "portunhol" (from português and español or espanhol) has emerged. It is also spoken in Venezuela.

Europe

In Europe, Portuguese is spoken as a first language in Portugal by 10.3 million people. The language is also spoken throughout Europe by Portuguese influence, by more than 10% of the population of Luxembourg and Andorra. There are also strong Portuguese speaking communities in Belgium, France, Germany, Jersey and Switzerland, but Portuguese emigration has declined, which could lead to a decrease of speakers in some European countries. An exception is Luxembourg, where the language has gained strong roots, and most Luxembourgeois of Portuguese descent can speak Portuguese perfectly, there are Portuguese radio and TV stations, and the language is taught in some schools. In January 2003, 14,23% of the Luxembourgeois population was Portuguese. It is also spoken in Spain in Olivença and in Vale do Xalima (known as A fala).² Portuguese is an optional learning language in eleven European countries (nine of them in the European Union).

Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, Portuguese is a growing language and is projected by UNESCO to be one of the most spoken languages within 50 years. As the populations of Angola and Mozambique continue to grow, their influence on Portuguese will becoming increasingly important. Angola and Mozambique, along with São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau are known as the Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (Official Portuguese Language African Countries) or PALOP, forming a community of some 16 million speakers (9 million use it as first or only language, the rest are bilinguals, using the language daily). The Portuguese language especially grew in use after the independence of Portugal's former colonies. Independence movements from Guinea-Bissau to Mozambique saw it as an instrument to achieve their countries development and national unity. Portuguese is also spoken in Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. In Namibia it is spoken by 20% of the population and by more than one million people in South Africa.

A representation of the placement of a standard of Portugal after its discovery of the Congo river in the 15th century. In the 21st century, Africa is home to the fastest growing Portuguese speaking countries, making Africa a major player in the future development of Portuguese.

In the south of Senegal, known as Casamance, there is an active Portuguese creole community linked culturally and linguistically to Guinea-Bissau. Learning the history and language of Portugal is popular, and people feel they are learning part of their own background, since they are desdendants of both Portuguese and Africans. A Portuguese creole linked to São Tomé and Principe is the language of the island of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea.

In Angola, Portuguese is quickly becoming a national language rather than only an official language or a cohesion vehicle. By the census of 1983, in the capital, Luanda, Portuguese was the first language of 75% of a population of 2.5 million. In the entire country 60% of the 12.5 million inhabitants spoke Portuguese as their main spoken language. Most younger Angolans can only speak Portuguese. Angola receives several Portuguese and Brazilian television stations. Since there are also many other native languages in Angola, some words from those languages have been borrowed by Portuguese when the retornados returned to Portugal after Angola's independence. Words like iá (yes), bué (many) or bazar (going away), common in the young and urban Portuguese population have their origin in Angolan languages, used in Angolan Portuguese.

Mozambique is among the countries where Portuguese has the status of official language, being spoken essentially as a second language. However, it is the main language in the cities. According to the Census of 1997, Portuguese speakers account for more than 40% of the population, this number rising to more than 72% in the urban areas. But only 9% consider Portuguese as their main language (26% in the cities). All the Mozambican writers write in Portuguese and it has become attached to the colour and texture of Mozambican culture.

In Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, the most widely spoken languages are Portuguese creoles known as Crioulos, and the informal use of the Portuguese language seems to be decreasing. Most Cape Verdians can also speak Standard Portuguese which is used formally. There is some decreoulization due to education and the popularity of Portugal's national TV channels. The case is a bit different in Guinea-Bissau where Portuguese and its Creole are spoken by more than 60% of the inhabitants, of which Portuguese itself is only spoken by 14%.

In São Tomé and Príncipe, the Portuguese used by the population is an archaic Portuguese, known as São Tomean Portuguese, presenting many similarities with Brazilian Portuguese. Politicians and the upper classes use the modern European Portuguese variety, much like the other PALOP countries. Three different Portuguese creoles are also spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe. Usually, children can only speak Portuguese because of their parents preference, and not because of school. By the time they are adults they usually have learned a Portuguese Creole known as Forro, but more than 50% of the population keeps using Portuguese informally and its use is on the increase. Almost all the population can speak Portuguese.

Asia

Portuguese is also spoken in Asia, especially in East Timor, Goa, Daman and Diu in India, and Macau in China. In Goa, where it is spoken by an increasingly small minority, it is seen as the 'language of grandparents', because it is no longer taught in schools, nor is it an official language. In Macau, Portuguese remains an official language with equal status to Chinese, although almost only the small Macanese or Eurasian population uses it and there is only one Portuguese-medium school. After the return of the territory to China, Portuguese language and heritage has not faited, but revived, due to the Chinese authorities incentivation and protection. Portuguese is also learned in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

In Malacca in Malaysia, there is a Portuguese creole known as Cristão or Papiá Kristang still spoken by some of the Eurasian population. There are also active Portuguese creoles, especially in India and Sri Lanka. In Japan, Portuguese is spoken by Brazilians of Japanese descent, known as dekassegui, who number approximately 250,000 people.

In East Timor, the most spoken language is Tetum, an Austronesian language, but it has been heavily influenced by Portuguese. The reintroduction of Portuguese as an official language has caused suspicion and resentment among some younger East Timorese who have been educated under the Indonesian system, and do not speak it. Portuguese in East Timor is spoken by less than 20% of its population, mostly the elder generation, though this percentage is increasing as Portuguese is being taught to the younger generation and to interested adults. East Timor asked the other CPLP nations to help it to reintroduce Portuguese as an official language. East Timor uses Portuguese to link itself to a larger international community and to differentiate itself from Indonesia. Xanana Gusmão, president of East Timor, believes that Portuguese will be widely spoken again within 10 years.

Official status

The CPLP or Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries is an international organization consisting of the eight independent countries which have Portuguese as an official language. Portuguese is also an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and the African Union (one of the working languages) and one of the official languages of other organizations. Except for the Asian territories (East Timor and Macau), Portuguese is the sole official language in each country.

Dialects

Main article: Portuguese dialects

Portuguese language speakers do not understand their dialects as "dialects", but as "accents" (Port. sotaques) or even pronunciation (Port. pronúncia), even if in different countries, but especially within the same. This comes about because the term "dialect" has been used to classify a language without prestige.

Standard European Portuguese has changed more than the other varieties. Still, all aspects and sounds of all Portuguese (nation) dialects can be found in some Brazilian (nation) dialect. African Portuguese, especially São Tomean Portuguese, has many similarities with Brazilian Portuguese; also Southern Portugal dialects present many similarities, especially the "excessive" use of the gerund. In Europe, Alto-Minhoto and Transmontano have similarities with Galician.

Even with independence of the former African colonies, the standard Portuguese of Portugal is still the preferred standard for the African Portuguese countries. Thus, Portuguese has only two learning accent standards, the European and the Brazilian. Note that in Portuguese there are four preferred accents: Coimbra's, Lisbon's, Rio de Janeiro's and São Paulo's, and these four influence most other dialects; the first two for Portugal and Africa and the remaining two for Brazil.

Major Portuguese dialects:

Portuguese dialects of Brazil

Brazil

1. Caipira — Countryside of São Paulo - some people might find the term offensive
2. Cearense — Ceará
3. Baiano — Region of Bahia
4. Fluminense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som90.html)) — States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo (the city of Rio de Janeiro has a particular way of speaking)
5. Gaúcho — Rio Grande do Sul
6. Mineiro — Minas Gerais
7. Nordestino (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som91.html)) — northeastern states of Brazil (the interior area and Recife have particular ways of speaking)
8. Nortista — Amazon Basin states
9. Paulistano — city of São Paulo
10. Sertão — States of Goiás and Mato Grosso
11. Sulista — south of Brazil

Portuguese dialects of Portugal

Portugal

1. Açoriano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som69.html)) — Azores
2. Alentejano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som40.html)) — Alentejo
3. Algarvio (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som44.html)) — Algarve (there is a particular small dialect in the western area)
4. Alto-Minhoto (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som1.html)) — North of Braga (interior)
5. Baixo-Beirão; Alto-Alentejano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som49.html)) — Central Portugal (interior)
6. Beirão (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som9.html)) — central Portugal
7. Estremenho (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som22.html)) — Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon (can be subdivided in Lisbon Portuguese and Coimbra Portuguese)
8. Madeirense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som60.html)) — Madeira
9. Nortenho (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som14.html)) — Regions of Braga and Porto
10. Transmontano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som6.html)) Trás-os-Montes

Angola

1. Benguelense — Benguela province
2. Luandense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som85.html)) — Luanda province
3. Sulista — South of Angola

Portuguese dialects of Angola

Other areas

• Caboverdiano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som87.html)) — Cape Verde
• Guineense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som88.html)) — Guinea-Bissau
• Macaense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som92.html)) — Macau, China
• Moçambicano (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som89.html)) — Mozambique
• Santomense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som83.html)) — São Tomé and Principe
• Timorense (listen (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som84.html)) — East Timor

Examples of words that are different in Portuguese dialects from three different continents Angola (Africa), Portugal (Europe) and Brazil (South America).

Go away

• Angola: bazar, ir embora
• Brazil: ir embora, (or "vazar" as a slang);
• Portugal: ir embora, (or bazar among teenagers);

Bus

• Angola: machimbombo
• Brazil: ônibus
• Portugal: autocarro

slum quarter

• Angola: muceque
• Brazil: favela
• Portugal: bairro de lata

Derived languages

Main article: Portuguese Creole

Portugal in the period of discoveries and colonization created a linguistic contact with native languages and people of the discovered lands and thus pidgins were formed. Until the 18th century, these Portuguese pidgins were used as Lingua Franca in Asia and Africa. Later, the Portuguese pidgins were expanded grammatically and lexically, as it became a native language. These creoles are spoken, mostly, by inter-racial communities (Portuguese people with natives).

Cape Verde:

• Crioulo Barlavento (Criol)
• Crioulo Sotavento (Kriolu)

Equatorial Guinea:

• Falar de Ano Bom

Guinea-Bissau and Senegal:

• Crioulo da Guiné (Kriol)

India:

• Creole of Diu
• Creole of Vaipim
• Kristi
• Língua da Casa

Macau, China:

• Macaista

Malaysia, Singapore:

• Papiá Kristang

Netherlands Antilles and Aruba:

• Papiamento

São Tomé and Principe:

• Angolar
• Forro
• Lunguyê

Sri Lanka:

• Burgher

Suriname:

• Saramacano

Some hybrid dialects came to exist after an interaction with Spanish:

• A Fala — Spain
• Barranquenho — Portugal
• Portuñol — Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina

Sounds

Main article: Portuguese sounds

The Portuguese language is particularly interesting to linguists because of the complexity of its phonetic structure. The language contains 9 vowels, 5 nasal vowels and 25 consonantal sounds. Also, Portuguese is a "free accentuation language", as distinct pronunciation exists even in the same dialect.

Vowels

Nasal vowels

Semi-vowels

Consonants

Grammar

Main article: Portuguese grammar

Verbs are divided into three conjugations, which can be identified by looking at the infinitive ending, one of "-ar", "-er", "-ir" (and "-or", irregular verbs). Most verbs ends with "-ar", such as cantar (to sing). All verbs with the same ending follow the same pattern.

In Portuguese, verbs are divided into moods:

• Imperative. Used to express a wish, command or advice
• Indicative. Used to express a fact
• Subjunctive. Used to express a wish or a possibility

All Portuguese nouns have one of two genders: masculine or inclusive and feminine or exclusive. Most adjectives and pronouns, and all articles indicate the gender of the noun they reference. The feminine gender in adjectives is formed in a different way to that in nouns. Most adjectives ending in a consonant remain unchanged: homem superior (superior man), mulher superior (superior woman). This is also true for adjectives ending in "e": homem forte (strong man), mulher forte (strong woman). Except for this, the noun and the adjective must always be in agreement.

See also: Portuguese pronouns, Portuguese verb conjugation

Vocabulary

Since Portuguese is a Romance language, most of the language comes from Latin. However, other languages that have come into contact with Portuguese have left their mark.

Pre-Roman origin words

Very few traces of the native (Lusitanians, Conii, or Calicians) or pre-Roman settlers like the Phoenicians, Carthaginians or Celts lexicon persist in the language, but there are some exceptions, most are unconfirmed. Many places in Portugal have pre-Roman names, such has the name of the cities of Braga and Coimbra and the rivers Minho and Tâmega.

Native Iberian:

• Abóbora (pumpkin)
• Bezerro (year-old calf)
• Louça (claw)
• Manteiga (butter)
• Sapo (frog)

Celtic:

• Cabana (hut)
• Cama (bed)
• Camisa (shirt)
• Carvalho (oak)
• Cerveja (beer)
• Touca (headress)

Phoenician:

• Malha (mesh)
• Mapa (map)
• Saco (bag)

From Latin to Portuguese

Portuguese, both in morphology and syntax, represents an organic transformation of Latin without the direct intervention of any foreign language. The sounds, grammatical forms, and syntactical types, with a few exceptions, are derived from Latin. And almost 90% of the vocabulary is still derived from the language of Rome. Some of the changes began during the Empire, others took place later. Since Portuguese was reinfluenced by it (reinfluence represented with 1), many original words are still familiar to Portuguese speakers.

N.B.: In the Latin examples below, we have used all-capitals so as to be in line with how the ancient language was actually written. Note also that the letter V was the vowel we know today as U, and that the C was always pronounced /k/, so CENTV was pronounced /kentu/ (the derived Cento in Portuguese is pronunced as /se~tu/).

Nasalization — A vowel before [m] and [n] has a tendency to become a nasal vowel, this occurs in many languages. In the case of Portuguese, it happened between the sixth and seventh centuries. This change sharply distinguishes Portuguese from Spanish, in which it did not occur.

• LVNA > l[ũ]a > Lua (moon).

Palatalization — Another assimilation occurs before the high vowels [i] and [e], or near the semi-vowel, or palatal [j].

• CENTV > [tj]ento > [ts]ento > cento, (hundred)
• FACERE > fa[tj]ere > fa[ts]er > fa[dz]er > fazer, (to do)
• A more ancient evolution was FORTIA > for[ts]a > força (strength)

Elision — Simultaneous influence in a consonant by vowels, occurring a sintagmatic chain.

• DOLORE > door > dor (pain) — dolorido¹ (in pain)
• BONV > bõo > bom, (good)
• ANELLV > ãelo > elo (Ring) — Anel¹ (hand ring)

Voicing — some consonants did not disappear but rather evolved with voiceless stops becoming voiced stops and voiced stops becoming voiced fricatives in certain positions:

• MVTV > mudo (deaf)
• LACV > lago (lake)
• FABA > fava (broadbean)

Simplification of consonant clusters, especially doubled consonants, occurred:

• GVTTA > gota (drop)
• PECCARE > pecar (to sin)

Dissimilation — Modification of a sound by the influence of neighbouring sounds.

• Dissimilation between vowels:
  • LOCVSTA > lagosta (lobster)
  • CAMPANA > campãa > campa (tomb)
• Dissimilation between consonants:
  • MEMORARE > nembrar > lembrar (to remember) — Memorizar¹ (to memorize)
  • ANIMA > alma (soul) — Animado¹ (livened up)
  • LOCALE > logar > lugar (place) — local¹ (place)

Some other alterations were semi-vowel metathesis: PRIMARIV becomes primeiro (Eng. first); consonant metathesis in [l] and [r] are rare in Portuguese (e.g. TENEBRAS > teevras > trevas, Eng. darkness); and epenthesis, where there is not a total assimilation by adding new sounds. Such as for wine: Vulgar Latin: VINO, medieval Portuguese Vi~o, Modern Portuguese (since 14th or 15th centuries): Vinho. However, the sound of medieval Portuguese is still alive in some Portuguese dialects of Brazil and São Tomé and Príncipe. Another specially relevant shift was the loss of the intervocalic /l/ in a very large set of words, already described in the list above as an example of "elision" → e.g: SALIRE > sair; COLARE > coar; NOTVLA > nódoa, with the typical portuguese voicing of /t/ in /d/ (AMATVS > amado). Fewer words remaned unchanged, such as Taberna (tavern).

Words of Germanic origin

The Germanic influence in Portuguese was small, restricted to warfare and related topics. The influence also exists in placenames such has Ermesinde and Esposende, where sinde and sende are derived from the Germanic "sinths" (military expedition).

• Barão (baron) from Germanic baro
• Ganhar (to win) from Germanic waidanjan
• Guerra (war) from Gothic *wirro
• Roubar (to rob) from Germanic raubon
• Saga (Saga) from Gothic saega

Arabic origin words

Projections indicate 1000 Arabic loan words. In old Portuguese this represented 25% of the used lexicon, today its importance has decreased as the language became richer and reinfluenced by Greek, Latin and other languages.

• Alcova (Alcove) from alkubba
• Aldeia (village) from aldaya
• Alface (lettuce) from alkhass
• Algarismo (algarism, number) from alkarizmi
• Almirante (admiral) from amir + ar-rahl
• Almofada (cushion) from almukhadda
• Âmbar (amber) from anbar
• Armazém (warehouse) from almahazan (see "magazine")
• Arroz (rice) from arruz (loan from Greek óryza)
• Azeite (olive oil) from azzait
• Garrafa (bottle) from garrafâ (see "caraff")
• Girafa (giraffe) from zurafa
• Jasmim (jasmin) from yasmin (loan from Persian jasamin)
• Jarra (jar) from jarra
• Xadrez (Chess) from shatranj (loan from Sanscrit chaturanga)
• Xerife (sheriff) from sharif

(The Portuguese town Fatima, where the Virgin Mary is believed by some Catholics to have appeared, is originally an Arabic female name.)

Asian, Amerindian and African origin Words

With the Portuguese discoveries linguistic contact was made, and the Portuguese language became influenced by other languages other than European or Arabic. Many placenames and local animals have Amerindian names in Brazil, in Angola and Mozambique, the same occurring with the local Bantu languages.

Asian:

• Catana (cutlass) from Japanese Katana
• Chá (Tea), from Chinese cha
• Corja (rabble) from Malay kórchchu
• Ramarrão (routinous sound), from Hindu Ráma-Ráma
• Manga (mango), from Malay mangga

Amerindian:

• Ananás (a pineapple species) from Tupi-Guarani naná
• Abacaxi (another pineapple species) from Tupi ibá + cati
• Jaguar (jaguar) from Tupi-Guarani jaguara
• Tatu (armadillo) from Guarani tatu
• Tucano (toucan) from Guarani tucan

Sub-saharan Africa:

• Banana (banana) from Wolof
• Bungular (to dance like African wizards) from Kimbundu kubungula
• Chimpanzé (chimpanzee) from Bantu
• Cabiri (small domestic animal) from Kimbundu kabiribiri
• Cafuné (affections made in the head) from Kimbundu kifumate

Writing system

Main article: Portuguese alphabet

Portuguese is written using the Latin alphabet with 26 letters. Three of them (K, W and Y) are only used for non-Portuguese origin words, in terms like darwinismo (Darwinism, from English "Darwin"). It uses ç and acute, grave, circumflex and tilde accents over vowels, as well as, in some forms and only in Brazil, diaeresis on a U as in lingüística (Linguistics, linguística is used in the rest of the Portuguese speaking nations).

Written varieties and Spelling Reform

Until the Ortographic Agreement is established, Portuguese has two written varieties, but Portuguese speakers prefer to call them padrões (Eng. Standards):

• European and African Portuguese
• Brazilian Portuguese

There are differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese in vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax, especially in popular varieties, while between upper-class Brazilians and Portuguese these differences are reduced.

Some apparent differences between the two varieties in lexicon are not really differences. In Brazil, the common term for carpet is tapete. And, in Portugal, alcatifa. However, many dialectal zones in Portugal use tapete and other areas in Brazil use alcatifa. This applies in several such apparent differences, except in the new terms, such as ônibus in Brazil, which is autocarro in Portugal.

In Brazil most first "c" when "cc", "cç" or "ct"; and "p" when "pc", "pç" or "pt" from the language were eliminated since they are not pronounced in the cultivated spoken language, a remnant from the language's Latin origin (some continue to exist in cultivated Brazilian Portuguese, some more in the European).

Also, there are differences in accent marks, due to:

1. Different pronunciation. Brazil in words such as "Antônio" (Anthony) or "anônimo" (anonimous) uses closed vowels, where Portugal and Africa use open ones, "António" or "anónimo", respectively.
2. Easy reading. Because "qu" can be read in two different ways in Portuguese: "ku" or "k", Brazil decided to facilitate it, using the diaeresis (called 'trema' in Portuguese). Insted of "cinquenta" they write "cinqüenta".

A Spelling Reform (Port. Reforma Ortográfica), written in 1990, would create an International Portuguese Standard, and it was ratified by Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. East Timor, not an original subscriber, will ratify shortly along with Guinea-Bissau. Brazil and East Timor were the biggest supporters for a fast implementation and pressured the CPLP. The implementation date for the agreement has not yet been set. In East Timor, both ortographies are being taught to children.

At first, the Agreement established that its entrance into practice would only occur when all the countries of the CPLP had ratified it. But the Portuguese-speaking African countries have not ratified, possibly due to problems in implementing it. In the CPLP’s summit of 26–27 July 2004, an adjustment will prompt implementation in Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal and its use can also be done in the other countries. The agreement will eliminate most "c" when "cc", "cç" or "ct"; and "p" when "pc", "pç" or "pt" from European Portuguese, the dieresis and accent marks in words ending in "éia" in Brazil and added some new minor spelling rules. And will accept dual accentuation in words like anónimo or anônimo, now depending on a person's accent. Late October 2004, Brazil became the first to approve the adjustment (http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/educacao/ult305u16286.shtml)and asked its ambassors in Portugal and Cape Verde to promote the acceleration of the process in that countries. The aim is to promote the language internationally just like the spelling reform of the Spanish-speaking countries helped to promote the Spanish language. Because the Portuguese ortography is splited, the language is not very popular internationally, even if it is the third most spoken western language in the world, after English and Spanish. Even if today's ortographies does not harm inteligebility between native speakers, the ortography of one country is considered incorrect in the other, leading to two different translations of the same book or software written in another language.

Another agreement was made for the new words that will come into the language.

Literature

To English speakers, the most famous writer in the Portuguese language is the poet Luís Vaz de Camoes or Luís Vaz Camoens (1524–June 10, 1580), author of the epic poem, the Lusiad.

Several other authors and poets are also internationally known, such as: Eça de Queirós (1845–1900), one of the most famous Portuguese language novelists; Fernando Pessoa (1888—1935), one of the greatest poets in the history of the language; Jorge Amado (1912—2001), a popular novelist; and José Saramago (born 1922) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998.

See also: Camoens Prize

Examples

There is a Portuguese Wikipedia

PT. - Pronunciation of Portugal (Coimbra & Lisbon)

BR. - Pronunciation of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

See also

• List of tongue-twisters
• English as she is spoke
• Portuguese in the United States
• saudade — One of the ten non-English words that were voted hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company

Notes

• [1] First and Second with first language speakers, respectively. Only counting figures from countries in the table "Portuguese language countries and Territories". Considering second language speakers those people who are bilingual and use Portuguese as a second language.

• [2] A Fala is not recognized by the Spanish authorities to be a Portuguese dialect, although there have been attempts to consider it Galician, but the locals do not want to use the Galician orthography. A Fala differs very little from the neighbouring Portuguese dialect on the other side of the border, but it will probably be recognized (if it will be) as a separate language.

External links

• Ethnologue report for Portuguese (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=POR)
• Portuguese dictionary (http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/dlpo.aspx) (Portuguese)
• Instituto Camões (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/) Portuguese language and culture (Portuguese)
• Short Portuguese Lessons (http://alfarrabio.um.geira.pt/spl/)
• Portuguese language phonetics (http://ciberduvidas.sapo.pt/php/resposta.php?id=11557)
• Dictionary of Vernacular Portuguese of Portugal, Brazil and Angola (http://natura.di.uminho.pt/~jj/pln/calao/dicionario.pdf)
• Pronunciation guide (http://199.33.141.196/courses/idm2002/leung/oportugues/intro/pronunciation.html)
• Euro 2004: Soccer Vocabulary (http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/euro2004/futindex.html) Vocabulary and pronunciation in Standard Portuguese in ten languages
• Introduction to Brazilian Portuguese (http://www.saunalahti.fi/~huuhilo/portuguese/)
• Portuguese Language Courses (http://www.orbislingua.com/eag.htm)
• Biblioteca Nacional (http://www.bn.pt) National Library of Portugal
• Biblioteca Nacional (http://www.bn.br) National Library of Brazil

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