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Mestizos

Mestizos

Mestizo (Portuguese, Mestiço; French, Métis: from Late Latin mixticius, from Latin mixtus, past participle of miscere, "to mix") is a term of Spanish origin used to designate the peoples of mixed European and Amerindian racial strain inhabiting the region spanning the Americas, from the Canadian prairies in the north to Argentina and Chile's Patagonia in the south. In other regions and countries previously under Spanish, Portuguese or French colonial rule, variants of the term may also be in usage for people of other native and colonial European mixtures. In the Philippines, the term Mestiso, or Mistiso, is a generic reference to individuals of any non-specific foreign admixture to an ethnic Filipino base stock.

The Americas

Hispanic America and Brazil

The Mestizo/Mestiço FilipinoUnder the caste system of colonial Latin America and Spain, the term originally applied only to the children resulting from the union of one European and one Amerindian parent, or the children of two mestizo parents. During this era a myriad of other terms (castizo, cuarterón de indio, cholo, etc.) were in use to denote other individuals of European/Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of mestizos. Today, mestizo refers to all people with discernible amounts of both European and Amerindian ancestry. Mestizos officially make up the majority of the populations of Chile¹ (90%), Colombia (58%), Ecuador (65%), El Salvador (90%), Honduras² (90%), Mexico² (60%), Nicaragua (69%), Panama² (70%), Paraguay (95%) and Venezuela (67%). In other American countries where mestizos do not constitute a majority, they nonetheless represent a significant portion of their populations; Argentina³ (approx. 13%), Belize (44%), Bolivia (30%), Peru (37%), and Uruguay³ (8%). In Brazil, mestiços are also commonly known as Caboclos, and they comprise approximately 12 percent. In Costa Rica mestizos are combined with whites and accounted for as a single figure, together they are estimated at 94% of the population. whites from 1876 until 1911. Mexican mestizo of Spanish/Mixtec ancestry.]]Hispanic nations of the Caribbean are a peculiar case with respect to ancestry. At least in Puerto Rico - where broad U.S. census categories have disallowed the mixed ancestry of most Puerto Ricans to be officially acknowledged - the population has been said to comprise a White majority, an extinct Amerindian population, persons of mixed ancestry, Africans and a small Asian minority. However, recent genetic research has revealed matrilineal Native American ancestry in roughly 61% of the population and patrilineal European ancestry in 75%, thus technically deeming most to be mestizos. An overwhelming majority of Puerto Rican citizens, however, simply define themselves as "Puerto Rican", placing greater importance to national-ethnic identity rather than racial categorization. In Mexico and Peru, mestizo has also come to be used as a cultural label. In a cultural context, people are considered indígena (Amerindian) if they live following their traditional ways of life (clothing, customs and indigenous languages), otherwise they are also deemed mestizo, what in Central America would be called ladino. Additionally, in the Mexican case, most of the Afro-Mexican minority would also simply identify as mestizo, rather than black, mulatto or zambo, by virtue of their cultural traits rather than their ancestry. These cultural implications of "mestizo" can result in an overcount of the population - in the Mexican case, as high as 80% according to some sources - which would otherwise be mestizo on a racial level. Also, race is not recorded by the Mexican nor Peruvian census, so that any calculations performed by government bodies or independent agencies are always estimates. Furthermore, though Cuba and the Dominican Republic are recorded as primarily mulatto nations, evidence of Amerindian bloodlines exists and traces of indigenous Taino culture are ubiquitous.

Mestizos from Hispanic America in Europe

The first mestizos of whom there is verified evidence of having set foot on European soil are the grandchildren of Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor of Mexico, whom the Spanish crown acknowledged their royal descent. Of this family, the most infamous descendants are the Counts of Miravalle, in Andalucía, Spain, who even today demand the payment of the so called "Moctezuma pensions" by the Mexican government. The interest alone of said pensions would suffice for every single one of Moctezuma's modern descendants to live comfortable and luxurious lives. Martín Cortés, son of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and of the Náhuatl-Maya indigenous Mexican interpreter Malinche, in fact arrived first, however, he was exiled from Spain as punishment for leading a rebellion. From Peru also arrived the mestizo historian known as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, son of conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and of the inca princess Isabel Chimpo Oclloun. He lived in the town of Montilla, in Andalucía, where he died in 1616. Starting from the early 1970s and throughout all of the 1980s, Europe saw the arrival of thousands of Chilean mestizos seeking political refuge during the dictatorial government of Augusto Pinochet. Today, there is a growing number of mestizo immigrants in Western Europe, primarily from Ecuador and Colombia.

Canada

The Métis Western Europe, Canada.]]In Canada, the Métis are regarded as an independent ethnic group. This community of descent consists of individuals descended from marriages of First Nation women—specifically Cree, Ojibway and Saulteaux—to French Canadian and British employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. Their history dates to the mid-seventeenth century, and they have been recognized as a people since the early eighteenth. Their territory roughly includes the 3 Prairie provinces (Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan), parts of Ontario, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, as well as, parts of the northern United States (i.e. North Dakota, Montana). Traditionally, the Métis spoke a mixed language called Michif (with various regional dialects). Michif (a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of Métif, a variant of Métis) is also used as the name of the Métis people. The name is most commonly applied to descendants of communities in what is now southern Manitoba. The name is also applied to the descendants of similar communities in what are now Ontario, Quebec, Labrador and the Northwest Territories, although these groups' histories are different from that of the western Métis. Estimates of the number of Métis vary from 300,000 to 700,000 or more. In September 2002, the Métis people adopted a national definition of Métis for citizenship within the "Métis Nation". Based on this definition, it is estimated that there are 350,000 to 400,000 Métis Nation citizens in Canada. Many Métis classify as Métis anyone who can prove that an ancestor applied for money scrip or land scrip as part of nineteenth-century treaties with the Canadian government. The Métis are not recognized as a First Nation by the Canadian government and do not receive the benefits granted to First Nations (see Indian Act). However, the new Canadian constitution of 1982 recognizes the Métis as an Aboriginal people and has enabled individual Métis to sue successfully for recognition of their traditional rights, such as rights to hunt and trap. In 2003, a court ruling in Ontario found that the Métis deserve the same rights as other aboriginal communities in Canada.

The United States

"Mixed-Bloods" and Mestizos Ontario Ontario] Ontario.]] In the United States the term "mixed-blood" is more often employed for non-Hispanic individuals of mixed European and Native American ancestry, while mestizo is the term of choice for Hispanic individuals (whether U.S.-born or immigrant) of that same mixed ancestry. Of the Mexican Americans who have lived in the Southwestern United States for several generations prior to annexation and incorporation of that region into the United States - previously a part of Mexico - many classify themselves as mestizo, particularly those who also identify as Chicano. See also Tejanos. Of the over 40 million Hispanics in the United States, around half are said to be mestizos. The high birth rate among Hispanics in the United States is mostly attributed to mestizos. An additional 48% of Hispanics racially identify as White, though of these many may also possess at least some Amerindian ancestry. Renowned mixed-blooded persons in United States' history are many. One such example is Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who guided the Mormon Battalion from New Mexico to the city of San Diego in California in 1846, and then accepted an appointment there as alcalde of Mission San Luis Rey. His father, Toussaint Charbonneau, was a French Canadian interpreter, and his mother Sacagawea was the Shoshone guide of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He can be found depicted on the United States dollar coin along with his mother, Sacagawea. A more contemporary mixed-blood U.S personality includes internationally acclaimed actor Johnny Depp. Depp is of Cherokee, English and German ancestry. Meanwhile, an internationally known U.S. mestizo is boxing champion Oscar de la Hoya.

Asia

The Philippines

The Mestiso

Oscar de la Hoya.]]During the early colonial period of the Philippines, the term originally referred only to those of mixed Filipino and Spanish or Mexican ancestry. However, the term soon became generic and synonymous for "mixed race". With the Chinese presence in the Philippines always being numerically greater than that of Spaniards or Mexicans, individuals of mixed Filipino and Chinese ancestry became more prevalent than those of Filipino and Spanish or Filipino and Mexican descent. The term has since been freely used to refer to all Filipinos of mixed ancestry, irrespective of racial combination or ratio, but typically including an ethnic Filipino base stock. The combined number of all types of mestisos constitute no more than 2% of the entire Filipino population. Of that 2%, less than half are of the Spanish variety. A recent [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2001_v68_p432.pdf genetic study] by Stanford University, however, indicates that 3.6% of the population has at least some European ancestry. See also Demographics of the Philippines and Ethnic groups of the Philippines. Modern categories of Filipino mestisos include the already mentioned Spanish-mestisos and Chinese-mestisos, as well as Japanese-mestisos (those of mixed Filipino and Japanese descent) and American-mestisos (those of mixed Filipino and American⁴ descent), et cetera. Those of a mixture of Filipino with another North Asian ancestry may also be commonly referred to as "Chinito/a" (diminutive of Chino/a; Chinese), though this would more correctly be applied only to those mestisos of Chinese descent. Other terms denoting Chinese-mestisos include Sangley and the vernacular "Tsinoy". Furthermore, in Filipino usage, the term is often regarded a synonym of "beauty", and is also employed to denote any unmixed Filipino of a lighter skin complexion, especially when used in its vernacular form of "Tisoy", a backformation of [mes]TISOY.

Mestiso ascendancy

In contrast to Latin America, where mestizos (European/Amerindian) quickly came to comprise the majority of the population, in the Philippines the combined number of all types of Filipino-mestisos never accounted for more than 2% of a population which - apart from a Chinese and Spanish minority which numbered fewer than the mestisos - was mainly and predominantly native Filipino. Upon the retreat of Spain and Mexico at the end of colonial occupation, people of mestiso ancestry were able to position themselves at the top of a caste-based social structure which the Spanish had previously established and dominated. As a result, mestisos held the greatest governing influence in the country, almost absolute control of commerce and industry, and an excessively disproportionate share of wealth. Conversely, their Latino mestizo counterparts - who by then comprised the common majority of Latin America - possessed little governing influence, lived at subsistence levels, and were ruled by a well-established Spanish creole population that was to remain in power. In essence, the absence of a post-colonial Spanish creole presence in the Philippines allowed the small minority of Filipino-mestisos to fill the roles vacated by the Spanish creoles - the Spanish creoles who had by that time formed a relatively large population in Latin America. Spanish creole Spanish creoleDuring the late 19th century, Filipino mestisos initiated most movements and revolts against Spain. One such movement lead by the national hero of the Philippines, Chinese-mestiso José Rizal, was the Propaganda Movement. Although these movements failed to achieve their intended goals, Filipino mestisos also initiated the calls for Filipino revolt and, with the aid of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, subsequently achieved independence. In the 1899 Constitution of Malolos, they instituted Spanish as the official language of the Philippines despite it never being spoken by more than 10% of the total population. However, it was scrapped as an official language in the 1973 Constitution under the Marcos administration, and as a college requirement in 1987 during the Aquino administration. By the time the Philippines had gained independence from Spain, Filipino mestisos had placed themselves as the fundamental role players in the founding of the modern Philippine government, and in the majority of its key positions. The first president of the First Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo, was a Chinese-mestiso, while the next and first president of the Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel L. Quezón, was a Spanish-mestiso, and the next president, Sergio Osmeña, was another Chinese-mestiso, etc. Today, despite constituting one of the smallest minorities, mestisos continue to hold a monopoly over the country’s economic and corrupt oligarchic political systems. Spanish-mestisos have long constituted the great majority of the upper class and rarely intermingle with those outside their ethnic group. Today, a great majority are either in politics or are high-ranking executives of commerce and industry and hold great control over the country's economy. An almost equally large number are also members of the entertainment industry, which they have saturated disproportionately. The biased favouritism responsible for their overwhelming presence in film and television is deeply-rooted on established Filipino "ideals of beauty" that stem from colonial concepts, and which are determined based on the possession of partial European ancestry. See also: Colonial mentality. Chinese-mestisos also form part of both the upper and middle classes. Most are successful and prosperous business people, and also highly involved in the running of the country. Some are also in the entertainment industry. Two famous Spanish-mestisas residing outside of the Philippines are Isabel Preysler, in her youth a stunningly beautiful model in Spain, mother of pop singer Enrique Iglesias and ex-wife of Spanish music legend Julio Iglesias; and Lalaine Vergara, more commonly known for playing "Miranda Sánchez" (a Mexican-American character) on Disney Channel's highly-rated show, Lizzie McGuire.

East Timor

The Mestiço

Lizzie McGuire.]]In the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, the term mestiço applied to those of mixed native East Timorese and Portuguese ancestry. They form a tiny (>1%) but economically and politically important minority.

Mestiço ascendancy

Much like the mestiso minority in the Philippines, the East Timorese mestiço minority typically comprises most of the small privileged upper and upper-middle classes, sorrounded by a mass of impoverished unmixed natives. From Indonesia's invasion of the country on December 7th, 1975 - just a week after East Timor's unilateral declaration of independence from Portugal on November 28 - Timorese movements for independence from Indonesia were also largely headed by Portuguese-speaking mestiço activists. Mirroring post-independence Philippine history, following the end of Indonesia's occupation in 1999, many of the mestiço independence activists moved in to form much of the East Timorese government. Portuguese was also instituted as the nation's official language despite also being spoken by less than 10% of the population at that time. Current prominent East Timorese mestiços include president Xanana Gusmão and foreign minister José Ramos Horta, among many others.

China

Macau

In the former Portuguese colonly of Macau - a small territory on the southern coast of China, previously the oldest European colony in China, dating to the 16th century - mestiço was applied to those of mixed Portuguese and Chinese ancestry. They form a small minority of Macau's population (<5%). The term Macanese, however, is much more widely used. Broadly, Macanese refers to all permanent inhabitants of Macau, more narrowly, it refers to this mixed-race community. Macanese may also refer to their language, a Portuguese creole also known as Patuá or "Macaista Chapado", which is almost extinct. They are typically a prosperous class. Many Macanese mestiços immigrated to Portugal when sovereignty over Macau was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1999, and Macau became a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Some also immigrated to the United States (California), Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Peru.

India

Goa

In Goa - formely Portuguese India - mestiço was applied to those of mixed Portuguese and Indian ancestry. Though their European lineage is not English, they are often called Anglo Indians, as a result of the legal definition of that latter term encompassing persons "whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent..."

Africa

Portuguese-speaking Africa

São Tomé & Príncipe and Cape Verde

Anglo Indian.]]Prior to Portuguese exploration and settlemenment of both São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde, these islands were all uninhabited. In both countries, the great majority of their current populations descend from the mixing of the Portuguese that initially settled the islands from the 1400's onwards and the black Africans they abducted from the African mainland to work as slaves - mostly from Benin, Gabon, and the Congo. Of São Tomé & Prícipe's 137,500 inhabitants, seventy-one percent are defined as mestiços, and another 71 percent of the population of Cape Verde is also classified as such. Currently, the most prominent and internationally known mestiço of São Tomé and Príncipe is president Fradique de Menezes.

Angola and Mozambique

In the other two Portuguese-speaking African countries - Angola and Mozambique - mestiço is also used to describe people of mixed European and native African ancestry. In both countries they constitue small minorities under 2 percent.

French-speaking Africa

Métis (feminine Métisse) in French-speaking Africa is used to describe people of mixed European and native African ancestry. In any French-speaking Africa country in which métis may be found, they constitute tiny minorities (<1%).

Trivia

- The sixth book of the popular Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is titled "Harry Potter y el Príncipe Mestizo" in Spanish speaking countries, a translation which introduces connotations beyond the original meaning of the title in English.

Famous mestizos

- Cantinflas, renouned Mexican comedian and actor
- Porfirio Díaz, Mexican presidente and dictador
- Xanana Gusmão, presidente of East Timor
- Julio Jaramillo, Ecuadorian folk singer
- Jennifer López, Puerto Rican descended American actress and singer
- Diego Armando Maradona, Argentinian soccer player
- Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
- José Rizal, national hero of the Philippines
- Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian folk singer
- Thalía, Mexican actress and singer
- Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian writer and historian

Footnotes

#In Chile the Amerindian genetic legacy is present in almost the entirety of the population, however, mestizo individuals whose ratio of Spanish ancestry is relatively high, or almost intact, are not uncommon. Those whose mestizo ascendancy is discernible range between 65% and 75% of all Chileans, though even among these the degree of admixture varies. See also Demographics of Chile #In Honduras, Panama, and to a considerably smaller and less prominent degree in Mexico, the mestizo population has absorbed some African ancestry, either in the form of Mulattos, Zambos, or directly via the African slaves who were taken there during the colonial era. #In Argentina, according to genetic research, 56% of all Argentinians have Amerindian ancestors. Of these, 90% inherited that Amerindian genetic legacy in the form of an admixture, and only 10% as their only racial element (51% and 5% of the population's total respectively). Of those who inherited the legacy in the form of an admixture, those whose ratio of Spanish (or other European) ancestry is almost intact are by far the norm. Those whose mestizo ascendancy is discernible are approximately 13% of all Argentinians. A similar case is to be found in Uruguay. See also Demographics of Argentina #In the American-mestisos of the Philippines, the American element may be of any race; White American, Hispanic American or African American.

External links

- [http://www.mestizos.net/index.php Mestizos.net] Category:Ethnic groups Category:Ethnic groups of the Philippines ja:メスティーソ

Portuguese language

Portuguese (Português) is a Romance language predominantly spoken in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macao Special Administrative Region of China, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Many linguists consider that Portuguese and Galician (the native language of Galicia, Spain) are actually varieties of the same language, but with Galician being strongly influenced by Spanish. With more than 200 million native speakers, Portuguese is one of the few languages spoken in such widely-distributed parts of the world, and is the fifth or sixth most-spoken first language in the world. Because Brazil, with 184 million inhabitants, constitutes about 51% of South America's population, Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in South America and it is also one of the key languages in Africa. The language was spread worldwide in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Portugal created the first and the longest lived modern-world colonial and commercial empire (1415–1975), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macao in China. As a result, Portuguese is now the official language of several independent countries and is widely spoken or studied as a second language in many others. There are also various Portuguese Creole languages spread all over the world. It is an important minority language in Andorra, Luxembourg, Namibia, and Paraguay. The Portuguese language is nicknamed A língua de Camões ("The language of Camões", after Luís de Camões, the author of The Lusiads); A última flor do Lácio ("The last flower of Latium", by Olavo Bilac) or The sweet language (by Cervantes). Portuguese language speakers are known as a Lusophone, after the Roman name for the province of Lusitania.

History

Portuguese developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from the spoken Latin language brought there by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. The language began to differentiate itself from other Romance languages after the fall of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions in the 5th century. It started to be used in written documents around the 9th century, and by the 15th century it had become a mature language with a rich literature. Arriving on the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC, the Romans brought with them the Roman people's language, Vulgar Latin, from which all Romance languages (also known as "New Latin Languages") descend. Already in the 2nd century BC southern Lusitania was Romanized. Strabo, a 1st-century Greek geographer, comments in one of the books of his Geographia "encyclopedia": "they have adopted the Roman customs, and they no longer remember their own language." The language was spread by arriving Roman soldiers, settlers and merchants, who built Roman cities mostly near previous civilizations' settlements. Between 409 A.D. and 711, as the Roman Empire was collapsing, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by peoples of Germanic origin, known to the Romans as Barbarians. The Barbarians (mainly Suevi and Visigoths) largely absorbed the Roman culture and language of the peninsula; however, Lusitania's language and culture were free to evolve on their own during the Early Middle Ages, due to the lack of Roman schools and administration, Lusitania's relative isolation from the rest of Europe, and changes in the political boundaries of the Iberian peninsula. These changes led to the formation of what is now called "Lusitanian Romance". From 711, with the Moorish invasion of the Peninsula, Arabic was adopted as the administrative language in the conquered regions. However, the population continued to speak their Romance dialects so that when the Moors were overthrown, the influence that they had exerted on the language was small. Its main effect was in the lexicon. The earliest surviving records of a distinctively Portuguese language are administrative documents from the ninth century, still interspersed with many phrases in Latin. Today this phase is known as "Proto-Portuguese" (spoken in the period between the 9th to the 12th century). Portugal was formally recognized by the Kingdom of Leon as an independent country in 1143, with King Afonso Henriques. In the first period of "Old Portuguese" - Portuguese-Galician Period (from the 12th to the 14th century) - the language gradually came into general use. Previously it had mostly been used on the Christian Iberian Peninsula as a language for poetry. In 1290, king Denis created the first Portuguese University in Lisbon (the Estudo Geral) and decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the "Vulgar language" should be known as the Portuguese language and should be officially used. In the second period of "Old Portuguese", from the 14th to the 16th century, with the Portuguese discoveries, the Portuguese language spread to many regions of Asia, Africa and The Americas (nowadays, most of the 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. The spreading of the language was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people (also very common in other areas of the world) and its association with the Catholic missionary efforts, which led to it being called Cristão ("Christian") in many places in Asia. The Nippo jisho, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary written in 1603, was a product of Jesuit missionary activity in Japan. 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 language has largely changed in these communities and has evolved through the centuries into several Portuguese creoles, some still existing today, after hundreds of years of isolation. A considerable number of words of Portuguese origin are also found in Tetum. Portuguese words entered the lexicons of many other languages, such as Japanese, Indonesian, Malay, or Swahili. The end of "Old Portuguese" was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende, in 1516. The period of "Modern Portuguese" (spanning from the 16th century to present day) saw an increase in the number of words of Classical Latin origin and erudite words of Greek origin borrowed into Portuguese during the Renaissance, which augmented the complexity of the language.

Classification and related languages

Indo-European - Italic - Romance - Italo-Western - Western - Gallo-Iberian - Ibero-Romance - West-Iberian - Portuguese-Galician Portuguese is orthographically similar in many ways to Spanish, but it has a very distinctive phonology. A speaker of one of these languages may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other (although generally it is easier for a Portuguese native speaker to understand Spanish than the other way around). Compare, for example: :Ela fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar. (Portuguese) :Ella cierra siempre la ventana antes de cenar. (Spanish) Some less common phrasings and word choices have closer cognates in Spanish because Portuguese has managed to retain a much larger vocabulary, with stronger Latin heritage: :Ela cerra sempre a janela antes de cear. (less common Portuguese) (Which translates as "She always closes the window before having dinner.") In some places, Spanish and Portuguese are spoken almost interchangeably. Portuguese speakers are generally able to read Spanish, and Spanish speakers are generally able to read Portuguese, even if they cannot understand the spoken language. Portuguese also has significant similarities with Mirandese, Catalan, Italian, French and with other Romance languages. Phonetically, Portuguese sometimes appears closer to French and Catalan than Spanish does. The sound set of Portuguese is very similar to the French one, due to the occurrence of nasalization and some palatalization in both languages, and due to certain sound changes (for example, diphthongization of low-mid stressed vowels, aspiration of /f/, devoicing of sibilants, and change of intervocalic [ʎ] to [ʒ]) that set off Spanish from the others. In lexicon, Portuguese bom (masculine word for good) and French or Catalan bon are very similar, while Spanish bueno is somewhat different, and Portuguese filha, French fille and Catalan filla are opposed to Spanish hija. European Portuguese came under additional French influence as a result of the Napoleonic dominion in Lisbon from 1807-1812, and cultural influences after that. Speakers of other Romance languages may find a peculiarity in the conjugating of certain apparently infinitive verbs and of some real infinitives. When constructing a future tense or conditional tense clause involving an indirect object pronoun, the pronoun can be placed between the verb stem and the verb ending. This phenomenon is called mesoclisis, because the clitic is neither before nor after, but in the middle. For example, Dupondt said trazer-vos-emos o vosso ceptro. Translating as literally as possible, this is "bring (stem)-to you (formal)-we (future) the your scepter". In English we would say, "We will bring you your scepter." The form Nós vos traremos o vosso ceptro. is a regionalism used in most Portuguese speaking countries, as well as Portugal.

Geographic distribution

ceptro Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, and the most widely used language in Mozambique. Portuguese is also one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and Macao S.A.R. of China (with Chinese). It is widely spoken, but not official, in Andorra, Luxembourg, Namibia and Paraguay. Portuguese Creoles are the mother tongue of Cape Verde and part of Guinea-Bissau's population. In Cape Verde most also speak standard Portuguese and have a native level language usage. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, including Montreal and Toronto in Canada; Paris in France; Asunción in Paraguay; and Boston, New Bedford, Cape Cod, Providence, Newark, New York City, Miami, Sacramento, Honolulu and Houston in the United States. Portuguese is spoken by about 187 million people in South America, 17 million Africans, 12 million Europeans, 2 million in North America and 0.34 million in Asia. The CPLP or Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries is an international organization consisting of the eight independent countries which have Portuguese as an official language. Portuguese is also an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and the African Union (one of the working languages) and one of the official languages of other organizations. The Portuguese language is gaining popularity in Africa, Asia, and South America as a second language for study. Portuguese is with Spanish the fastest growing western language, and, following estimates by UNESCO it is the language with the higher potentiality of growth as an international communication language in Africa (south) and South America. The Portuguese speaking African countries are expected to have a combined population of 83 million by 2050. The language is also starting to gain popularity in Asia, mostly due to East Timor's boost in the number of speakers in the last five years, and Macau is becoming the Chinese Mecca for learning Portuguese, where in early 21st century, the language use was in decline, today it is growing as it became a language for opportunity due to Chinese strategical cooperation with the Portuguese speaking countries.

Dialects

Portuguese is a very rich language in terms of dialects, each with its particularity. Most of the differentiation between them are the pronunciation of certain vowels. Between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese, there are differences in vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax, especially in popular varieties. The dialect of Piauí, in northeastern Brazil is the closest dialect to European Portuguese in Brazil. Other very close dialects are the ones of Belém and Rio de Janeiro. There are several similarities in pronunciation, syntax and simplification in grammar use between vernacular Brazilian Portuguese and vernacular Angolan Portuguese. But there are no differences between standard European and Angolan Portuguese. Coimbra Portuguese is considered the most standardized Portuguese dialect. Some apparent differences between the two varieties in lexicon are not really differences. In Brazil, the common term for carpet is tapete, while in Portugal it's alcatifa. However, many dialectal zones in Portugal use tapete and other areas in Brazil use alcatifa. This applies in several such apparent differences, except in the new terms, such as ônibus in Brazil, which is autocarro in Portugal. A conversation between an Angolan, a Brazilian and a Portuguese from very rural areas flows very easily. The most exotic Portuguese dialect is vernacular São Tomean Portuguese, because of the interaction with local Portuguese Creoles, but even with this one there are no difficulties when talking to a person from another country. Examples of words that are different in Portuguese dialects from three different continents Angola (Africa), Portugal (Europe) and Brazil (South America). Bus
- Angola: machimbombo
- Brazil: ônibus
- Portugal: autocarro slum quarter
- Angola: musseque
- Brazil: favela
- Portugal: bairro de lata or ilha Go away
- Angola: bazar, ir embora
- Brazil: ir embora, (or vazar as a slang - Portuguese "to leak");
- Portugal: ir embora, (or bazar as a slang - from Kimbundu kubaza - to break, leave with rush); Major Portuguese dialects: Brazil Coimbra Brazil # Caipira — Countryside of São Paulo ( Piraquara — caipira from Vale do Paraíba - São Paulo (state) / Minas Gerais) # Cearense — Ceará # Baiano — Region of Bahia # Fluminense — States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo (the city of Rio de Janeiro has a particular way of speaking) # Gaúcho — Rio Grande do Sul # Mineiro — Minas Gerais # Nordestino — northeastern states of Brazil (the countryside and Recife have particular ways of speaking) # Nortista — Amazon Basin states # Paulistano — city of São Paulo # Sertanejo — States of Goiás and Mato Grosso # Sulista — south of Brazil (the city of Curitiba has a particular way of speaking) Curitiba Portugal # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som69.html Açoreano] — Azores (São Miguel Island and Terceira Island have particular ways of speaking) # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som40.html Alentejano] — Alentejo # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som44.html Algarvio] — Algarve (there is a particular small dialect in the western area) # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som1.html Alto-Minhoto] — North of Braga (interior) # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som49.html Baixo-Beirão; Alto-Alentejano] — Central Portugal (interior) # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som9.html Beirão] — central Portugal # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som22.html Estremenho] — Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon (can be subdivided in Lisbon Portuguese and Coimbra Portuguese) # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som60.html Madeirense] — Madeira # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som14.html Nortenho] — Regions of Braga and Porto # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som6.html Transmontano] — Trás-os-Montes Angola # Benguelense — Benguela province # image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som85.html Luandense] — Luanda province # Sulista — South of Angola Luanda Other areas
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som87.html Caboverdiano] — Cape Verde
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som88.html Guineense] — Guinea-Bissau
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som92.html Macaense] — Macau, China
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som89.html Moçambicano] — Mozambique
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som83.html Santomense] — São Tomé and Principe
- image:Loudspeaker.png [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som84.html Timorense] — East Timor
- Damaense — Daman, India
- Goês — State of Goa, India

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. About three million people worldwide speak a Portuguese Creole. These creoles are spoken, mostly, by inter-racial communities (Portuguese people with natives).
- Angolar Spoken in coastal areas of São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
- Annobonnese Language of the island of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea.
- Crioulo do Barlavento (Criol) Spoken in Barlavento islands of Cape Verde. Some divide it into several creoles: São Nicolau Crioulo, Sal Crioulo, Boavista Crioulo, and Santo Antão Crioulo. Some decreolization.
- Crioulo de São Vicente Language of São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. Semi-Creole. Some decreolization.
- Crioulo do Sotavento (Kriolu) Spoken in Sotavento islands of Cape Verde. Some divide it into several creoles: Santiago Crioulo (Bádiu), Maio Crioulo, Fogo Crioulo, and Brava Crioulo. Some decreolization.
- Daman Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Daman, India. Semi-Creole. Decreolization process occurred.
- Diu Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Diu, India. Almost extinct.
- Forro Spoken in São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
- Kristang Spoken in Malaysia.
- Kristi Language of the village of Korlay, India.
- Lunguyê Spoken in Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe. Almost extinct.
- Macanese Spoken in Macau and Hong Kong, the two special administrative regions of China. Decreolization process occurred.
- Papiamento Spoken in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Spanish influenced.
- Saramaccan Portuguese/English Creole. Spoken in Surinam.
- Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole Spoken in coastal cities of Sri Lanka.
- Upper Guinea Creole (Kriol) lingua franca of Guinea-Bissau, also spoken in Casamance, Senegal. In the past, Portuguese creoles were also spoken in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, possibly in Brazil and in other areas in India, Malaysia and China.

Sounds

As with French, Portuguese is often noted for its contrastive use of nasal vowels and the large number of dipthongs. Most dialects, including the standard languages of Portugal and Brazil, have several vowel phonemes that are distinguished by nasality. Most dialects have 14 vowel phonemes, five of which are nasals which combine to form 10 oral and 4 nasal diphtongs. There are 19 consonant phonemes, none of which are unique to the language. European Portuguese differs from the dialects spoken in Brazil and the former Portuguese colonies by a marked velarization that affects vowels as well as consonants. The vowels are generally lowered and centralized (approaching a schwa) and gives pronunciation a distinctly lax quality that is present in colloquial as well as formal speech and often results in complete reduction of vowels.

Consonants

/b, d, g/ are only pronounced as plosives when they occur at the beginning of the word. Following vowels, they are pronounced as the corresponding fricatives . a process which Portuguese shares with Catalan and Spanish. /l/ is markedly velarized, , which is very close to the standard American English /l/ in words such as "ball". In some Brazilian dialects, especially in the dialects spoken in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia, /d/ and /t/ tend to become affricated before the unstressed phoneme /i/.

Vowels

Image:Portuguese_vowel_chart.png is by tradition transcribed as a high central vowel , but it's more accurately described as a somewhat centralized high back unrounded vowel, . for some /u/ occurs in the dialects of Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Algarve (Barlavento area) and São Miguel Island. [ø] occurs in São Miguel Island, for example in boi [bø] "ox".

Prosody

Portuguese features lexical stress which often is a distinguishing feature of minimal pairs. Mostly these are of different word classes, such as dúvida "doubt (noun)" and duvida "doubt (verb, third person singular)". Though rarer, there are occasionally words within the same word class that are distinguished only through stress, like [ˈtunel] túnel "tunnel" and [tuˈnel] tonel "wine cask". Stress is usually on the penultimate syllable, though it may vary between any of the three final syllables. A secondary stress falls on syllables with diphtongs when the primary stress is placed elswhere in a word. There are also several different types of intonation in the form of six separate dynamic tones that affect entire phrases, having their nucleus in the stressed syllables. These tones are used to indicate the mood and intention of the speaker such as implication, emphasis, reservation, etc.

Grammar

Portuguese makes a clear distinction between the different word classes, that include verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, conjunctions and interjections. There are also some other determiners and particles. Verbs are divided into three conjugations, which can be identified by looking at the infinitive ending, one of "-ar", "-er", "-ir" and "-or", which is present in a small number of verbs ,like "pôr" (to put). Most verbs end with "-ar", such as cantar (to sing). All verbs with the same ending follow the same pattern, save irregulars. In Portuguese, verbs appear in distinct moods:
- Imperative, used to express wish, command or advice.
- Indicative, used in the main clauses of declarative sentences.
- Subjunctive (conjuntivo). Used to express the content of a wish, a possibility or, in subordinate clauses, something denied in the main clause.
- Conditional, which is described as a distinct mood in some grammars, mostly in Portugal, less frequently in Brazil. Along with moods, there are non-finite verb forms:
- Infinitive
- Gerund
- Past participle (or passive participle) There is no present or active participle in Portuguese, but many adjectives come from Latin present participles and carry more or less the same meaning. Some neologisms are created in the same pattern. Unlike English, these "present participles" are not identical in form with gerund. Portuguese subjunctive mood has almost as many tenses as the indicative, namely present, perfect, imperfect, pluperfect and future, not mentioning periphrastic structures. In regular verbs, subjunctive future, which is uncommon in Indo-European languages, is identical to personal infinitive, but not in irregular verbs. And its role is obviously very different. Portuguese conditional mood is often described as a tense, namely the "future of the preterite". It has two forms, that can be rendered as the "future of the (perfect or imperfect) past" (for instance iria, would go) and the "future of the pluperfect" (for instance teria ido, would have gone). Periphrastic structures provide other tenses. Conditional is found more often in formal than in informal speech, where it is commonly replaced by the imperfect tense. Another interesting feature of Portuguese verbs is the existence of two or three equivalent forms for some past tenses, either in the indicative or in the subjunctive, but something similar happens in French and Spanish perfect tenses. For instance, in the indicative pluperfect it is possible to use either the auxiliary verbs ter (from Latin tenere) and haver (from Latin habere) or a simple form. He had gone could be translated either as Ele tinha ido, Ele havia ido or Ele fora. The two latter options, however, are much less common in oral and informal languages. The simple form (fora) would be sometimes seen as archaic or literary. 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 from 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: homem alto (tall man), mulher alta (tall woman). See also: Portuguese pronouns, Portuguese verb conjugation

Vocabulary

The Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa, by Antônio Houaiss (1915 – 1999), son of Lebanese immigrants in Brazil and former Brazilian Minister of Culture, was created with the support of almost two hundred lexicographers from several countries and it is the most complete Portuguese dictionary to date (about 228,500 entries, 376,500 acceptations, 415,500 synonyms, 26,400 antonyms and 57,000 historical words) it includes all variations of the Portuguese language (African, Asian, Brazilian and of Portugal). Dedicating his life to the language, Houaiss started his work in 1986, and died one year before the dictionary was completed by his colleagues in the year 2000, without seeing his dream come true. The dictionary is quickly becoming a reference to the language, some classified it as a "monument to the language". Portuguese, both in morphology and syntax, represents an organic transformation of Latin without the direct intervention of any foreign language. The sounds, grammatical forms, and syntactical types, with a few exceptions, are derived from Latin. And almost 90% of the vocabulary is still derived from the language of Rome. Some of the changes began during the Empire, others took place later. In Late Middle Ages, Portuguese was eroding as much as French, but a conservative policy re-approached it to Latin.
- Nasalization — A vowel before [m] and [n] has a tendency to become a nasal vowel. In the case of Portuguese, it happened between the sixth and seventh centuries, possibly influenced by previously spoken Celtic languages. LVNA → l[]a — Lua (moon). In the Latin example, we used all-capitals so as to be in line with how the ancient language was actually written. Note also that the letter V was the vowel we know today as U.
- Progressive Nasalization — Spread of nasalization forward from a nasal consonant, especially [m]. MADRE → made → mae → mãe mother; HAC NOCTE → ãnoite → ãõte → ontem // (yesterday).
- Elision — Vulgar Latin [l], [n], [d] and [g] were deleted between vowels; the vowels then coalesced. DOLORE → door → dor (pain) BONV → bõo → bom (good).
- Palatalization — Another assimilation occurs before the front vowels [i] and [e], or near the palatal semi-vowel [j]. CENTV → [tj]ento → [ts]ento → cento, (hundred) FACERE → fa[tj]ere → fa[ts]er → fa[dz]er → fazer, (to do). A more ancient evolution was FORTIA → for[ts]a → força (strength).
- Voicing — voiceless stops became voiced stops between vowels (and [b] became [v]): :MVTV → mudo (dumb) LACV → lago (lake) FABA → fava (broadbean).
- Simplification of consonant clusters, especially doubled consonants, occurred: GVTTA → gota (drop); PECCARE → pecar (to sin)
- Dissimilation — similar sounds in a word have a tendency to become different over time, so as to ease pronunciation. Vowels: LOCVSTA → lagosta (lobster). Consonants: ANIMA → alma (soul) LOCALE → logar → lugar (place).
- metathesis — a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word. Semi-vowel metathesis: PRIMARIV → primeiro (first); Consonant metathesis in [l] and [r]: TENEBRAS → teevras → trevas (darkness); these last ones are rare in Portuguese. Vowel metathesis: GENUCULUM → genoclo → → joelho (knee).
- epenthesis, insertion of a sound to break up a difficult-to-pronounce combination of vowels: GALLINA → Gali~a → Galinha (Chicken); VINO → Vi~o → Vinho (wine) Another specially relevant shift was the loss of the intervocalic /l/ in a very large set of words, already described in the list above as an example of "elision" → e.g: SALIRE → sair; COLARE → coar; NOTVLA → nódoa, with the typical portuguese voicing of /t/ in /d/ (AMATVS → amado). Fewer words remained unchanged, or reevolved to the original word, such as taberna (tavern) or coxa (thigh). Since the Renaissance, Portuguese became subject to the influence of Literary Latin, other than the spoken form from which Portuguese evolved, due to authors love for antiquity. Thus many adjectives in Portuguese have literary origin and the respective substantive has the popular form: ouro (gold) and áureo (golden) both from Latin, AVRV. Other words have popular and erudite synonyms: The Latin LOCALE (place) which evolved to the people's lugar has local as an erudite synonym. Very few traces of the native or pre-Roman settlers like the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Iberians, or Celts lexicon persist in the language, but there are some exceptions, such as Abóbora (pumpkin) and Bezerro (year-old calf) from Iberian languages or Cerveja (beer) and Saco (bag) from Celtic and Phoenician, respectively. Post-Roman influences, before the Discovery age, were also small. The Germanic influence in Portuguese was restricted to warfare and related topics, such has Barão (baron) from Germanic baro or Guerra (war) from Gothic
- �� (
- wirro). Projections indicate 1000 Arabic loan words, including: Aldeia (village) from التجارية (aldaya), Alface (lettuce) from الخس (alkhass), Armazém (warehouse) from المخزن (almahazan), Azeite (olive oil) from زيت (azzait) and most words starting with "al". With the Portuguese discoveries linguistic contact was made, and the Portuguese language became influenced by other languages other than European or Arabic. In Asia, the language gained words such as catana (cutlass) from Japanese 刀 (katana), Corja (rabble) from Malay Kórchchu or chá (tea) from Mandarin Chinese 茶 (cha). In South America, the language gained words such as Ananás, from Tupi-Guarani naná and Abacaxi from Tupi ibá cati both relating to different species of pineapple, or even Tucano (toucan) from Guarani tucan. The African influence in lexicon was made in Brazil and Africa (mostly in Angola) include words such has Bungular (to dance like African wizards) from Kimbundu kubungula or Cafuné (affections made in the head) from Kimbundu kifumate. Many names of places and local animals have Amerindian names in Brazil; in Angola and Mozambique, the same occurring with the local Bantu languages. These influences are also small even in the local variations of Portuguese in Brazil and Africa.

Writing system

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

Written varieties and Spelling Reform

As of 2005, Portuguese has two major written forms:
- European and African Portuguese
- Brazilian Portuguese In Brazil most first 'c's in 'cc', 'cç' or 'ct'; and 'p's in 'pc', 'pç' or 'pt' were eliminated from the language, since they are not pronounced in the cultivated spoken language, but are remnants from the language's Latin origin (though some continue to exist in cultivated Brazilian Portuguese, others in European Portuguese). An example is "facto" (in Portugal) and "fato" (in Brazil), both meaning fact -- one of the rare words that will continue to be accepted and is pronounced differently in both countries. Also, there are differences in accent marks, due to: # Different pronunciation: Brazil uses closed vowels in words such as "Antônio" (Anthony) or "anônimo" (anonymous), whereas Portugal and Africa use open ones, "António" or "anónimo", respectively. # Easier reading: Because "qu" can be read in two different ways in Portuguese: "kw" or "k", Brazil uses the diaeresis (called 'trema' in Portuguese), instead of "cinquenta" they write "cinqüenta". Currently, some press in Brazil has stopped using this accent mark. It was part of an orthographic agreement but abolished in Portugal. A 1990 Spelling Reform (Port. Reforma Ortográfica), intended to create an International Portuguese Standard, was ratified by Brazil, Cape Verde, and Portugal. East Timor, not an original subscriber, will ratify shortly along with Guinea-Bissau. Brazil and East Timor were the biggest supporters of the reform and pressured the CPLP for a fast implementation, but the implementation date has not yet been set. In East Timor, both orthographies are currently being taught to children. Galiza was also invited to take part in the reform but the Galician government ignored the invitation (note that this government states that Galician and Portuguese are different languages). However, an unofficial commission formed by Galician linguists (supporting the unity of the language) was sent and participated in the reform. ² At first, the Agreement established that its entrance into practice would only occur when all the countries of the CPLP had ratified it. But the Portuguese-speaking African countries have not ratified, possibly due to problems in implementing it. In the CPLP’s summit of 26–27 July 2004, an adjustment will prompt implementation when just three countries ratify it. The agreement will eliminate most first 'c's in 'cc', 'cç' or 'ct'; and 'p's in 'pc', 'pç' or 'pt' from European/ African Portuguese, the dieresis and accent marks in words ending in "éia" in Brazil and add some new spelling rules. And it will allow either orthography for words like anónimo or anônimo, depending on the dialect of the author or person being transcribed. Late in October 2004, Brazil became the first to approve the adjustment and asked its ambassadors in Portugal and Cape Verde to promote the rapid implementation in those countries. The agreement will enter into practice in the first day of the next month when the third country ratifies it. Even if today's orthographies do not harm intelligibility between native speakers, the orthography of one country is considered incorrect in the other, leading to two different translations of the same book written in another language and it can confuse foreigners that are learning the language. One endeavour of this reform is to promote the language internationally, just like the spelling reforms of Spanish by the Real Academia Española helped to promote the Spanish language. The language is not very popular internationally, even if it is the third-most-spoken Western language in the world, after English and Spanish. Another objective is Portugal's aid to Brazil and African countries in education of the Portuguese language to African and Amerindian populations, Brazil's educational aid to Africa and greater cultural and academic exchange. Another agreement was made for the new words that will come into the language.

Examples

:PT. - Standard Pronunciation of Portugal :BR. - Normal Pronunciation of Brazil :: note: The pronunciation of "o" and final "s" in Rio de Janeiro follows the European standard. ;Extract of «The Lusiads» (I, 33)

Literature

To English speakers, the most famous writer in the Portuguese language is the poet Luís Vaz de Camões (also known as Camoens) (1524–1580), author of the epic poem, the Lusiadas. Several other authors and poets are also internationally known, such as: Machado de Assis (1839-1908), the most traditional Brazilian novelist; Eça de Queirós (1845–1900), one of the most famous Portuguese language novelists; Fernando Pessoa (1888—1935), one of the greatest poets in the history of the language; Jorge Amado (1912—2001), a popular novelist; Pepetela (born 1941), a famous Angolan novelist; Mia Couto (1955), the most famous novelist from Mozambique; and José Saramago (born 1922) who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. The 2005 winner of Camoens Prize was Lygia Fagundes Telles (1923). See also: Camoens Prize

Notes

- ¹First and Second with first language speakers, respectively. Only counting figures from countries in the table "Portuguese language countries and Territories". Considering second language speakers those people who are bilingual and use Portuguese as a second language.
- ²[http://www.lusografia.org/ao/index.htm www.lusografia.org]

References

- Poesia e Prosa Medievais Ulisseia 1998 (3rd ed.; ISBN 9789725681244).
- Bases Temáticas - Língua Portuguesa in [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/bases/lingua.htm Instituto Camões]
- A Língua Portuguesa in [http://www.linguaportuguesa.ufrn.br/ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil]
- Portuguese Literature in [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12307a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Bergström, Magnus & Reis, Neves Prontuário Ortográfico Editorial Notícias, 2004.
- Lindley Cintra, Luís F. Nova Proposta de Classificação dos Dialectos Galego-Portugueses Boletim de Filologia, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1971.
- Mateus, Maria Helena & d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000) The Phonology of Portuguese ISBN 0-19-823581-X

External links

- [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=por Ethnologue report for Portuguese]
- [http://www.iilp-cplp.cv IILP] International Portuguese Language Institute
- [http://www.iilp-cplp.cv/pdf/iilp/acordoOrtografico.pdf IILP - Ortographic Agreement of 1990]
- [http://www.uea-angola.org/ União de Escritores Angolanos] Angolan authors
- [http://www.academia.org.br/ Academia Brasileira de Letras] Brazilian authors
- [http://www.spautores.pt Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores] Portuguese authors
- [http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/ Instituto Camões] Portuguese language studies
- [http://www.estacaodaluz.org.br/ Estação da Luz da Nossa Língua] Portuguese language studies in Brazil
- [http://www.ipor.org.pt/ Instituto Português do Oriente] - Portuguese language studies in Southeast Asia
- [http://www.observatoriolp.com/ Observatório da Língua Portuguesa] Observatory of Portuguese language
- [http://www.bibvirt.futuro.usp.br/ Biblioteca Virtual do Estudante de Língua Portuguesa] Virtual library for Portuguese language students
- [http://www.escolavirtual.pt/loginPE/comunidpt.do Escola Virtual] Virtual School. Portuguese language classes as taught in Portugal.
- [http://www.aulp.org/ AULP - Associação das Universidades de Língua Portuguesa] Portuguese Language Universities Association.
- [http://www.bn.pt Biblioteca Nacional] National Library of Portugal
- [http://www.bn.br Biblioteca Nacional] National Library of Brazil
- [http://www.dicionarios-online.com Dicionários-Online.com] A directory of Portuguese dictionaries.
- [http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/dlpo.aspx Portuguese dictionary] A very complete Portuguese dictionary
- [

French language

French (French: français) is the third of the Romance languages in terms of number of speakers, after Spanish and Portuguese, being spoken by about 67 million people as a mother tongue, and altogether by some 128 million people, which includes second-language speakers who use French for daily communication. French is thus the 18^th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, and 9^th in terms of daily speakers. It is an official language in 29 countries. It is also an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations (such as the European Union, IOC, United Nations and Universal Postal Union). Before World War II, French was considered the international language, particularly in such fields as diplomacy, trade, shipping, and transportation.

History

The Roman invasion of Gaul

The French language is a Romance language, meaning that it is descended from Latin. Before the Roman invasion of what is modern-day France by Julius Cæsar (58–52 BC), France was inhabited largely by a Celtic people that the Romans referred to as Gauls, although there were also other linguistic/ethnic groups in France at this time, such as the Iberians in southern France and Spain, the Ligurians on the Mediterranean coast, Greek colonies such as Massalia (i.e. present-day Marseille), Phoenician outposts, and the Vascons on the Spanish/French border. Although in the past many Frenchmen liked to refer to their descent from Gallic ancestors (nos ancêtres les Gaulois), perhaps fewer than 200 words with a Celtic etymological origin remain in French today (largely place and plant names and words dealing with rural life and the earth). In the reverse direction, some words for Gallic objects which were new to the Romans and for which there were no words in Latin were imported into Latin – for example, clothing items such as les braies. Latin quickly became the lingua franca of the entire Gallic region for mercantile, official and educational purposes, yet it should be remembered that this was Vulgar Latin, the colloquial dialect spoken by the Roman army and its agents and not the literary dialect of Cicero.

The Franks

From the third century on, Western Europe was invaded by Germanic tribes from the east, and some of these groups settled in Gaul. For the history of the French language, the most important of these groups are the Franks in northern France, the Alemanni in the German/French border, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley and the Visigoths in the Aquitaine region and Spain. These Germanic-speaking groups had a profound effect on the Latin spoken in their respective regions, altering both the pronunciation and the syntax. They also introduced a number of new words: perhaps as much as 15% of modern French comes from Germanic words, including many terms and expressions associated with their social structure and military tactics.

Langue d'Oïl

Linguists typically divide the languages spoken in medieval France into three geographical subgroups: Langue d'oïl and Langue d'oc are the two major groups; the third group, Franco-Provençal, is considered a transitional language between the two other groups. The Oïl–Oc divide is broadly comparable to the divide illustrated by the use of "yes" in English and "aye" in Scots. Langue d'oïl, the languages which use oïl (in modern usage, oui) for "yes", is the language group in the north of France. These languages, like Picard, Walloon, Francien and Norman, were influenced by the Germanic languages spoken by the Frankish invaders. From the time period Clovis I on, the Franks extended their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl language found around Paris (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the lingua franca theory). Langue d'oc, the languages which use oc for "yes", is the language group in the south of France and northern Spain. These languages, such as Gascon and Provençal, have relatively little Frankish influence. (Modern French has two words for "yes", oui and si; the latter is used to contradict negative statements. Si derives from Latin sic "thus", and is cognate to the word for "yes" in Spanish, Italian, and Catalan. Oïl/oui derive, according to Larousse, from Latin hoc ille "thus he (did)".)

Other linguistic groups

The early middle ages also saw the influence of other linguistic groups on the dialects of France: From the 5th to the 8th centuries, Celtic-speaking peoples from southwestern Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon) travelled across the English Channel, both for reasons of trade and as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England. They established themselves in Bretagne (Brittany). Their language was a dialect of the Brythonic languages, which has been named Breton in more recent centuries. It is part of the larger Celtic language family, though the modern dialects reflect a noticeable influence from French in their vocabulary. From the 6th to the 7th centuries, the Vascons crossed over the Pyrénées, a mountain range in the south of France. Their presence influenced the Occitan language spoken in southwestern France, resulting in the dialect called Gascon. Scandinavian vikings invaded France from the 9th century onwards and established themselves in what would come to be called Normandie (Normandy). They took up the langue d'oïl spoken there and contributed many words to French related to maritime activities, amongst other things. With their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans brought their language. The dialect that developed there as a language of administration and literature is referred to as Anglo-Norman. Anglo-Norman served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until 1362, when the use of English became dominant again. Because of the Norman Conquest, the English language has borrowed a considerable amount of its vocabulary from French. The Arab peoples also supplied many words to French around this time period, including words for luxury goods, spices, trade stuffs, sciences and mathematics.

History of French

For the period up to around 1300, some linguists refer to the oïl languages collectively as Old French (ancien français). The earliest extant text in French is the Oaths of Strasbourg from 842; Old French became a literary language with the chansons de geste that told tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades. By the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the Latin that had been used before then. With the imposition of a standardised chancery dialect and the loss of the declension system, the dialect is referred to as Middle French (moyen français). Following a period of unification, regulation and purification, the French of the 17th to the 18th centuries is sometimes referred to as Classical French (français classique), although many linguists simply refer to French language from the 17th century to today as Modern French (français moderne). The foundation of the Académie française (French Academy) in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu created an official body whose goal has been the purification and preservation of the French language. This group of 40 members is known as the Immortals, not, as some erroneously believe, because they are chosen to serve for the extent of their lives (which they are), but because of the inscription engraved on the official seal given to them by their founder Richelieu—"À l'immortalité" ("to the Immortality (of the French language)"). The foundation still exists and contributes to the policing of the language and the adaptation of foreign words and expressions. Some recent modifications include the change from software to logiciel, packet-boat to paquebot, and riding-coat to redingote. The word ordinateur for computer was however not created by the Académie, but by a linguist appointed by IBM (see :fr:ordinateur). From the 17th to the 19th centuries, France was the leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could both speak and write in French. Through the Académie, public education, centuries of official control and the role of media, a unified official French language has been forged, but there remains a great deal of diversity today in terms of regional accents and words. For some critics, the "best" pronunciation of the French language is considered to be the one used in Touraine (around Tours and the Loire River valley), but such value judgments are fraught with problems, and with the ever increasing loss of lifelong attachments to a specific region and the growing importance of the national media, the future of specific "regional" accents is difficult to predict.

Modern issues

There is some debate in today's France about the preservation of the French language and the influence of English (see franglais), especially with regard to international business, the sciences and popular culture. There have been laws (see Toubon law) enacted which require that all print ads and billboards with foreign expressions include a French translation and which require quotas of French-language songs (at least 40%) on the radio. There is also pressure, in differing degrees, from some regions as well as minority political or cultural groups for a measure of recognition and support for their regional languages.

Geographic distribution

regional language
French is an official language in the following countries or parts thereof: La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments.

Legal status in France

Per the Constitution of France, French is the official language of the Republic since 1792 [http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=50]. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. See Toubon Law. Contrary to a misunderstanding common in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites or any other private publication, which would anyway contradict constitutional guarantees on freedom of speech. The misunderstanding may have arisen from a similar prohibition in the Canadian province of Quebec which made strict application of the Charter of the French Language between 1977 and 1993, although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of private communication. There exist in addition to French a variety of languages spoken in France by minorities; see Languages of France.

Legal status in Canada

About 12% of the world's francophones are Canadian, and French is one of Canada's two official languages, with English; various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with the right of Canadians to access services in English and French all across Canada. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French; proceedings of the Parliament of Canada must be translated into both English and French; and all Canadian products must be labelled in both English and French. Overall about 22% of Canadians speak French as a first language and 18% are bilingual. French has been the only official language of Quebec since 1974, although it is commonly (and incorrectly) believed that the designation of French as the sole official language occurred in 1977 with the adoption of the Charter of the French Language (which is popularly referred to as Bill 101). By far the provision of Bill 101 with the most significant impact has been that which mandates French-language education, unless a child's parents or siblings have received the major part of their own education in English within Canada. That provision has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children were being sent to English schools by their parents. In so doing, Bill 101 has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Quebec. Other provisions of Bill 101, on the other hand, have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Some of those provisions have remained in effect, for a while, using the constitutional "notwithstanding" clause that permits a non-compliant law to temporarily remain. No "notwithstanding provision" is currently in effect. In 1993 the Charter was changed to allow signage in other languages so long as French is markedly "predominant". The Charter also provides for a measure of access by Anglophones to health and social services in their own language. The only province which has French as an official language is New Brunswick. In Ontario and Manitoba, French does not have full official status, although the provincial governments do provide full French-language services in all communities where significant numbers of francophones live. All of the other provinces do make some effort to accommodate the needs of their francophone citizens, although the level and quality of French-language service varies significantly from province to province.

Legal status in Switzerland

French is an official language in Switzerland. It is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandy.

Dialects of French

- Acadian French
- African French
- Belgian French
- Cajun French
- Canadian French
- Cambodian French
- Louisiana Creole French
- français d'Aoste
- français-germanique
- Indian French
- Levantine French
- Maghreb French
- Newfoundland French
- North American French
- Oceanic French
- Quebec French
- South East Asian French
- Swiss French
- West Indian French
- [http://www.linguasphere.org/langues_romanes.pdf linguasphere on Romance languages]

Languages derived from French

- Antillean Creole
- Haitian Creole
- Lanc-Patuá
- Mauritian Creole
- Michif
- Louisiana Creole French
- Réunionese Creole
- Seychellois Creole
- Tay Boi

Sounds

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