Portuguese languagePortuguese language, called língua portuguesa by the people who use it, is a Romance language spoken in various countries, including Angola, Brazil, East Timor, Mozambique and Portugal. With 199 million native speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most popular mother-tongue language in the world, and the second Romance language, outnumbered only by Spanish, and one of the few languages spoken all over the world. Portuguese is nicknamed A língua de Camões ("The language of Camoens", after Luís de Camões, the author of The Lusiad); and A última flor do Lácio ("The last flower of Latium"). Portuguese language speakers are known as Lusófonos or "Lusophonic".\n{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width="300" style="float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em;"\n!colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"|Portuguese (Português)\n|-\n|Spoken in:\n|Andorra, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Luxembourg, Macau, Mozambique, Namibia, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, India, South Africa, Spain and 20 other countries.\n|-\n|Total speakers:\n|199 Million - 207 Million1\n|-\n|valign="top"|Ranking:\n|6\n|-\n|valign="top"|Geneticclassification:\n|Indo-European \n Italic \n Romance \n Italo-Western \n Western \n Gallo-Iberian \n Ibero-Romance \n West-Iberian \n Portuguese-Galician \n Portuguese \n|-\n!colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"|Official status\n|-\n|Official language of: \n|valign="top"|Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe\n|-\n|Regulated by:\n|International Portuguese Language Institute; CPLP\n|-\n!colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"|Language codes\n|-\n|ISO 639-1:\n|pt\n|-\n|ISO 639-2:\n|por\n|-\n|SIL:\n|POR\n|}\nThe Portuguese language was spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th 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 and Japan. As a result of that expansion, 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, Namibia and South Africa. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, e.g. Paris in France, Boston, New Jersey, California and Miami in the USA.
Geographic distribution{| align="right" style="margin-left:1em" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3"\n|-\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD|Portuguese language countries and territories\n|-\n!bgcolor=#DDDDDD| country\n!bgcolor=#DDDDDD|speakers (native)\n!bgcolor=#DDDDDD|speakers\n!bgcolor=#DDDDDD|population (July 2003)\n|-\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD|Africa\n|-\n|Angola\n| align="right" | 60%\n| align="right" | NA\n| align="right" | 10,766,471\n|-\n|Cape Verde\n| align="right" | NA\n| align="right" | 80%\n| align="right" | 412,137\n|-\n|Guinea-Bissau\n| align="right" | NA\n| align="right" | 14%\n| align="right" | 1,360,827\n|-\n|Mozambique\n| align="right" | 9%\n| align="right" | 40%\n| align="right" | 17,479,266\n|-\n|São Tomé and Príncipe\n| align="right" | 50%\n| align="right" | 95%\n| align="right" | 175,883\n|-\n|not official:\n|-\n|Namibia \n| align="right" | 20%\n| align="right" | 20%\n| align="right" | 1,927,447\n|-\n|South Africa\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 42,768,678\n|- bgcolor=#DDDDDD\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD|Asia\n|-\n|East Timor\n| align="right" | NA\n| align="right" | 15%\n| align="right" | 997,853\n|-\n|Macau, China\n| align="right" | 2%\n| align="right" | 3%\n| align="right" | 469,903\n|-\n|not official:\n|-\n|Daman, India\n| align="right" | 10%\n| align="right" | 10%\n| align="right" | NA\n|-\n|Goa, India\n| align="right" | 3-5%\n| align="right" | 5%\n| align="right" | NA\n|- bgcolor=#DDDDDD\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD|Europe\n|-\n|Portugal\n| align="right" | 100%\n| align="right" | 100%\n| align="right" | 10,102,022\n|-\n|not official:\n|-\n|Luxembourg\n| align="right" | 13%\n| align="right" | 13%\n| align="right" | 454,157\n|-\n|Andorra\n| align="right" | 11%\n| align="right" | 11%\n| align="right" | 69,150\n|-\n|Switzerland\n| align="right" | 2%\n| align="right" | 2%\n| align="right" | 7,318,638\n|-\n|France\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 60,180,529\n|- bgcolor=#DDDDDD\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD|The Americas\n|-\n|Brazil\n| align="right" | 99%\n| align="right" | 100%\n| align="right" | 182,032,604\n|-\n|not official:\n|-\n|Bermuda\n| align="right" | 4%\n| align="right" | 4%\n| align="right" | 69,150\n|-\n|Venezuela\n| align="right" | 1-2%\n| align="right" | 1-2%\n| align="right" | 24,654,694\n|-\n|Canada\n| align="right" | 1-2%\n| align="right" | 1-2%\n| align="right" | 32,207,113\n|-\n|Netherlands Antilles\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 1%\n| align="right" | 216,226\n|-\n!colspan="4" bgcolor=#DDDDDD| \n|}\nPortuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe. And, it is 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 largely 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 the speakers of Portuguese live in four continents: Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. However, still almost two million speakers are found in the North America (most in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and Antigua and Barbuda). Less than 50 thousand speakers live in Oceania. The table "Portuguese language countries and territories" includes countries where 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). In Spain, Galicia2 (circa 90%) and Vale do Xálima3, the language is also largely spoken. Their data was not included because these "languages" are not officially understood as Portuguese language.South AmericaThe language of Camoens 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" (from português and español) has emerged. It is also spoken inVenezuela.EuropeIn 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, Jersey and Switzerland, but Portuguese emigration has stopped what could lead to a decrease of speakers in some European countries. It is also spoken in Spain, especially in Galicia (known officially as Galician), Olivença and in Vale do Xalima (known as A fala). Galician (Galego) can be seen as a somewhat Castilianized 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 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 Castile. The only Galician deputy in the European Union Parliament, Camilo Nogueira, speaks in Portuguese and says that his language is already official in the EU, that is Portuguese.AfricaIn 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 Paises Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (Official Portuguese Language African Countries) or PALOP, forming a community of some 16 million speakers (9 million use it has 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 a minority language in Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Namibia (Angolan refuges, ~20% of the Population), South Africa (more than one million speakers), Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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 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 Portuguses as their main spoken language . Most younger Angolans can only speak Portuguese. Angola receives several Portuguese and Brazilian televison stations, a Portuguese news TV station (SIC Notícias) became very popular in Angola in a record time after it started broadcasting there in 2003. There are also many other native languages in Angola, though the population treats them as dialects and not languages. 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 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 account for 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, it has become attached to the colour and texture of the 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 decrease. Most Cape Verdians can also speak Standard Portuguese, 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 is 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 seems to increase. Almost all the population can speak Portuguese.
AsiaPortuguese 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 only the small Macanese or Eurasian population uses it and only there is only one Portuguese-medium school. 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 dekasegui, 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 interrested 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 statusThe 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 a 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.Written varietiesUntil the Ortographic Agreement is established, Portuguese has two written varieties (Port. Variedades) but Portuguese speakers prefer to name them as Padrões (Eng Standards):\n* European and African Portuguese\n* Brazilian Portuguese The differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese varieties are in vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax, especially in popular varieties, while between upper-class Brazilians these differences ease largely. The differences are somewhat less than those between American English and British English. Both varieties are undoubtedly dialects of the same language and speakers from both varieties can easily understand each other. Some apparent differences between the two varieties in lexicon are not really differences. In Brazil, the vulgar term for carpet is tapete. And, in Portugal, alcatifa. However, many dialectal zones in Portugal uses tapete and other areas in Brazil uses alcatifa. This applies in almost all such apparent differences, except in the new terms, such as ônibus in Brazil, that is Autocarro in Portugal. The Brazilian version of Portuguese is referred not because of its distinct lexicon or pronunciation (considered natural even in a single country) but rather due to the written form. Brazil eliminated most first "c" when "cc", "cç" or "ct"; and "p" when "pc", "pç" or "pt" from the language 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).
Dialects\nMain 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. Mostly because the term "dialect" has been used to classify a language without prestige. Standard European Portuguese (also known as Estremenho) 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 (also known as Santomense) has many similarities with Brazilian Portuguese (also know as carioca or fluminense), also Southern Portugal dialects presents many similarities, especially, the excessive use of the geround. In Europe, Alto-Minhoto and Transmontano are very similar to 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. Major Portuguese dialects: Portugal\n* Alentejano (hear it) - Alentejo \n* Algarvio (hear it) - Algarve\n* Alto-Minhoto (hear it) - North of Braga\n* Açoriano (hear it) - Azores\n* Baixo-Beirão; Alto-Alentejano (hear it) - interior Central of Portugal\n* Beirão (hear it) - central Portugal\n* Estremenho (hear it) - Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon \n* Nortenho (hear it) - Regions of Braga and Porto\n* Madeirense (hear it) - Madeira\n* Transmontano (hear it) Trás-os-Montes\nAfrica\n* Angolano (hear it) - Angola \n* Caboverdiano (hear it) - Cape Verde\n* Guineense (hear it) - Guinea-Bissau\n* Moçambicano (hear it) - Mozambique \n* Santomense (hear it) - São Tomé and Principe \nBrazil\n* Caipira - interior of the State of São Paulo\n* Carioca (hear it) - City and State of Rio de Janeiro \n* Cearense - Ceará\n* Baiano - Region of Bahia\n* Gaúcho - Rio Grande do Sul\n* Mineiro - Minas Gerais\n* Nordestino (hear it) - northeastern states of Brazil\n* Nortista - Amazon Basin states \n* Paulistano - city of São Paulo\n* Sertão - States of Goiás and Mato Grosso\n* Sulista - south of Brazil\nOther Areas\n* Galician - Galiza, Spain\n* Timorense (hear it) - East Timor\n* Macaense (hear it) - Macau, China Examples of words that are different in Portuguese dialects from three different continents Angola (Africa), Portugal (Europe) and Brazil (South America). Go away\n* Angola: bazar, ir embora\n* Brazil: ir embora;\n* Portugal: ir embora; (or bazar among teenagers) Bus\n* Portugal: autocarro\n* Brazil: ônibus\n* Angola: machimbombo slum quarter\n* Angola: muceque\n* Brazil: favela\n* Portugal: bairro de lataDerived languages\nMain 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:\n* Crioulo Barlavento (Criol)\n* Crioulo Sotavento (Kriolu) Equatorial Guinea:\n*Fá d'Ambô Guinea-Bissau and Senegal:\n* kriol India:\n* Creole of Diu\n* Creole of Vaipim\n* Kristi\n* Língua da Casa Macau, China:\n* Macaista Malaysia, Singapore:\n* Papiá Kristang Netherlands Antilles and Aruba:\n* Papiamento São Tomé and Principe:\n* Angolar\n* Forro\n* Lunguyê Sri Lanka:\n* Burgher Suriname:\n* Saramacano Some hybrid dialects came to exist after an interaction with Spanish:\n* A Fala, Spain\n* Barranquenho, Portugal\n* Gallego, Spain (The official variety)\n* Portuñol, UruguaiSounds\nMain 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. Even with its diversity, Portuguese is one of the most unified international languages and, in each country, people tend to classify the dialects, at maximum, as accents, because they are highly intelligible. The following "Table of Sounds and Reading" is valid in Portugal, Brazil and Africa.\n{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="font-family: Arial Unicode MS, Lucida Sans Unicode"\n|-\n|letter\n|Portuguese\n|Meaning\n|IPA\n|letter\n|Portuguese\n|Meaning\n|IPA\n|-\n|a\n|talha \n|cut \n| \n|lh\n|alho\n|garlic\n| \n|-\n|a\n|amo \n|master \n| \n|m-\n|mapa\n|map\n| \n|-\n|á\n|alto, árvore \n|tall, tree\n| \n|n-\n|número\n|number\n| \n|-\n|am, an\n|campo, canto \n|field, corner\n| \n|nh\n|ninho\n|nest\n| \n|-\n|b\n|bola\n|ball\n| \n|o\n|santo, logo\n|saint, soon\n| \n|-\n|ca, co, cu\n|casa \n|house \n| \n|õ, om, on\n|limões, montanha\n|lemons, mountain\n| \n|-\n|ça, ce, ci, ço, çu\n|cedo, maçã \n|early, apple \n| \n|ó\n|morte, moda, nó\n|death, fashion, knot\n| \n|-\n|ch\n|cheque \n|check \n| \n|ô\n|ovo, olho, avô\n|egg, eye, grandparent\n|\n|-\n|d\n|dedo \n|finger \n| \n|p\n|parte\n|part\n| \n|-\n|e\n|leite, vale\n|milk, valley \n| ¹ or  ² \n|qua, quo \n|quanto, quotidiano\n|how much, daily\n| \n|-\n|é\n|re\'sto, festa, café \n|rest, party, coofe \n| \n|que qui\n|aquele, aqui\n|that one, here\n|\n|-\n|ê\n|medo, letra, você \n|fear, letter, you\n| \n| -r\n|mar, Marte\n|sea, Mars\n| \n|-\n|em, en\n|lembrar, então\n|remember, then\n|\n|r\n|coro, caro\n|choir, expensive\n| \n|-\n|f\n|ferro \n|iron \n| \n|rr\n|rosa, carro\n|rose, car\n| \n|-\n|ga, go\n|gato \n|cat \n| \n|s, ss\n|sapo, assado\n|frog, roasted\n|\n|-\n|ge, gi\n|gelo \n|ice \n| \n| -s\n|galinhas, arcos\n|chickens, arcs\n| or  ³ \n|-\n|gua\n|água \n|water \n|\n|(vowel)s(vowel)\n|raso\n|evenness\n|\n|-\n|gue, gui\n|português, guia\n|Portuguese, guide\n|\n|t\n|tosta\n|toast\n| \n|-\n|h\n|harpa \n|harp \n|soundless\n|u\n|uvas\n|grapes\n|\n|-\n|i\n|idiota \n|idiot \n|\n|dithombs with o or u\n|ao, mau\n|to, bad\n|\n|-\n|dithombs with 'i'\n| nacional, ideia\n| national, idea\n| \n|un, um\n|um, untar\n|one, to dip in grease\n|\n|-\n|im, in\n|limbo, brincar\n|limb, to play\n|\n|v\n|vento, velocidade\n|wind, velocity\n| \n|-\n|j\n|jogo \n|game \n|\n|x\n|caixa, Xadrez, texto\n|box, chess, text\n|\n|-\n|l\n|logo \n|soon \n| \n|x\n|próximo\n|next\n|\n|-\n| -l\n|Portugal, Brasil\n|Portugal, Brazil\n| ¹ or ²\n|z, exa, exe, exi, exo, exu\n|exame, naturez'a\n|exam, nature\n|\n|}\n{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family: Arial Unicode MS, Lucida Sans Unicode"\n|-\n|¹ European/African Portuguese Standard\n|-\n|² Brazilian Portuguese Standard\n|-\n|³ The \\z\\ is largely used in Brazil (except Rio de Janeiro, Belém and other few) and Africa in every situation. In standard dialects, it is used if followed by another word (if not a pause, only), in the cases when it precedes a vowel, and it will be [ʒ] (\\Z\\ in SAMPA) or [ʃ] (\\S\\ in SAMPA) depending if the following consonant is sonorous or not. In Beira, region of Portugal, the sound is always [ʒ].\n|}
Grammar\nMain articles: Portuguese grammar - Portuguese personal pronouns 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", such as cantar (to sing). All verbs with the same ending follow the same patern. In Portuguese, verbs are divided into moods:\n* Imperative. Used to express a wish, command or advice\n* Indicative. Used to express a fact \n* Subjective. 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.Vocabulary\nSince 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 wordsVery 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: Native Iberian:\n*Abóbora (pumpkin)\n*Bezerro (year-old calf)\n*Louça (claw)\n*Manteiga (butter)\n*Sapo (frog) Celtic:\n*Cabana (hut)\n*Cama (bed)\n*Camisa (shirt)\n*Carvalho(oak)\n*Cerveja (beer)\n*Touca (headress) Phoenician:\n*Malha (mesh)\n*Mapa (map)\n*Saco (bag)From Latin to PortuguesePortuguese is a descendant of an unnamed spoken Latin of the Roman Empire which was not the same language as Classical Latin (which was chiefly a literary language), but both are closely related. Some of the changes from Latin began during the Empire. Others took place later. Since Portuguese was reinfluenced by Classical Latin, some original words are still familiar to Portuguese speakers.
Barbarian origin words
Arabic origin wordsArabic loan words represents almost 10 % of the Portuguese lexicon, here are some examples:\n*Alcova (Alcove) from alkubba\n*Aldeia (village) from aldaya\n*Alface (lettuce) from alkhass\n*Algarismo (algarism, number) from alkarizmi \n*Almirante (admiral) from amir + ar-rahl\n*Almofada (cushion) from almukhadda\n*Âmbar (amber) from anbar\n*Armazém (warehouse) from almahazan\n*Arroz (rice) from arruz (loan from Greek óryza)\n*Azeite (olive oil) from azzait\n*Garrafa (bottle) from garrafâ\n*Girafa (giraffe) from zurafa\n*Jasmim (jasmin) from Persian jasamin\n*Jarra (jar) from jarra\n*Xadrez (Chess) from xatranj (loan from Sanscrit xaturanga)\n*Xerife (sheriff) from xarifAsian, Amerindian and African origin Words\nWith the Portuguese discoveries a linguistic contact was made, and 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 occurs with the local Bantu languages. Asian:\n*Chá (Tea), from Chinese cha\n*Jangada (raft), from Malay\n*Manga (mango), from Malay mangga Amerindian:\n*Abacaxi (tropical pineapple) from Tupi ibá + cati\n*Caju (cashew) \n*Jaguar (jaguar) from Tupi-Guarani jaguara\n*Mandioca (cassava)\n*Pipoca (popcorn)\n*Tatu (armadillo) from Guarani tatu\n*Tucano (toucan) from Guarani tucan Sub-saharan Africa:\n*Banana (banana) from Wolof\n*Farra (Wild party) from Bantu\n*Chimpanzé (chimpanzee) from Bantu\n*Cafuné (affections made in the head) from BantuWriting system\nMain 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.Examples\nThere is a Portuguese Wikipedia
Literature\nMain articles: Portuguese literature - Camoens Prize 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), the most famous Portuguese language novelist; Fernando Pessoa (1888 - 1935), one of the greatest poets in the language's history; Jorge Amado (1912 - 2001), a popular novelist; and José Saramago (born 1922) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998.Notes\n* [1] First and Second with first language speakers, respectively. Only counting figures from Andorra, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, China (Macao), East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, India (Goa, Daman), Luxembourg, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe (Not including Galicia and others). Considering second language speakers those people who are bilingual and use Portuguese as a second language. \n* [2] Galicia is only included as a Portuguese language territory due that is confirmed that both languages are co-dialects. The government of Galicia regards Galician as a separate language.\n* [3] A Fala is not recognized by the Spanish authorities to be a Portuguese dialect, although there has been attempts to consider it Galician, but the locals do not want to use the Galician orthography. A Fala differs very few from the neighbouring Portuguese dialect in the other side of the border, but it will probably be recognized (if it will be) as a separate language.External links\n*Ethnologue report for Portuguese\n* Pronunciation guide\n*Euro 2004: Soccer Vocabulary Vocabulary and pronunciation in Standard Portuguese in eight languages\n*Instituto Camões Portuguese Language and Culture (Portuguese)\n* The Portuguese Language Perspectives for the 21st Century\n* Short Portuguese Lessons\n* Diccionary of Vernacular Portuguese of Portugal, Brazil and Angola\n* Introduction to Brazilian Portuguese\n* Portuguese Language Resources\n* Portuguese Language Courses\n* Associaçom Galega da Língua Galician Reintegrationalists (Portuguese)\n* Lives of the Portuguese-speaking World\n* Biblioteca Nacional National Library of Portugal\n* Biblioteca Nacional National Library of Brazil Category:Romance languages Category:Uvular R Category:Wikipedia Featured Articles \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ntokipona:Toki_Potuke |
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"Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies." - Voltaire (1694-1778) on his deathbed in response to a priest asking that he renounce Satan. |
The ancient Roman province of Lusitania had split into two separate provinces, Lusitania in the south and Galecia in the north. The Portuguese language developed mainly in Northern 
Between the 