Portuguese ( português (help·info) or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkan (Dacian, that originated from a fusion of the dialect spoken in what is now Galicia Galicia is an autonomous community and historic region in northwest Spain, with the status of a historic nationality, and descends from one of the first kingdoms of Europe, the Kingdom of Galicia. It is constituted under the Galician Statute of Autonomy of 1981. Its component provinces are A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. It borders and northern Portugal Portugal /ˈpɔɹtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, Mirandese: Pertual), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa; Mirandese: República Pertuesa), is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and with closely related dialects spoken in territories to the south which had not yet been reconquered by the Christians A Christian (pronounced /ˈkrɪstʃən/ ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe is the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, and the son of God. Most Christians believe in the doctrine of to the Arabs Arab people or Arabs (العرب al-ʿarab) are a panethnicity of peoples of various ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities, whose members, on an individual basis, identify as such on one or more of linguistic, cultural, political, or genealogical grounds. Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely do so with it as by the time Portugal was born as a Christian kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day states Portugal, Spain, Andorra, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas. It is bordered on the (first half of the 12th century). It is derived from the Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while spoken by the romanized Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorcorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman republic and the later Roman empire. Ancient Roman historiography and Italian historiography until the fascist period used to call these various processes the & pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula This is a list of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian peninsula (namely the Gallaeci The Gallaeci or Callaeci were a Celtic people living in Gallaecia, the region roughly corresponding to what is now Galicia and North of Portugal, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They spoke a Continental Celtic language similar to the Old Irish, the Lusitanians The Lusitanians were an Indo-European people living in the Western Iberian Peninsula long before it became the Roman province of Lusitania (modern Portugal south of the Douro River and what now is Extremadura in modern Spain). They spoke the Lusitanian language, and were either of Celtic origin or else became Celticized over time. The modern, the Celtici The Celtici were a Celtic tribe of the Iberian peninsula, akin either to the Lusitanians and Gallaecians or the Celtiberians, living in what today are the provinces of Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal (though some migrated north alongside the Turduli), and in the Province of Badajoz in Spain and the Conii The Cynetes or Conii were one of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Low Alentejo regions of southern Portugal before the 6th century BCE) around 2000 years ago. It spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th centuries as Portugal established a colonial and commercial empire It was also the longest-lived of the modern European colonial empires, spanning almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999 (1415–1999) that reached from Brazil Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ; Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical in the Americas The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total to Goa Goa (pronounced /ˈɡoʊ.ə/ ; Konkani: गोंय) is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on India's west coast in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast. Goa is India's and other parts of India, Macau Macau , also known as Macao (pronounced /məˈkaʊ/) is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south in China, Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (north of Australia) and the five African countries that make up the PALOP lusophone A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language, either as a native, as an additional language, or as a learner. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking". The word itself is derived from the name of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which covered an area that is today Portugal. The notion reaches beyond the space (Cape Verde The Republic of Cape Verde (pronounced /ˌkeɪp ˈvɜrd/ ; Portuguese: Cabo Verde, pronounced [ˈkabu ˈveɾdɨ]; Kabuverdianu: Kabu Verdi) is an island country, spanning an archipelago located in the Macaronesia ecoregion of the central Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of Africa, close to Mauritania and Senegal, Guiné-Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the Congo and the and Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest). It was used as the exclusive lingua franca A lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues on the island of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known as Ceylon (/sɪˈlɒn/) before 1972, is an island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India for almost 350 years. During that time, many creole languages based on Portuguese Portuguese overseas exploration in the 15th and 16th century's led to the establishment of a Portuguese Empire with trading posts, forts and colonies in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Contact between the Portuguese language and native languages gave rise to many Portuguese-based pidgins, used as linguas francas throughout the Portuguese sphere of also appeared around the world, especially in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Today it is one of the world's major languages, ranked seventh Since the definition of a single language is to some extent arbitrary, some mutually intelligible idioms with separate national standards or self-identification have been listed separately, depending on conventional use, including Scandinavian, Hindi/Urdu, Dutch and Afrikaans, Indonesian and Malay according to number of native speakers (between 205 and 230 million). It is the language of about half of South America's population, even though Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas The Americas, or America, are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (. It is also a major lingua franca in Portugal's former colonial possessions in Africa. It is an official language in nine countries (see the table on the right), also being co-official with Cantonese Cantonese is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in and around the city of Guangzhou in Southern China, by the majority population of Hong Kong and Macau, and as a lingua franca of Guangdong province, eastern Guangxi province, and some neighbouring areas. It is used in Hong Kong and Macau as the de facto official spoken language of government Chinese in Macau Macau , also known as Macao (pronounced /məˈkaʊ/) is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south and Tetum Tetum is an Austronesian language, a national language and one of the two official languages of East Timor. Some of its dialects have been greatly influenced by Portuguese, the other official language of the country, especially in their vocabulary, but also in aspects of their grammar in East Timor East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of. There are sizeable communities of Portuguese speakers in various regions of North America, notably in the United States (New Jersey The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 1600s, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The English later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George Carteret, New England In one of the earliest European settlements in the New World, Pilgrims from the Kingdom of England first settled in New England in 1620, in the colony of Plymouth. Ten years later, the Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. In the late 18th century, the New England colonies would be, California California's geography ranges from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, to Mojave desert areas in the southeast and the Redwood–Douglas fir forests of the northwest. The center of the state is dominated by the Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. California is the most and south Florida With an area of 65,758 square miles , it is ranked 22nd in size among the 50 U.S. states. Florida has the most coastline in the Contiguous United States encompassing approximately 1,200 miles. The state has four large urban areas, a number of smaller industrial cities, and many small towns) and in Ontario Ontario is bordered by Manitoba on its west, Hudson Bay on its north, and Quebec on its east, and by five States of the United States to its south : Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania (Lake Erie) and New York. All but a small portion of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,677 mi) border with the United States follow inland waterways: from the west at Lake, Canada (especially Toronto Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region).

In various aspects, the system of sounds in Portuguese The phonology of Portuguese can vary considerably between dialects, in extreme cases leading to difficulties in intelligibility. This article focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard. Since Portuguese is a pluricentric language, and differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) can be is more similar to the phonologies Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system. When describing the formal area of study, the term typically describes linguistic analysis either beneath the of Catalan The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two main dialects, one based on Eastern Catalan and one based on Valencian, this article deals with features of all or most dialects as well as regional pronunciation differences. Various studies have focused on different Catalan varieties; or French This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular r, nasal vowels, and two processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel; and elision, than, say, those of Spanish This article is about the phonology of the Spanish language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof. Unless otherwise noted, statements refer to Castilian Spanish, the standard dialect used on radio and television, in Spain or Italian This article is about the phonology of the Italian language. It deals with the phonology and phonetics of Standard Italian as well as with geographical variants. Nevertheless, the grammar, structure and vocabulary of the Portuguese and Spanish languages are so similar that phonetic differences do not impede intelligibility between them any significant way. Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra[b] was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus Don Quixote, often considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regularly regarded among the best novels ever written.[citation needed] His work is considered among the most important in all of literature. His influence on once called Portuguese "the sweet language",[6] Lope de Vega Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was one of the most important playwrights and poets of the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish letters is second only to that of Cervantes, while the sheer volume of his literary output is unequalled, making him one of the most prolific authors in the history of referred to it as "sweet" [7] while Brazilian writer Olavo Bilac Olavo Brás Martins dos Guimarães Bilac ( pronunciation born 16 December 1865, died 28 December 1918) was a Brazilian poet of the Parnassian school poetically described it as a última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela: "the last flower of Latium Latium is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil on which resided the tribe of the Latins. It was located on the left bank of the Tiber river, northward to the Anio river (a left-bank tributary of, wild and beautiful". Portuguese is also termed "the language of Camões", after one of Portugal's best known literary figures, Luís Vaz de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (c. 1524–June 10, 1580) is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry (in Portuguese and in Spanish) and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas.

Portuguese is also the fourth most learned language in the world, since at least 30 million students study this language. The obligatory learning of Portuguese is observed in Uruguay Uruguay (pronounced /ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/ [citation needed], Spanish pronunciation: [uɾuˈɣwai]), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay, pronounced [reˈpuβlika oɾjenˈtal del uɾuˈɣwai]), is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of,[8] Argentina,[9] Venezuela,[10] Zambia,[11] Congo,[12] Senegal,[12] Namibia,[12] Swaziland,[12] Côte d'Ivoire,[12] and South Africa.[12]

Contents

Geographic distribution

Main articles: Geographic distribution of Portuguese and List of countries where Portuguese is an official language All the green territories:official status; Green squares: spoken by the majority of the population; Blue territories and squares: Portuguese and Portuguese creole languages are official (excepting Malaysia, only spoke); Black square: equal status as the official language in the country, but not official. Countries and regions where Portuguese has official status. Members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.

Today, Portuguese is the official language of Angola, Brazil (190.6 million),[13] Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal (10.6 million),[14] São Tomé and Príncipe and Mozambique.[15] It is also one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and the Chinese special administrative region of Macau (with Chinese). It is the language of most of the population in Portugal, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola. And is the most widely spoken language in Mozambique though only 6.5% are native speakers. No data is available for Cape Verde, but almost all the population is bilingual, and the monolingual population speaks Cape Verdean Creole.[16]

Small Portuguese-speaking communities subsist in former overseas colonies of Portugal such as Macau, where it is spoken by 7% of the population, and East Timor (13.6%).

Uruguay gave Portuguese an equal status to Spanish in its educational system at the north border with Brazil. In the rest of the country, it is taught as an obligatory subject beginning in the 6th grade.[17]

It is also spoken by substantial immigrant communities, though not official, in Andorra, Australia,[18] France, Luxembourg, Jersey (with a statistically significant Portuguese-speaking community of approximately 10,000 people), Paraguay, Namibia, South Africa, Switzerland, Venezuela, Japan[19] and the U.S. states of California, Connecticut,[20] Florida,[21] Massachusetts, New Jersey,[22] New York[23] and Rhode Island.[24] In some parts of India, such as Goa[25] and Daman and Diu,[26] Portuguese is still spoken. There are also significant populations of Portuguese speakers in Canada (mainly concentrated in and around Toronto and Montreal),[27] Bermuda[28] and the Netherlands Antilles.

Portuguese is an official language of several international organizations. The Community of Portuguese Language Countries[15] (with the Portuguese acronym CPLP) consists of the eight independent countries that have Portuguese as an official language. It is also an official language of the European Union, accounting for 3% of its population,[29] Mercosul, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union of South American Nations, and the African Union (one of the working languages) and one of the official languages of other organizations. The Portuguese language is gaining popularity in Africa, Asia, and South America as a second language for study.

Estação da Luz, home of the Museum of the Portuguese Language, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Portuguese and Spanish are the fastest-growing European languages after English, and according to estimates by UNESCO, the Portuguese language has the highest potential for growth as an international language in southern Africa and South America. The Portuguese-speaking African countries are expected to have a combined population of 83 million by 2050. In total, the Portuguese-speaking countries will have 335 million people by the same year. Since 1991, when Brazil signed into the economic market of Mercosul with other South American nations, such as Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, there has been an increase in interest in the study of Portuguese in those South American countries. The demographic weight of Brazil in the continent will continue to strengthen the presence of the language in the region. Although in the early 21st century, after Macau was ceded to China in 1999, the use of Portuguese was in decline in Asia, it is becoming a language of opportunity there; mostly because of East Timor's boost in the number of speakers in the last five years but also because of increased Chinese diplomatic and financial ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.

In July 2007, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema announced his government's decision to establish Portuguese as Equatorial Guinea's third official language, to meet the requirements to apply for full membership of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. This upgrading from its current Associate Observer condition would result in Equatorial Guinea being able to access several professional and academic exchange programs and the facilitation of cross-border circulation of citizens. Its application is currently being assessed by other CPLP members.[30]

In March 1994 the Bosque de Portugal (Portugal's Woods) was founded in the Brazilian city of Curitiba. The park houses the Portuguese Language Memorial, which honors the Portuguese immigrants and the countries that adopted the Portuguese language. Originally there were seven nations represented with pillars, but the independence of East Timor brought yet another pillar for that nation in 2007.

In March 2006, the Museum of the Portuguese Language, an interactive museum about the Portuguese language, was founded in São Paulo, Brazil, the city with the greatest number of Portuguese speakers in the world.

Dialects

Main article: Portuguese dialects

Portuguese is a pluricentric language with two main groups of dialects, those of Brazil and those of the Old World. For historical reasons, the dialects of Africa and Asia are generally closer to those of Portugal than the Brazilian dialects, although in some aspects of their phonetics, especially the pronunciation of unstressed vowels, they resemble Brazilian Portuguese more than European Portuguese. They have not been studied as widely as European and Brazilian Portuguese.

Audio samples of some dialects of Portuguese are available below.[31] There are some differences between the areas but these are the best approximations possible. For example, the caipira dialect has some differences from the one of Minas Gerais, but in general it is very close. A good example of Brazilian Portuguese may be found in the capital city, Brasília, because of the generalized population from all parts of the country.

Portuguese dialects of Angola

Angola

  1. Benguelense — Benguela province.
  2. Luandense — Luanda province.
  3. Sulista — South of Angola.
  4. Huambense — Huambo province.
Dialects of Portuguese in Brazil

Brazil

  1. Caipira — States of São Paulo (countryside; the city of São Paulo and the eastern areas of the state have their own accent, called paulistano); southern Minas Gerais, northern Paraná, southeastern Mato Grosso do Sul.
  2. Cearense — Ceará.
  3. Baiano — Bahia.
  4. Fluminense — Variants spoken in the states of Rio de Janeiro (excluding the city of Rio de Janeiro and its adjacent metropolitan areas, which have their own dialect, called carioca).
  5. Gaúcho — Rio Grande do Sul. (There are many distinct accents in Rio Grande do Sul, mainly due to the heavy influx of European immigrants of diverse origins, who have settled in colonies throughout the state.)
  6. Mineiro — Minas Gerais (not prevalent in the Triângulo Mineiro; includes southern and southeastern Minas Gerais; the city of Belo Horizonte has an accent of its own.).[citation needed]
  7. Nordestino — northeastern states of Brazil (Pernambuco, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte have a particular way of speaking).[32]
  8. Nortista — Amazon Basin states.
  9. Paulistano — Variants spoken around São Paulo city and some eastern areas of São Paulo state.
  10. Sertanejo — States of Goiás and Mato Grosso.
  11. Sulista — Variants spoken in the areas between the northern regions of Rio Grande do Sul and southern regions of São Paulo state. (The cities of Curitiba and Florianópolis have fairly distinct accents as well.)
  12. Carioca — Variants spoken in Rio de Janeiro City and Niteroi.
  13. Brasiliense — Variant only spoken in Brasilia, due to many imigrations waves attracted by the government in order to build Brasilia.
Dialects of Portuguese in Portugal

Portugal

  1. Açoriano (Azorean) — Azores.
  2. Alentejano — Alentejo (Alentejan Portuguese)
  3. Algarvio — Algarve (there is a particular dialect in a small part of western Algarve).
  4. Alto-Minhoto — North of Braga (hinterland).
  5. Baixo-Beirão; Alto-Alentejano — Central Portugal (hinterland).
  6. Beirão — Central Portugal.
  7. Estremenho — Regions of Coimbra , Leiria and Lisbon (the Lisbon dialect has some peculiar features not shared with the one of Coimbra).
  8. Madeirense (Madeiran) — Madeira.
  9. Nortenho — Regions of Braga and Porto.
  10. Transmontano — Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.
  11. Barranquenho — Barrancos.
  12. Lisboeta — Lisboa.

Other countries

Differences between dialects are mostly of accent and vocabulary, but between the Brazilian dialects and other dialects, especially in their most colloquial forms, there can also be some grammatical differences. The Portuguese-based creoles spoken in various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas are independent languages that should not be confused with Portuguese.

History

Main articles: Iberian Romance languages, Galician-Portuguese, and History of the Portuguese language Baroque Library of the Coimbra University, Portugal.

Arriving in the Iberian Peninsula in 216 BC, the Romans brought with them the Latin language, from which all Romance languages descend. The language was spread by arriving Roman soldiers, settlers, and merchants, who built Roman cities mostly near the settlements of previous civilizations.

Medieval Portuguese poetry
Das que vejo
nom desejo
outra senhor se vós nom,
e desejo
tam sobejo,
mataria um leon,
senhor do meu coraçom:
fim roseta,
bela sobre toda fror,
fim roseta,
nom me meta
em tal coita voss'amor!
João de Lobeira (c. 1270–1330)

Between 409 and 711 AD, as the Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe, the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Germanic peoples (Migration Period). The occupiers, mainly Suebi and Visigoths, quickly adopted late Roman culture and the Vulgar Latin dialects of the peninsula. After the Moorish invasion of 711, Arabic became the administrative language in the conquered regions, but most of the population continued to speak a form of Romance commonly known as Mozarabic. The influence exerted by Arabic on the Romance dialects spoken in the Christian kingdoms was small, affecting mainly their lexicon.

The earliest surviving records of a distinctively Portuguese language are administrative documents of the 9th century, still interspersed with many Latin phrases. Today this phase is known as Proto-Portuguese (between the 9th and the 12th centuries). In the first period of Old Portuguese — Galician-Portuguese Period (from the 12th to the 14th century) — the language gradually came into general use. For some time, it was the language of preference for lyric poetry in Christian Hispania, much as Occitan was the language of the poetry of the troubadours. Portugal became an independent kingdom from the Kingdom of Leon in 1139, under king Afonso I of Portugal. In 1290, king Denis of Portugal created the first Portuguese university in Lisbon (the Estudos Gerais, later moved to Coimbra) and decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the "common language" should be known as the Portuguese language and used officially.

In the second period of Old Portuguese, from the 14th to the 16th centuries, with the Portuguese discoveries, the language was taken to many regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas (nowadays, the great majority of Portuguese speakers live in Brazil, in South 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. Its spread was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people, and by its association with Roman Catholic missionary efforts, which led to the formation of a creole language called Kristang in many parts of Asia (from the word cristão, "Christian"). The language continued to be popular in parts of Asia until the 19th century. Some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal.

The end of the Old Portuguese period was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende, in 1516. The early times of Modern Portuguese, which spans a period from the 16th century to the present day, were characterized by an increase in the number of learned words borrowed from Classical Latin and Classical Greek since the Renaissance, which greatly enriched the lexicon.

Characterization

Map showing the historical retreat and expansion of Portuguese (Galician-Portuguese) within the context of its linguistic neighbours between the year 1000 and 2000

A distinctive feature of Portuguese is that it, like Sardinian, preserved the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin, which became diphthongs in other Romance languages; cf. Fr. pierre, Sp. piedra, It. pietra, Ro. piatră, Port. pedra, Sard. perda ("stone"), from Lat. petram; or Sp. fuego, It. fuoco, Fr. feu, Ro. foc, Port. fogo, Sard. fogu from Lat. focus ("fire"). Another characteristic of early Portuguese was the loss of intervocalic l and n, sometimes followed by the merger of the two surrounding vowels, or by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel between them: cf. Lat. salire ("to leave"), tenere ("to have"), catenam ("chain"), Sp. salir, tener, cadena, Port. sair, ter, cadeia.

When the elided consonant was n, it often nasalized the preceding vowel: cf. Lat. manum ("hand"), ranam ("frog"), bonum ("good"), Port. mão, rãa, bõo (now mão, rã, bom). This process was the source of most of the nasal diphthongs typical in Portuguese. In particular, the Latin endings -anem, -anum and -onem became -ão in most cases, cf. Lat. canem ("dog"), germanum ("brother"), rationem ("reason") with Modern Port. cão, irmão, razão, and their plurals -anes, -anos, -ones normally became -ães, -ãos, -ões, cf. cães, irmãos, razões.

Vocabulary

Main article: Portuguese vocabulary Library of the Mafra National Palace, Portugal.

Most of the lexicon of Portuguese is derived from Latin. Nevertheless, because of the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, and the participation of Portugal in the Age of Discovery, it has adopted loanwords from all over the world.

Very few Portuguese words can be traced to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Portugal, which included the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, briefly present, also left some scarce traces. Some notable examples are abóbora "pumpkin" and bezerro "year-old calf", from the nearby Celtiberian language (probably through the Celtici); cerveja "beer", from Celtic; and cachorro "dog", from Basque.

In the 5th century, the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania) was conquered by the Germanic Suebi and Visigoths. As they adopted the Roman civilization and language, however, these people contributed only a few words to the lexicon, mostly related to warfare — such as espora "spur", estaca "stake", and guerra "war", from Gothic *spaúra, *stakka, and *wirro, respectively. The influence also exists in toponymic and patronymic surnames borne by Visigoth sovereigns and their descendants, and it dwells on placenames such has Ermesinde, Esposende and Resende where sinde and sende are derived from the Germanic "sinths" (military expedition) and in the case of Resende, the prefix re comes from Germanic "reths" (council).

Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Portuguese acquired about 800 words from Arabic (approx. 1,200 or more when you factor in other words also derived from Arabic) by influence of Moorish Iberia. They are often recognizable by the initial Arabic article a(l)-, and include many common words such as aldeia "village" from الضيعة aldaya, alface "lettuce" from الخس alkhass, armazém "warehouse" from المخزن almakhazan, and azeite "olive oil" from الزيت azzait. From Arabic came also the grammatically peculiar word oxalá إن شاء الله "hopefully". The Mozambican currency name metical was derived from the word متقال mitqāl, a unit of weight. The word Mozambique itself is from the Arabic name of sultan Muça Alebique (Musa Alibiki).

Starting in the 15th century, the Portuguese maritime explorations led to the introduction of many loanwords from Asian languages. For instance, catana "cutlass" from Japanese katana and chá "tea" from Chinese chá.

From South America came batata "potato", from Taino; ananás and abacaxi, from Tupi-Guarani naná and Tupi ibá cati, respectively (two species of pineapple), and tucano "toucan" from Guarani tucan. See List of Brazil state name etymologies, for some more examples.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, because of the role of Portugal as intermediary in the Atlantic slave trade, and the establishment of large Portuguese colonies in Angola, Mozambique, and Brazil, Portuguese got several words of African and Amerind origin, especially names for most of the animals and plants found in those territories. While those terms are mostly used in the former colonies, many became current in European Portuguese as well. From Kimbundu, for example, came kifumate → cafuné "head caress", kusula → caçula "youngest child", marimbondo "tropical wasp", and kubungula → bungular "to dance like a wizard".

Finally, it has received a steady influx of loanwords from other European languages. For example, melena "hair lock", fiambre "wet-cured ham" (in contrast with presunto "dry-cured ham" from Latin prae-exsuctus "dehydrated"), and castelhano "Castilian", from Spanish; colchete/crochê "bracket"/"crochet", paletó "jacket", batom "lipstick", and filé/filete "steak"/"slice" respectively, from French crochet, paletot, bâton, filet; macarrão "pasta", piloto "pilot", carroça "carriage", and barraca "barrack", from Italian maccherone, pilota, carrozza, baracca; and bife "steak", futebol, revólver, estoque, folclore, time from English beef, football, revolver, stock, folklore, and team.

Classification and related languages

Portuguese belongs to the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages, and it has special ties with the following members of this group:

Despite the obvious lexical and grammatical similarities between Portuguese and other Romance languages, it is not mutually intelligible with them. Apart from Galician and Spanish, Portuguese speakers will usually need some formal study of basic grammar and vocabulary before attaining a reasonable level of comprehension in the other Romance languages, and vice versa.

Galician and the Fala

The closest language to Portuguese is Galician, spoken in the autonomous community of Galicia (northwestern Spain). The two were at one time a single language, known today as Galician-Portuguese, but since the political separation of Portugal from Galicia they have diverged, especially in pronunciation and vocabulary. Nevertheless, the core vocabulary and grammar of Galician are still noticeably closer to Portuguese than to those of Spanish. In particular, like Portuguese, it uses the future subjunctive, the personal infinitive, and the synthetic pluperfect (see the section on the grammar of Portuguese, below). Mutual intelligibility (estimated at 85% by R. A. Hall, Jr., 1989)[33] is very good between Galicians and northern Portuguese, but poorer between Galicians and speakers from central Portugal. For that, many renowned linguists yet consider Galician to be a dialect of the Portuguese language.

The Fala language is another descendant of Galician-Portuguese, spoken by a small number of people in the Spanish towns of Valverde del Fresno, Eljas and San Martín de Trevejo (autonomous community of Extremadura, near the border with Portugal).

Influence on other languages

See also: List of English words of Portuguese origin, Loan words in Indonesian, Japanese words of Portuguese origin, List of Malay loanwords, Portuguese loanwords in Sinhala, and Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil#Portuguese

Portuguese has provided loanwords to many languages, such as Indonesian, Manado Malay, Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese (see Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese), Malay, Bengali, English, Hindi, Konkani, Marathi, Tetum, Xitsonga, Papiamentu, Japanese, Lanc-Patuá (spoken in northern Brazil) and Sranan Tongo (spoken in Suriname). It left a strong influence on the língua brasílica, a Tupi-Guarani language, which was the most widely spoken in Brazil until the 18th century, and on the language spoken around Sikka in Flores Island, Indonesia. In nearby Larantuka, Portuguese is used for prayers in Holy Week rituals. The Japanese-Portuguese dictionary Nippo Jisho (1603) was the first dictionary of Japanese in a European language, a product of Jesuit missionary activity in Japan. Building on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries, the Dictionarium Anamiticum, Lusitanum et Latinum (Annamite-Portuguese-Latin dictionary) of Alexandre de Rhodes (1651) introduced the modern orthography of Vietnamese, which is based on the orthography of 17th-century Portuguese. The Romanization of Chinese was also influenced by the Portuguese language (among others), particularly regarding Chinese surnames; one example is Mei. During 1583-88 Italian Jesuits Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci created a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary - the first ever European-Chinese dictionary.[34][35]

Derived languages

Main article: Portuguese-based creole languages

Beginning in the 16th century, the extensive contacts between Portuguese travelers and settlers, African slaves, and local populations led to the appearance of many pidgins with varying amounts of Portuguese influence. As each of these pidgins became the mother tongue of succeeding generations, they evolved into fully fledged creole languages, which remained in use in many parts of Asia and Africa until the 18th century. Some Portuguese-based or Portuguese-influenced creoles are still spoken today, by over 3 million people worldwide, especially people of partial Portuguese ancestry.

Movement to make Portuguese an official language of the UN

Justifications

There is a growing number of people in the Portuguese-speaking media and the internet who are presenting the case to the CPLP and other organizations to run a debate in the Lusophone community with the purpose of bringing forward a petition to make Portuguese an official language of the United Nations.

In October 2005, during the international Convention of the Elos Club International that took place in Tavira, Portugal,[36] a petition was written and unanimously approved whose text can be found on the internet with the title Petição Para Tornar Oficial o Idioma Português na ONU. Romulo Alexandre Soares, president of the Brazil-Portugal Chamber highlights that the positioning of Brazil in the international arena as one of the emergent powers of the 21st century, the size of its population, and the presence of the language around the world provides legitimacy and justifies a petition to the UN to make the Portuguese language an official language of the UN.[37]

Challenges

Several factors detract from this campaign. The current official languages of the UN are either 1) official/dominant in many countries (English, Spanish, Arabic, and French) or 2) have several hundreds of millions of speakers (Chinese). English, Spanish, and Arabic fulfill both criteria. Portuguese is a global language in that it is the official tongue of several sovereign countries on four continents. It also has over 200 million speakers. However, it exhibits some noticeable differences when compared to the current 6 UN official languages. For example, English, French, Arabic and Spanish are each official languages of multiple states and of over half of the world's countries. In contrast, four out of every five speakers of the Portuguese-speaking world live in just one country: Brazil. In addition to Brazil, Portuguese is the official language in only 9 other sovereign states; however, English is official in 53 states, French in 29 states, Arabic in 25 states, and Spanish in 20 states.

More significantly, in each part of the world with a Portuguese-speaking country, this language is overshadowed by other powerful languages that are already official languages of the UN. For example, in the Americas, the 190 million Portuguese-speaking Brazilians are overshadowed by the most spoken languages in the Western Hemisphere: Spanish (~360 million speakers) and English (~340 million speakers). Portuguese is overshadowed to an even greater extent in Europe, the continent in which four of the six UN languages originated (English, French, Spanish, and Russian). In the European context, Portuguese is not even among the ten most spoken languages on the continent, with a number of speakers comparable to those of Czech and Bulgarian. In Africa, Portuguese is eclipsed as a continental lingua franca by English and French in countries that surround Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique. Finally in Asia, a continent with several languages that have hundreds of millions of speakers, the only sovereign state with Portuguese as an official language is East Timor, which has only a million people. While Brazilian migration has brought 300,000 fluent Portuguese speakers to Japan, Portuguese does not enjoy any official status whatsoever in that country. Therefore, while Portuguese will gain increasing importance as Brazil continues its development as a major economy, it will likely face the same hurdles that prevented Japanese and German (both languages of major global economies with millions of speakers) from becoming both international languages and official ones of the UN.

Phonology

Main article: Portuguese phonology

There is a maximum of 9 oral vowels and 19 consonants, though some varieties of the language have fewer phonemes (Brazilian Portuguese has 8 oral vowels). There are also five nasal vowels, which some linguists regard as allophones of the oral vowels, ten oral diphthongs, and five nasal diphthongs. In total, Brazilian Portuguese has 13 vowel phonemes.[38][39]

Vowels

Chart of monophthongs of the Portuguese of Lisbon

To the seven vowels of Vulgar Latin, European Portuguese has added two near central vowels, one of which tends to be elided in rapid speech, like the e caduc of French (represented as either /ɯ̽/, or /ɨ/, or /ə/). The high vowels /e o/ and the low vowels /ɛ ɔ/ are four distinct phonemes, and they alternate in various forms of apophony. Like Catalan, Portuguese uses vowel quality to contrast stressed syllables with unstressed syllables: isolated vowels tend to be raised, and in some cases centralized, when unstressed. Nasal diphthongs occur mostly at the ends of words.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Portuguese
Bilabial Labio- dental Dental Alveolar Post- alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive p b t̪ d̪ k ɡ
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ
Approximant j w
Lateral l ʎ
Flap ɾ

The consonant inventory of Portuguese is fairly conservative. The medieval affricates /ts/, /dz/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ merged with the fricatives /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, respectively, but not with each other, and there have been no other significant changes to the consonant phonemes since then. However, some notable dialectal variants and allophones have appeared, among which:

Examples of different pronunciation

Excerpt from the Portuguese national epic Os Lusíadas, by author Luís de Camões (I, 33)
Original IPA (European Portuguese) IPA (Brazilian Portuguese) Translation
Sustentava contra ele Vénus bela, suʃtẽˈtavɐ ˈkõtɾɐ ˈeɫɨ ˈvɛnuʒ ˈbɛɫɐ sustẽˈtavɐ ˈkõtɾɐ ˈeli ˈvẽnuz ˈbɛlɐ Against him spoke the lovely Venus
Afeiçoada à gente Lusitana, ɐfɐi̯sʊˈada ˈʒẽtɨ ɫuziˈtɐnɐ afei̯soˈada ˈʒẽt(ʃ)i luziˈtɐ̃nɐ Favoring the people of Portugal,
Por quantas qualidades via nela pʊɾ ˈkwɐ̃tɐʃ kwɐɫiˈdadɨʒ ˈviɐ ˈnɛɫɐ poɾ ˈkwɐ̃tɐs kwaliˈdad(ʒ)iz ˈviɐ ˈnɛlɐ For the qualities he saw in her
Da antiga tão amada sua Romana; dãˈtiɡɐ tɐ̃ũ̯ ɐˈmadɐ ˈsuɐ ʁuˈmɐnɐ dãˈt(ʃ)iɡɐ tɐ̃ũ̯ aˈmadɐ ˈsuɐ xõˈmɐ̃nɐ For her love of Roman virtue;
Nos fortes corações, na grande estrela, nʊʃ ˈfɔɾtɨʃ kʊɾɐˈsõĩ̯ʒ nɐ ˈɡɾɐ̃dɨʃˈtɾeɫɐ nus ˈfɔɾt(ʃ)is koɾaˈsõĩ̯z na ˈɡɾɐ̃d(ʒ)j esˈtɾelɐ In their stout hearts, in the great star
Que mostraram na terra Tingitana, kɨ muʃˈtɾaɾɐ̃ũ̯ nɐ ˈtɛʁɐ tĩʒiˈtɐnɐ ki mosˈtɾaɾɐ̃ũ̯ na ˈtɛxɐ t(ʃ)ĩʒiˈtɐ̃nɐ that (was) shown in the land of Tinhitana,
E na língua, na qual quando imagina, i nɐ ˈɫĩɡwɐ nɐ kwaɫ ˈkwɐ̃dw imɐˈʒinɐ i na ˈlĩɡwɐ na kwau̯ ˈkwɐ̃dw imaˈʒĩnɐ In the language that when it is imagined
Com pouca corrupção crê que é a Latina. kõ ˈpokɐ kʊʁupˈsɐ̃ũ̯ kɾe kjɛ ɐ ɫɐˈtinɐ kõ ˈpou̯kɐ koxup(i)ˈsɐ̃ũ̯ kɾe kjɛ a laˈt(ʃ)ĩnɐ With little corruption, believes that it is Latin.[40]

Grammar

Main article: Portuguese grammar

A notable aspect of the grammar of Portuguese is the verb. Morphologically, more verbal inflections from classical Latin have been preserved by Portuguese than by any other major Romance language. See Romance copula, for a detailed comparison. It has also some innovations not found in other Romance languages (except Galician and the Fala):

Se eu for eleito presidente, mudarei a lei.
If I am elected president, I will change the law.
Quando fores mais velho, vais entender.
When you grow older, you will understand.

Writing system

Written varieties
Portugal and non-1990 Agreement countries Brazil and 1990 Agreement countries translation
direcção direção direction
óptimo ótimo excellent, optimal
Main articles: Portuguese alphabet and Portuguese orthography

Portuguese is written with 23 or 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, making use of five diacritics to denote stress, vowel height, contraction, nasalization, and other sound changes (acute accent, grave accent, circumflex accent, tilde, and cedilla). Accented characters and digraphs are not counted as separate letters for collation purposes.

Spelling reforms

Main article: Reforms of Portuguese orthography

See also

Angola portal
Brazil portal
Cape Verde portal
East Timor portal
Goa portal
Guinea-Bissau portal
Macau portal
Malacca portal
Mozambique portal
Portugal portal
São Tomé and Príncipe portal
Languages portal

Notes

  1. ^ In this discussion of a politician woman from Alagoas state it is possible to notice that the "r" in this position is a voiceless glottal fricative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKoGPP0ntz0
  2. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). "Portuguese". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=por. Retrieved 2008-10-15. "Population total all countries: 177,457,180"
  3. ^ "Portuguese Language". Portuguese Language. Microsoft Corporation. 2008. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564972/Portuguese_Language.html. Retrieved 2008-10-15. "about 221 million speakers".
  4. ^ Lusa angency (2008). "Portuguese". http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9689/1/. Retrieved 2009-01-15. "Portuguese Total 2008"
  5. ^ "Somos 240 milhões de falantes" (in Portuguese). http://diario.iol.pt/sociedade/lingua-portuguesa-portugues-ensino-governo-alunos/972503-4071.html.
  6. ^ "http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/cerv/12604733118045969643624/p0000009.htm". Cervantesvirtual.com. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/cerv/12604733118045969643624/p0000009.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  7. ^ 'Encyclopedia of Literature' Joseph T. Shipley; Philosophical Library, 1946. 1188 pgs.
  8. ^ "Uruguayan government makes Portuguese mandatory." (in Portuguese). 2007-11-05. http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/lusa/2007/11/05/ult611u75523.jhtm. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  9. ^ "Portuguese will be mandatory in highschool." (in Spanish). 2009-01-21. http://portal.educ.ar/noticias/educacion-y-sociedad/el-portugues-sera-materia-obli.php. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  10. ^ "Portuguese language will be option in the official Venezuelan teachings." (in Portuguese). 2009-05-24. http://www.letras.etc.br/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:lingua-portuguesa-sera-opcao-no-ensino-oficial-venezuelano&catid=6:noticia&Itemid=13/. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  11. ^ "Zambia will adopt the Portuguese language in their Basic school." (in Portuguese). 2009-05-26. http://movv.org/2009/05/26/a-zambia-vai-adotar-a-lingua-portuguesa-no-seu-ensino-basico/.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Congo will start to teach Portuguese in schools." (in Portuguese). 2010-06-04. http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/arteelazer,congo-passara-a-ensinar-portugues-nas-escolas,561666,0.htm/. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  13. ^ IBGE Official website
  14. ^ INE Official website
  15. ^ a b CPLP Official website
  16. ^ See the main article Geographic distribution of Portuguese, for references.
  17. ^ Uruguay recently adopted Portuguese language in its education system as an obligatory subject http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/lusa/2007/11/05/ult611u75523.jhtm
  18. ^ "The Portuguese-Speaking Community in Australia". Radio.sbs.com.au. http://radio.sbs.com.au/language.php?page=info&language=Portuguese. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  19. ^ JAPÃO: IMIGRANTES BRASILEIROS POPULARIZAM LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA
  20. ^ "Where America's Other Languages Are Spoken". Proenglish.org. http://www.proenglish.org/issues/offeng/languagepercentages.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  21. ^ Widely spoken but 'minor'? Portuguese seeks respect
  22. ^ Hispanic Reading Room of the U.S. Library of Congress website, Twentieth-Century Arrivals from Portugal Settle in Newark, New Jersey,
  23. ^ "Brazucas (Brazilians living in New York)". Nyu.edu. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/brazil.html. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  24. ^ Hispanic Reading Room of the U.S. Library of Congress website, Whaling, Fishing, and Industrial Employment in Southeastern New England
  25. ^ "Portuguese Language in Goa". Colaco.net. http://www.colaco.net/1/port.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  26. ^ "The Portuguese Experience: The Case of Goa, Daman and Diu". Rjmacau.com. http://www.rjmacau.com/english/rjm1996n3/ac-mary/portuguese.html. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  27. ^ Multicultural Canada
  28. ^ "Bermuda". World InfoZone. http://www.worldinfozone.com/country.php?country=Bermuda. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  29. ^ EUROPA website Languages in the EU
  30. ^ "Obiang convierte al portugués en tercer idioma oficial para entrar en la Comunidad lusófona de Naciones", Terra. 13-07-2007
  31. ^ From Audio samples of the dialects of Portuguese at the Instituto Camões website.
  32. ^ Note: the speaker of this sound file is from Rio, and he is talking about his experience with Nordestino and Nortista accents.
  33. ^ "Ethnologue". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=glg. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  34. ^ Yves Camus, "Jesuits' Journeys in Chinese Studies"
  35. ^ "Dicionário Português-Chinês : Pu Han ci dian : Portuguese-Chinese dictionary", by Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci; edited by John W. Witek. Published 2001, Biblioteca Nacional. ISBN 9725652983. Partial preview available on Google Books
  36. ^ "ONU: Petição para tornar português língua oficial". Diario.iol.pt. 2005-11-17. http://diario.iol.pt/noticia.html?id=611263&div_id=4071. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  37. ^ Português pode ser língua oficial na ONU
  38. ^ http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugu%C3%AAs_brasileiro
  39. ^ Handbook of the International Phonetic Association pg. 126-130; the reference applies to the entire section
  40. ^ White, Landeg. (1997). The Lusiads — English translation. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280151-1
  41. ^ Squartini, Mario (1998) Verbal Periphrases in Romance — Aspect, Actionality, and Grammaticalization ISBN 3-11-016160-5

References

General

Literature

Phonology, orthography and grammar

Reference dictionaries

Linguistic studies

External links

Portuguese language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portuguese language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Portuguese
Links to related articles
Official languages of the European Union

Bulgarian · Czech · Danish · Dutch · English · Estonian · Finnish · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Irish · Italian · Latvian · Lithuanian · Maltese · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swedish
Languages of South America
Sovereign states

Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Panama1 · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago1 · Uruguay · Venezuela
Dependencies and territories

Aruba1 / Netherlands Antilles1 (Netherlands) · Falkland Islands / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom) 2 · French Guiana (France)
1 Territories also in or commonly considered to be part of North America. 2 Territories also in or commonly considered to be part of Antarctica.
Romance languages
Italo-Western
Gallo-Iberian
Gallo-Italic
Ligurian Brigasc · Genoese · Intemelio · Mentonasc · Monégasque
Lombard Eastern · Gallo-Sicilian · Western
Others Emiliano-Romagnolo · Piedmontese · Venetian
Gallo-Rhaetian
Langues d'oïl Burgundian · Champenois · Frainc-Comtou · French · Gallo · Lorrain · Norman · Picard · Poitevin · Saintongeais · Walloon
Rhaeto-Romance Friulian · Ladin · Romansh
Others Arpitan
Occitano- Romance
Catalan Algherese · Balearic · Central · Valencian
Occitan Auvergnat · Gascon · Languedocien · Limousin · Provençal · Shuadit · Vivaro-Alpine
Ibero-Romance
Astur-Leonese Asturian · Cantabrian · Extremaduran · Leonese · Mirandese
Portuguese African (Angolan, Cape Verdean, Guinean, Mozambican, São Tomean) · East Timorese · Macanese · Brazilian · European (Barranquenho)
Galician Eonavian · Fala
Spanish (Castilian) African (Equatoguinean) · Latin American · Peninsular (Ladino / Caló)
Italo-Dalmatian
Italian Central · Corsican (Gallurese) · Tuscan · Romanesco
Neapolitan Southern Italian dialects
Others Dalmatian · Istriot · Judeo-Italian · Sicilian
Pyrenean Aragonese · Mozarabic
Eastern and Southern
Eastern
Romanian Moldovan · Vlach
Others Aromanian · Istro-Romanian · Megleno-Romanian
Southern
Sardinian Campidanese · Logudorese · Sassarese
Italics indicate extinct languages; bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers.
Languages of the African Union
Working Arabic · English · French · Portuguese · Spanish · Swahili
Transnational Hausa · Somali · Yoruba · Igbo · Oromo · Kinyarwanda/Kirundi · Swati · Tswana · Sotho · Wolof · Kongo/Kituba · Kanuri · Fula · Chichewa · Lingala · Malagasy · Afrikaans · Shona · Tigrinya · Mòoré · Zulu
National Amharic · Sango
Latin Union
Member nations Andorra · Angola · Bolivia · Brazil · Cape Verde · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Cuba · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · France · Guatemala · Guinea-Bissau · Haiti · Honduras · Italy · Mexico · Moldova · Monaco · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Romania · San Marino · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Spain · Uruguay · Venezuela
Permanent observers Argentina · Holy See · Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Official languages Catalan · French · Italian · Portuguese · Romanian · Spanish
Portuguese dialects
Africa (Portuguese in Africa) Angolan (Benguelense · Huambense · Luandense · Southern) · Cape Verdean · Guinean · Madeirense# · Mozambican · São Tomean
Americas (Portuguese in the Americas) Açoriano# · Brazilian (Brasiliense · Caipira · Carioca · Cearense · Baiano · Florianopolitano · Fluminense · Gaúcho · Mineiro · Nordestino · Nortista · Paulistano · Sertanejo · Sulista) · Riverense Portuñol
Asia and Oceania (Portuguese in Asia and Oceania) Damanese · East Timorese# · Goan · Macanese
Europe (Portuguese in Europe) Açoriano# · Alentejano · Barranquenho · Algarvio · Alto-Alentejano · Alto-Minhoto · Baixo-Beirão · Beirão · Estremenho · Lisboeta · Madeirense# · Nortenho · Transmontano · Fala · Judeo-Portuguese · Galego
See also Geographic distribution of Portuguese · Portuguese phonology · Portuguese vocabulary
# Can be considered belonging to more than one continent citing geographical or cultural arguments.
Portuguese-based creole languages
Upper Guinea Creoles Cape Verdean Creole · Guinea-Bissau Creole
Gulf of Guinea Creoles Angolar · Annobonese · Forro · Principense
Indo-Portuguese Creoles Daman Indo-Portuguese · Diu Indo-Portuguese · Kristi · Bandu Indo-Portuguese · Floare Indo-Portuguese · Mundo Indo-Portuguese · Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole
Malayo-Portuguese Creoles Bidau Portuguese · Papiá Kristang · Papiá Tugu · Portugis
Sino-Portuguese Creoles Macanese
American Portuguese Creoles Papiamento
Creoles with strong Portuguese lexical influence Saramaccan

Categories: Portuguese-language surnames | Community of Portuguese Language Countries | Languages of Andorra | Languages of Angola | Languages of Brazil | Languages of Cape Verde | Languages of East Timor | Languages of Guinea-Bissau | Languages of Macau | Languages of Mozambique | Languages of Portugal | Languages of São Tomé and Príncipe | Portuguese language

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Tue Jul 27 02:20:23 2010. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
'Portuguese Language' News
OUR VIEW: Spread the message Local police are here to serve everyone - SouthCoastToday.com
southcoasttoday.com
OUR VIEW: Spread the message Local police are here to serve everyone - SouthCoastToday.com
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:06:05 GMT+00:00
SouthCoastToday.com It also would be good if they spoke Portuguese and K'iche. And it would be even better if more than 14 of the city's 260 police officers were women. ...
Google News Search: Portuguese language,
Mon Jul 5 16:34:07 2010
'Portuguese Language' Images
principal meio jpg
step1.com.br
principal meio jpg
315px x 478px | 29.70kB

[source page]



Yahoo Images Search: Portuguese language,
Sat Jul 17 05:35:52 2010
'Portuguese Language' Blogs
Translation of Italian, a very good course of action to support ...
toparticle.net
Translation of Italian, a very good course of action to support ...

gagansmo

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:31:24 GM

They need to be a native in the required language. Suppose you require want a translation of everyone of the various recipes currently in Italian to the . Portuguese language. , you would have this translated by a person that is a native ...

Google Blogs Search: Portuguese language,
Mon Jul 26 14:16:11 2010
'Portuguese Language' Answers
Would you be able to identify the sounds of the Portuguese language more than in other languages?
Q. Spanish probably followed by Italian and French. What about the Portuguese? Would you find it strange?
Asked by Helios - Fri Oct 9 22:46:46 2009 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Potuguese isn't as familiar to Americans as the other three. But it's pretty to listen to. There are lots of "a-o" endings rather than consonants. It sounds very "soft", with lots of zh sounds. Here are some phrases so you can hear:
Answered by Susie T - Sat Oct 10 20:05:32 2009

Yahoo Answers Search: Portuguese language,
Wed May 26 11:05:59 2010
[Hide]▲