Portuguese language

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Portuguese is the second most spoken Romance language in the world, outnumbered only by Spanish. It originated in Northern Portugal and Galicia, and evolved from the Latin brought there by the Romans (Portuguese derives almost 90% from Latin). Portuguese spread worldwide as Portugal became the first modern world super-power and the first colonial empire and the last to fall, which is why there are large numbers (more than 20) of Portuguese Creole languages and several Portuguese-speaking territories.

Portuguese is the sixth most popular mother-tongue language in the world, with around 199 million people. It is a widely used second language in Africa (except Angola, were it is the first), in former Portuguese colonies as an official and unification language (Angola, East Timor, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe) and learning language in South America (except Brazil, where it is the first) and Senegal, and has absorbed words from various cultures worldwide as it continues to grow in use.

Portuguese is nicknamed A lingua de Camoes (the language of Camoens, the author of The Lusiad). Also known as A ultima flor do Lacio (The last flower of Latium).

History

Roman colonization

Although the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited since well before the Roman colonization, very few traces of the native languages persist in modern Portuguese. The Portuguese language, that has as its origin Vulgar Latin, developed on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula (current Portugal and region of Galiza, or Galicia) enclosed in the Roman province of Lusitania. The province of Lusitania split into two separate provinces, Lusitania and Galecia. From 218 BC, with the Roman invasion of the peninsula, and until the 9th century, the language spoken in the region was Romance, a variant of Latin that constitutes an intermediate to the modern Latin languages.

Barbarian invasion

During 409 A.D. to 711, peoples of germanic origin, known by the Romans as Barbarians, came to the Iberian Peninsula. The Barbarians (mainly Suevi and Visigoths) had very little developed culture and they accepted the culture and language of the peninsula. The effect of these migrations in the spoken language of the population was not uniform, initiating a process of regional differentiation, since each barbarian spoke Latin in a different form. The Suevi people are seen as a reason for the linguistic differentiation of the Portuguese and Galicians towards Spanish.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the schools were closed and the former empire no longer had the unifying elements of the language. Latin was free to modify itself.

The definitive disruption of linguistic uniformity in the Peninsula occurred later, leading to the formation of well-differentiated languages(Portuguese-Galician, Spanish and Catalan). Some influences of this era persist in the vocabulary of modern Portuguese, especially in words linked to war and violence.

Moorish invasion

From 711, with the Moorish invasion of the Peninsula, Arabic was adopted as main language in the conquered regions, but the population continued to speak Romance. From the 9th to the 11th century, some Portuguese terms appeared in texts written in Latin, but Portuguese was essentially only spoken in Portugal and Galicia.

Although Barbarians and Arabs remained in the peninsula for quite some time, the influence that they exerted on the language was small and was restricted to the lexicon, therefore the romanization process was very intense. But one can find a huge number of Arabic words in Portuguese especially relating to food, agriculture and placenames of the south.

The rise of the Portuguese language

King Alfonso I established the Portuguese Nation that assumed official independence in 1143. In 1290, king Diniz created the Escola de Direitos Gerais (School of General Rights) and compelled by decree the official use of the Portuguese Language (an evolution of Vulgar Latin) called then Vulgar Language and diminished the use of Classical Latin. Until 1350, Portuguese (or Portuguese-Galician) was the native language of Galicia and Portugal, but it became the written language of almost the whole Iberian Peninsula. The language was adopted also by Leonese, Castillian, Aragonese and Catalan poets. The language which in the time differentiated itself: in the south, Portuguese, and in the north, Galician, which was undergoing greater influence from Castilian (called Spanish in English, nowadays).

The Portuguese discoveries

Between the 14th and the 16th centuries, with the Portuguese discoveries, the Portuguese language arrived in some regions of Asia, Africa and America, undergoing local influences.

At that time, Portuguese became the language for business in Asia and Africa, becoming a lingua franca. The language was not only used in the colonial cities in Asia, but also by several local governors when communicating with foreigners. In Ceylon (nowadays Sri Lanka) Portuguese was used by Europeans to speak with natives; several kings of Ceylon spoke fluent Portuguese and Portuguese names were common among nobles.

Later, when the Dutch ruled Ceylon and Indonesia, they prohibited the use of Portuguese. They had taken severe measures, but the population continued to use Portuguese. Locals that were converted to Christianity adopted Portuguese as their natural language, calling it Cristao (meaning Christian). Also there were several mixed marriages between Portuguese and locals, that also adopted Portuguese as their native language. Some of these communities became isolated from Portugal, but they continue to use Portuguese. However, now that their Portuguese suffered changes and has seen centuries of isolation from Portugal, they are known as creoles. Some of them are still spoken in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia by Christian or isolated communities.

The Portuguese language was not only influenced by local languages, but they also influenced it. Many Portuguese origin words were adopted by several Indian and Ceylon languages, but also by Bengali, Malay, Tetum, Swahili, Afrikaans and several others.

The Renaissance

With the Renaissance, increases in the number of words of Classical Latin origin and erudite words of Greek origin increased the complexity of Portuguese. The end of Old Portuguese was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende, in 1516. But Old Portuguese is still spoken, as a dialect, especially in Sao Tome and Principe, but also Brazil and rural Portugal.

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, it is different in speech, most of the similarities are in the writing system, and same close-origin of the lexicon and grammar. 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)

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

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 can't understand the spoken language. Tourists in Portugal and Brazil should note that trying to communicate with the locals in Spanish may seem offensive, except for cultured Brazilians, but not cultured Portuguese. French or English languages should be preferred in Portugal.

Geographic distribution

Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe.

Portuguese is also one of the primary languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and Macao (with Chinese). It is an official language, but not the first, in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. It is largely spoken, but not official, in Andorra and Luxembourg.

Portuguese in the Americas Nevertheless, Portuguese 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 (Mercosur). There are in Brazil, 182.1 million people who use Portuguese as their main language, but there are also first-language speakers in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. In the rest of the Americas, there are also important communities in: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, United States (0.6 million active speakers in a community of 1.5 million, especially New Jersey) and Venezuela.

Portuguese in Europe In Europe, Portuguese is spoken mainly in Portugal by its 10.3 million inhabitants, as first language. 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, Gibraltar, Jersey and Switzerland. It is also spoken in Spain, especially in Galicia (known officially as Galician), Olivenca and in Vale do Xalima (known as A fala).

Galician (also known as Galego or Gallego) can be seen as a somewhat Castillianized form of Portuguese. The current Galician Autonomous Government backs a standard variety of Galician which distances it from Portuguese and makes its written form more similar to Castillian Spanish. Nevertheless, there is another standard, used in some political circles and universities, that treats Galician as a Portuguese dialect with minor differences. Linguists have always recognized the unity of these linguistic varieties (for instance, Corominas, Lindley Cintra, Coseriu, etc), as they were once just the same language and both are relatively conservative varieties. However, in practice, they are sometimes treated as different languages by both populations mainly due to sociolinguistic factors, with works in Galician being translated into Portuguese and vice versa. During the Middle Ages, Galician and Portuguese were undoubtedly the same language, nowadays known as Portuguese-Galician, a language used for poetic works even in Castille. The only Galician deputy in the European Union Parliament speaks in Portuguese.

Portuguese in Africa In sub-Saharan Africa, Portuguese is a growing language where it is projected that to be the one of the most spoken languages within 50 years with the growing importance of Angola and Mozambique. These two countries along with Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe are known as Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (Official Portuguese Language African Countries) or PALOP, forming a community of more than 8.4 million first language speakers. There are strong Portuguese creoles in other parts of Africa. The south of Senegal, known as Casamance has an active community that is linked culturally and linguistically to Guinea-Bissau and learning Portuguese is popular. A Portuguese creole linked to Sao Tome and Principe is the language of the island of Annobom, Equatorial Guinea. Portuguese is a minority language in Congo, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa.

In Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, the most widely-spoken languages are Portuguese creoles known as Crioulos. Most Capeverdians can also speak Portuguese, because their creoles are derived from Portuguese. A Portuguese speaker from elsewhere can understand some of a conversation in Crioulo, although, because some words where simplified, they normally get confused. The case is a bit different in Guinea-Bissau, Portuguese and its creoles are spoken by 55% of the inhabitants, while Portuguese itself is only spoken by 14%.

In Sao Tome and Principe, the Portuguese used by the population is an archaic Portuguese, known as Sao Tomean Portuguese. Politicians and the upper use the modern European Portuguese variety, much like the other PALOP countries. Three different Portuguese creoles are spoken by small communities.

In Angola, Portuguese is quickly becoming a national language rather than only an official language or as a cohesion vehicle. By the census of 1980, in the capital, Luanda, Portuguese was the first language of 75% of a population of 2.5 million. In the whole country, for 60% of the 12.5 million inhabitants Portuguese was also the main spoken language. At the present day, Portuguese is even more popular. Angola receives several Portuguese and Brazilian televison stations. There are also many other native languages in Angola. Some words from those languages have been borrowed into Portuguese, when the retornados returned to Portugal after Angola's independence. Words like ia (yes) and bue (many), common in the young and urban Portuguese population have their origin in Angolan languages.

Mozambique is among the countries where the 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 are more than 40% of the population, this number rises 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, but it became attached to the color and texture of the Mozambican culture.

Portuguese in Asia Portuguese is also spoken in Asia, especially in East Timor, Goa and Daman (India) and Macau (China). In Goa, it is spoken by an increasingly small minority, it is seen as the language of the grandparents, because it is not taught at school or official, while in Malacca in Malaysia, there is a Portuguese creole known as Cristao or Papia Kristang still spoken by some of the Eurasian population. There are also active Portuguese creoles, especially, in India (Daman, Korlai, Tellicherry) and Sri Lanka. In Japan, Portuguese is spoken by Brazilians of Japanese descent, known as dekasegui.

In East Timor, the national 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 interrested adults. East Timor asked for help to the other CPLP nations to establish once more Portuguese as a national language. East Timor uses Portuguese to link itself to a larger international community and to differentiate itself from Indonesia. Xanana Gusmao, president of East Timor, believes that Portuguese will be widly spoken within 10 years.

Official status

The CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries) is an international organization grouping together the eight independent countries which have Portuguese as official language. Portuguese is an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and African Union (one of the working languages) among other organizations. Except for the Asian territories (East Timor and Macau), Portuguese is the only official language where it is official.

Portuguese is the official of:
Africa

• Angola main language: 60% spoken by: NA%
• Cape Verde main language: NA% spoken by: ~80%
• Guinea-Bissau main language: 14% spoken by: 14%
• Mozambique main language: 9% spoken by: 40%
• Sao Tome and Principe main language: NA% spoken by: 95%

• Macau, China main language: 2% spoken by: NA%
• East Timor main language: NA% spoken by: 15%

• Portugal main language: ~100% spoken by: ~100%

• Brazil main language: 99% spoken by: ~100%

• Olivenca (a Portuguese territory invaded by Spain in the 19th century)
• Luxembourg main language: 13% spoken by: 13%
• Andorra main language: 11% spoken by: 11%
• Daman, India main language: 10% spoken by: 10%
• Goa, India main language: 3% spoken by: 5%
• Spain: Galicia² and Vale do Xalima³

Dialects and varieties

main article: Portuguese dialects The Portuguese has two official varieties originated from the dialects of Coimbra and Lisbon in the case of the variety of Portugal and in the dialects of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in the variety of Brazil. There are some differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese varieties in vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax, especially in popular varieties. However, both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are undoubtedly dialects of the same language and speakers from both varieties can easily understand each other.

Some apparent differences between the two varieties are not really differences. In Brazil, the term for socks is meias. And, in Portugal, peugas. However, some dialectal zones in Portugal uses meias and don't use the word peugas. This applies in almost all such apparent differences, except in the new terms.

A Spelling Reform (Port. Reforma Ortografica) was tried in 1990 to put an end to the two official written varieties of the language, was ratified by Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. The African countries of Portuguese language still not decided to ratify, because there is little presence of the African modality of the language in the original conception of the Agreement. The Agreement establishes that its entrance into practice will only occur when all the countries of the CPLP ratify it, and this process perhaps will not occur soon, even with Portuguese and Brazilian pressure in CPLP. An agreement was made for the new words that will enter in the language.

All aspects and sounds of all Portuguese (nation) dialects can be found in some Brasilian (nation) dialect, though Brazilian dialects seem more unified than the Portuguese ones.

Officially and until the agreement is established, Portuguese has two written varieties (Port. Variedades) but Portuguese speakers prefer to name it as Padroes (Eng Patterns):

• European and African Portuguese
• Brazilian Portuguese

• Alentejano (Region of Alentejo, Portugal)
• Algarvio (Region of Algarve, Portugal)
• Alto-Minhoto (North of Braga, Portugal)
• Angolano (Angola)
• Acoriano (Azores, Portugal)
• Caboverdiano (Cape Verde)
• Caipira (interior of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
• Carioca (City and State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Cearense (State of Ceara, Brazil)
• Baiano (Region of Bahia, Brazil)
• Beirao (central Portugal)
• Estremenho (Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon, Portugal)
• Galician or Galego ''(Galiza, Spain)
• Gaucho (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
• Guineense (Guinea-Bissau)
• Madeirense (Madeira, Portugal)
• Mineiro (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil)
• Mocambicano (Mozambique)
• Nordestino (norestern states of Brazil)
• Nortenho (Regions of Braga and Oporto, Portugal)
• Nortista (Amazon states, north of Brazil)
• Paulistano (city of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
• Santomense (Sao Tome and Principe)
• Sertao (States of Goias and Mato Grosso, Brazil)
• Sulista (south of Brazil)
• Timorense (East Timor)
• Transmontano (Region of Tras-os-Montes, Portugal)

Pinnapple

• Angola: abacaxi²
• Portugal: ananas¹, sometimes abacaxi²
• Brazil: abacaxi², sometimes ananas¹

• Angola: anhara³ or chana³, sometimes savana¹
• Portugal and Brazil: savana¹

• Angola: barona¹, sometimes moca bonita¹
• Portugal: rapariga bonita¹ or moca bonita¹
• Brazil: moca bonita¹, sometimes rapariga bonita¹

• Angola: bazar³, sometimes ir embora ¹
• Portugal: ir embora¹ (or bazar³ among teenagers)
• Brazil: ir embora ¹

• Angola: bumbar³, sometimes trabalhar¹;
• Portugal and Brazil: trabalhar¹

• Angola: bicha²
• Portugal: maricas¹ or bicha²
• Brazil: bicha ²

• Angola: farra³
• Portugal and Brazil: festa¹ (or farra³ - teenage parties)

• Portugal: autocarro
• Brazil: onibus
• Angola (and Mozambique): machimbombo

Derived languages

main article: Portuguese Creole There are several living Portuguese creoless spoken around the world:

• Angolar, Sao Tome and Principe
• Burgher, Sri Lanka
• Creole of Diu, India
• Creole of Vaipim, India
• Fa d’Ambo (also known as Falar de Ano Bom), Equatorial Guinea
• Forro (also known as Crioulo Santomense), Sao Tome and Principe
• kriol of Guinea-Bissau (also known as Crioulo), Guinea-Bissau
• kriol of Casamance (also known as Crioulo), Senegal
• Kriolu of Barlavento (also known as Crioulo), Cape Verde
• Kriolu of Sotavento (also known as Crioulo), Cape Verde
• Kristi (or Cristao), India
• Lingua da Casa, India
• Lunguye (also known as Lingua da Ilha or Principense), Sao Tome and Principe
• Papiamento (or Papiamentu), Curacau, Aruba and Bonaire (Portuguese-based but influenced by Spanish)
• Papia Kristang (or Cristao), Malaysia (and possibly exctinct in Singapore)
• Patua (or Makaista), Macau (and exctinct in Hong Kong)
• Saramacano, Suriname (Portuguese based, but with English influence)

• A Fala, Spain (can be considered as a dialect)
• Gallego, Spain (The official version of Galego)
• Portunhol, Uruguai

Sounds

Vowels

The sound system of Portuguese is somewhat more complicated compared to Spanish. There are a greater number of vowels, and there is not a simple rule relating written vowels to their sounds, as there is in Spanish. Similarly to French, Portuguese has a set of nasal vowels and a set of nasal diphthongs.

Consonants

The letter s when final or followed by another voiceless consonant is /S/, or before a voiced consonant /Z/. So the escudo (the previous currency - now Portugal uses the Euro) is /@SkuDu/, plural escudos /@SkuDuS/. This peculiarity is only valid however in Portugal (most dialects) and in the metropolitan area of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In other regions of Brazil and other former Portuguese colonies, the s is merely voiced (to /z/) when before a voiced consonant. The Beirao dialect of central Portugal, pronounces the final 's' as 'j'.

The letter l when final in some regions of Brasil is pronounced as /u/ and in the Caipira dialect as /r/. In Rio de Janeiro and other areas of southestern Brazil, the syllables te and ti are pronounced as 'tchi' and de and di as 'dji'. In most of Brazil with the exception of the deep south r is pronounced as aveolar fricative somewhat similar to the 'j' in Spanish. This same proununciation of 'r' also occurs in Spanish by many speakers in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba).

In northern Portugal, in the Alto-Minhoto and Transmontano dialects, Ch is spoken as 'tch'. Also, in Northern Portugal's dialects, 'v' is pronounced as /b/.

The following Table of Sounds is valid both in European and Brazilian Portuguese.

Grammar

The verb

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

cantar (to sing)

comer (to speak)

rir (to laugh)

compor (to compose)