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French Language

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 18th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, and 9th 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

:Main article: French phonology and orthography French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:
- liaison or linking: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally silent. (The final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally pronounced.) When the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant may once again be pronounced, to provide a "link" between the two words and avoid a glottal stop between them. Some liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous avez; some are optional, depending on dialect and register, for example the first s in deux cents euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example the s in beaucoup d'hommes aiment. The t of et is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like pied-à-terre. Doubling a final consonant and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. Parisien → Parisienne) makes it clearly pronounced, always.
- elision or vowel dropping: Monosyllabic words such as je or que drop their final vowel before another word beginning with a vowel. The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → j'ai)
- nasal "n" and "m". When "n" or "m" follows a vowel combination, the "n" and "m" become silent and cause the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the nostrils). Exceptions are when the "n" or "m" is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
- digraphs French does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended. (See French phonology and orthography or [http://www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/ French Pronunciation Guide] for more details.)
- accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone.
  - Accents that affect pronunciation:
    - "é", is pronounced instead of the defaults or,
    - "è" (e.g., secrète) means that the vowel is pronounced (as usual),
    - dieresis (e.g. naïve, Noël) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one (or following one in some cases), not combined,
    - the "ç" means that the letter c is pronounced in front of A, O, or U. ("c" is otherwise hard before a hard vowel.)
    - The circumflex (e.g. pâté, forêt) shows that an e is pronounced and that an o is pronounced . In some dialects it also signifies a pronunciation of for the letter a, but this differentiation is disappearing. It usually indicates a former long vowel created by the dropping of an "s" from the Latin root (as in English "paste", "forest"),
  - Accents with no pronunciation effect:
    - The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well.
    - All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words or for etymological reasons, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la and the conjunction ou ("the fem. sing.", "or") respectively.

Grammar

:Main article: French grammar French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including:
- the loss of Latin's declensions
- only two grammatical genders
- the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
- new tenses formed from auxiliaries French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb.

Vocabulary

Word origins

The majority of French words derive from vernacular or "vulgar" Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:
- brother: frère (brother) / fraternel
- finger: doigt / digital
- faith: foi (faith) / fidèle
- cold: froid / frigide
- eye: œil / oculaire The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word. It is estimated that 12 percent (4,200) of common French words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse or Micro-Robert Plus (35,000 words) are of foreign origin. About 25 percent (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic languages, 481 from ancient Gallo-Romance languages, 215 from Arabic, 164 from German, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Dutch, 112 from Persian and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other Asian languages, 56 from Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Slavic languages and Baltic languages, and 144 from other languages (3 percent of the total). Source: Henriette Walter, Gérard Walter, Dictionnaire des mots d'origine étrangère, 1998.

Levels of register

French, like many other languages, possesses a continuum of several levels of register. The colloquial register is used in almost any circumstance of life, and should not be confused with slang or rude talk. Formal French is used in writing or in formal occasions (when people make official speeches or when they are interviewed on television, for instance). Some level of formality is also normally used in classrooms in France, although colloquial French is now spoken by more and more professors with their students. Colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of grammar. For instance, the negation in formal French is "ne... pas", whereas in colloquial French it is simply "... pas", such as "I don't think so", which is "Je ne crois pas" in formal French, and "Je crois pas" in colloquial French. Another example of change in grammar is the way to ask a question: by inverting verb and subject in formal French, or also by using "est-ce que", whereas in colloquial French a question is phrased exactly as an affirmation, with the voice rising in the end. E.g.: "Is he sick?" would be "Est-il malade?" or "Est-ce qu'il est malade?" in formal French, and "Il est malade?" in colloquial French. On the other hand, questions with "est-ce que" are more colloquial than using inversion. Secondly, colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of pronunciation. Some words undergo shortening, or sound change, whereas some syllables are dropped altogether. For instance, "yes" is "oui" in formal French, and becomes "ouais" in colloquial French; "I" is "je" in formal French, but becomes "j' " in colloquial French; so a sentence like "I think he'll come" is "Je pense qu'il viendra" in formal French, and "J'pense qu'i'viendra" in colloquial French. There are many instances of shortening of words, such as "teacher", which is "professeur" in formal French, but becomes "prof'" in colloquial French.

Counting system

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty () is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70-99. So for example, means 4 times 20, i.e. is the French word for 80, and (literally "sixty-fifteen") means 75. This is comparable to archaic English use of "score", as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect.

Writing system

French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ). French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:
- Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
- Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem) As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel. For example, all of these words end in a vowel sound: nez, pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel, however, may sound the consonants, as they do in these examples: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre. On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme. The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
- grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound .
- acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound , the ai sound in such words as English hay or neigh. It often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter.
- circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound or , respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu).
- diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts. Since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) was moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe. Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut if applicable but uses French pronounciation, such as capharnaüm(mess).
- cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = before e), je lançai "I threw" (c would be pronounced before a without the cedilla). The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words (sœur "sister" , œuvre "work [of art]" , cœur "heart" , cœlacanthe "Coelacanth" ), sometimes in words of Greek origin, spelled with an οι diphthong which became oe in Latin, pronounced in French (and other Romance languages): œsophage , œnologie . It may also appear in œu digraph (or œ alone in œil "eye"), in words that were once written with eu digraph (which could be read or , depending on the word): bœuf "ox" (Old French buef or beuf), mœurs "custom", œil "eye" , etc. In these cases, the Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil. Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.

Some common phrases


- French: français ("fran-seh")
- hello: bonjour ("bon-zhoor")
- I love you.: Je t'aime. ("jhe tem")
- My name is _____: Je m'appelle _____ ("jhe-ma-pelle")
- good-bye: au revoir ("o-ruh-vwar")
- please: s'il vous plaît (Literally: if it please you) ("sill voo pleh")
- thank you: merci ("mairr-see")
- you are welcome: de rien (Literally: Of nothing) ("duh ryeh"), je vous en prie, il n'y a pas de quoi (France); bienvenue ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec)
- that one: celui-là ("su-lwee la"), colloq. ("swee la"), or celle-là (feminine) ("cell-la")
- how much?: combien? ("kom-byen")
- English: anglais ("ahng-gleh")
- yes: oui ("wee"), colloq. ouais (seldom written) ("way")
- no: non ("non")
- I am sorry: Je suis désolé(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine); ("zhahn swee deh-zo-leh"), colloq. ("shswee deh-zo-leh"). Pardon ("par-dohn")
- I do not understand: Je ne comprends pas. ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa"), colloq. Je comprends pas (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa")
- Where are the toilets?: Où sont les toilettes ? ("oo son leh twa-let")
- Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé ("san-teh") or À la vôtre ("a la votr")
- Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? ("par-leh voo ang-gleh") OR "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" ("voo par-leh ang-leh")
- Excuse me: Excusez-moi. ("eh-skyu-zay mwa")
- Good night: Bonne nuit ("bun nwee")
- Hi!: Salut ! ("sal-oo")
- I am tired: Je suis fatigué(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine) ("jhe swee fah-tee-gay")
- Are you coming?: Venez vous ?, Est-ce que vous venez ? (or with close friends and relatives: tu viens?)
- I am thinking about it: J'y pense. ("jhee pahnss")
- I am going to the grocery store: Je vais à l'épicerie. ("jhe vay a lay-pee-ser-ee")
- We are going to school: On va à l'école. (colloquial) ("ohn va a lay-cohl")
- She is so pretty.: Elle est si jolie. ("el ay see jho-lee")
- our neighbors to the South: Nos voisins du sud ("noh vwah-zen due sued")
- Could you help me?: Pourriez-vous m'aider ? ("poo-ree-ay voo may-day")
- May I help you?: Puis-je vous aider? ("pwee-jha voo zay-day")
- It is the best of worlds: C'est le meilleur des mondes. ("say le may-yuhr day mohnd")
- Go to bed!: Va te coucher ! ("vah te coo-shay")
- I'm watching TV.: Je regarde la télé. ("jhe re-gard lah tay-lay")
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. ("wee-kee-pay-dee-ah, lahns-ee-kloh-pay-dee lee-bruh")
- I am the state.: L'État, c'est moi. ("leh-tah seh-mwa")

See also


- Académie française
- common phrases in different languages
- List of English words of French origin
- List of French phrases
- French in the United States
- French Language Wikipedia
- French phrases used by English speakers
- French proverbs
- Reforms of French orthography
- Morphology of the French verb
- Louchebem
- Verlan
- French Creole languages

External links


-
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=33 All free French dictionaries] Collection of free French dictionaries.
- [http://www.declan-software.com/french French language learning audio software]
- [http://www.window.to/french/ Learn French online]
- [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/ Académie Française]
- [http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl_begin_vocab.htm Beginning French Vocabulary]
- [http://radio-canada.ca/education/francaismicro/ Capsules linguistiques - Radio-Canada.ca]
- [http://www.moelc.moe.edu.sg/french/ Département de Français, Ministry of Education Language Centre, Singapore]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra Ethnologue report for French]
- [http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/english/f.htm Free online resources for learners]
- [http://www.lexilogos.com/french_language_dictionary.htm French-English : all online dictionaries]
- [http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/ French Language Course]
- [http://www.ielanguages.com/french.html French Language Tutorial at ielanguages.com]
- [http://www.intuxication.org/~webtypo/le_francais_facile.htm Le français facile]
- [http://portal.wikinerds.org/rapidfrench How to learn French in 10 months]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=French_accentuation_rules Basic tips of French accentuation]
- [http://www.languagehelpers.com/words/french/basics.html LanguageHelpers]
- [http://www.lightandmatter.com/french/ Liberté, an online first-year French textbook]
- [http://www.listenandlearn.org/learn/french/index.php Learn French by reading and listening]
- [http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/french/index.html A profile of the French language]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=Virtual_French_Keyboard A virtual French keyboard]
- [http://linearb.co.uk:8080/memory/ Searchable French-English dictionary, with example sentences]
- [http://atilf.atilf.fr/ Le Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé] (very comprehensive)
- [http://truckspeak.monsite.wanadoo.fr Truck Drivers' French - English, English - French Dictionary]
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=3&learn-French/ Listen to useful French expressions]
- [http://www.FrenchLanguageTips.com/ Learn French Fast & Easy]
- [http://www.wordreference.com/ Wordreference.com dictionary]
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Romance languages

The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages or New Latin languages, are a subset of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Latin dialects spoken by the common people in what is known as Latin Europe (Italian/Portuguese/Spanish Europa latina, Catalan Europa llatina, French Europe latine, Romanian Europa latină) as Vulgar Latin later evolved in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. Romance language native speakers:
- Western Group:
  - Iberian and Americas: Spanish (300 million native speakers), Portuguese (230 million), Catalan (6.5 million), Galician (4 million)
  - France: French (65 million), Occitan (2 million)
  - Switzerland: Romansh (66,000)
  - Italy: Sardinian (300,000), Northern Italian dialects, Dolomites Ladin, Friulian
- Eastern Group:
  - Italy: Italian (60 million), Central and Southern Italian dialects including Corsican language, Sicilian
  - Romania and Moldova: Romanian (30 million) Many of the differences from the Romance languages in relation to Latin are analytical: articles and prepositions instead of declension, use of auxiliary verbs for the composite verbs, etc. The daughter languages of Latin differ for several reasons: historical isolation, influence of prior languages in territories of Latin Europe that fell under Roman rule, invasions and instability after the fall of Rome, and contact with other cultures in the Renaissance, among others.

History

The term "Romance" comes from the Romance word romance or romanz, from Latin romanice, the adverbial form of romanicus, in expressions like parabolare romanice ("to speak in Roman"). The modern Romance languages differ from Classical Latin in a number of fundamental respects:
- No declensions, that is, they generally no longer alter a noun to indicate its grammatical role, though there may be a few exceptions such as in pronouns. An exception is Romanian, which continues to use declensions.
- Only two grammatical genders, rather than the three of Classical Latin (except Romanian and Italian to a small extent, and except several gender-neutral pronouns in Spanish, Italian, Catalan etc.)
- Introduction of grammatical articles, based on Latin demonstratives
- Latin future tense scrapped, and new future and conditional tenses introduced, based on infinitive + present or imperfect tense of habere (to have), fused to form new inflections.
- Latin synthetic perfect tenses replaced by new compound forms with be or have + past participle (except Portuguese, where the Latin plusquamperfect tense has been retained and Romanian, which has 2 perfect tenses - one synthetic and one compound - that have the same meaning and also has a synthetic plusquamperfect tense in the indicative mood that is formed using the suffix "-se", derived from the suffix used in Latin to form the subjunctive plusquamperfect, "-isse").

Status

The most spoken Romance language is Spanish, followed by Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian and Catalan. Generally, the Romance languages have simplified the complex morphology and grammar of Latin. Italian, Sardinian and Romanian retain more original features than the rest. The Romance variants form a dialect continuum, and nearby languages usually have some mutual intelligibility. Portuguese and French are perhaps the most innovative of the languages, each in different ways. Sardinian is perhaps the most isolated and conservative variant. Languedocian Occitan is considered by some the most "average" western Romance language. In the history of the Romance languages, the first split was between Sardinian and the rest. Then of the rest, the next split was between Romanian in the east, and the others in the west. The third major split was between Italian and the Gallo-Iberian group. This latter then split into a Gallo-Romance group, which became the Oïl languages (including French), Occitan, Francoprovençal and Romansh, and an Iberian Romance group which became Spanish and Portuguese. Catalan is considered by many specialists as a transition language between the Gallic group and the Iberian group, since it shares characteristics from both groups; for example, 'fear' is 'medo' in Portuguese, 'miedo' in Spanish, but 'por' in Catalan — compare with 'peur' in French. There is much dialect diversity, and there is no clear differentiation between a "language" and a "dialect". Some varieties are privileged in that they are the main language of media and education in their countries (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and, recently, Catalan, although it is not as spread on the media as the other cited languages are, particularly in Valencia and the Balearic Islands, where its presence on local newspapers and radio stations is almost minoritary; it is also much neglected in the area of the French state where it is spoken). Others are used as the language of instruction in schools and have some official status, such as Sardinian and Romansh. Many have suffered long periods of official neglect, such as Occitan (or Provençal), the Oïl languages other than French, and Venetian. Some of these possess several competing standards. And some minor variants which might have developed into distinct languages have been reduced to residual areas and restricted usage, like Astur-Leonese, Aragonese or Mirandese.

Typical characteristics

Characteristics typical of Romance languages include:
- General:
  - Romance languages are "verb-framed" rather than "satellite-framed". This means that phrases indicating motion will tend to encode the motion's direction within the verb (e.g. "enter", "insert"), rather than in an external particle (e.g. "go in", "put in"). This is a feature of word formation.
  - Romance languages frequently have two copula verbs (see Romance copula), from the Latin infinitives ESSE and STARE: one for essence and the other for status.
  - Romance languages conjugate verbs in first, second, and third person forms, both singular and plural. The third person forms may also be inflected for gender, but the first- and second-person forms are not (compare with Hebrew, which inflects all three persons for gender and number.)
  - Politeness forms include some form of the T-V distinction in all Romance languages.
  - Romance languages have 2 or 3 genders for all nouns, but usually do not inflect nouns for case, though their parent Latin did.
  - Romance languages include a default stress on the second-last syllable, and have euphony rules that avoid glottal stops, and multiple stop consonants in a row. (The second-last syllable becomes the last in languages like French that habitually drop the final Latin vowel.) The combination of these rules gives spoken Romance languages their characteristic high speed and flow. Compare Polish second-to-last stress.
- Written form only:
  - The letters "W" and "K" are rarely used (except in names or borrowings, for example Kappa, or w in standard Walloon orthography).
  - The letters "C" and "G" are usually "soft" postalveolar consonants before a front vowel, but "hard" velar consonants by default, or before a back vowel.
  - In most Romance languages, proper adjectives (including nationalities, such as American and British), names of days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized. For example, nationalities are capitalized in French only when used as nouns.

Distinguishing features

Evolution compared to Latin

According to the results of the study of M. Pei in 1949, which compares the evolution degree of the languages with respect of their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages the Latin language), here are the evolution degrees:
- Sardinian: 8 %;
- Italian: 12 %;
- Spanish: 20 %;
- Romanian: 23.5 %;
- Occitan: 25 %;
- Portuguese: 31 %;
- French: 44 %.

Formation of plurals

Some Romance languages form plurals by adding /s/ (derived from the plural of the Latin accusative case), while others form the plural by changing the final vowel (by influence of the Latin nominative ending /i/). See La Spezia-Rimini Line for more information.
- Plural in /s/: Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, French, Sardinian.
- Vowel change: Italian, Romanian.

Omission of final Latin vowels

Some Romance languages have lost the final unstressed vowels from the Latin roots. For example: Latin lupus, luna become Italian lupo, luna but French loup /lu/), lune (/lyn/).
- Final vowels retained: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Romanian (Southern dialects and old Romanian).
- Final vowels retained in feminine gender only: Catalan, Occitan, Romanian (Daco-Romanian).
- Final vowels dropped: French. Romance languages dropping the final vowel have one less syllable: the usual "penultimate syllable" accent is on the last syllable in these languages.

Words for "more"

Some Romance languages use a version of Latin plus, others a version of magis.
- Plus-derived: French plus /ply/, Italian più /pju/, dialectal Catalan pus /pus/ (this word is exclusively used on negative statements in Mallorcan Catalan)
- Magis-derived: Portuguese (mais), Spanish (más), Catalan (més), Occitan (mai), Romanian (mai), Italian (mai, used only in the construction non...mai, meaning "never")

The number 16

In some languages the word for the number 16 is irregular after the fashion of English "sixteen", as are all the Romance numerals from 11 to 15. In other Romance languages, 16 is literally "ten and six", like the numbers from 17 to 19.
- "Sixteen": Catalan, Occitan, French, Italian, Romanian.
- "Ten and six": Portuguese, Spanish.

To have and to hold

The verbs derived from Latin habere and tenere are used differently for the concepts of "to hold", "to have", "to have" (auxiliary for complex tenses), and existence statements ("there is"). For instance, in French, je tiens, j'ai, j'ai fait, il y a: these are respectively derived from tenere, habere, habere and habere. If we use T for tenere and H for habere, in these four meanings, we can encode the difference as follows:
- TTTT: Some varieties of Brazilian Portuguese.
- TTTH: Portuguese/Galician.
- TTHH: Spanish, Catalan.
- THHH: Occitan, French. There is also essere in Italian and este in Romanian, used for "to be":
- THHE: Romanian, Italian

To have or to be

Some languages use their equivalent of "have" as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect forms (e. g. French passé composé) of all verbs; others use "be" for some verbs and "have" for others.
- "Have" only: Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian.
- "Have" and "be": Occitan, French, Italian. In the latter, the verbs which use "be" as an auxiliary are unaccusative verbs, that is, intransitive verbs that show motion not directly initiated by the subject or changes of state, such as "fall", "come", "become". All other verbs (intransitive unergative verbs and all transitive verbs) use "have". For example, in French, J'ai vu "I have seen" vs. Je suis tombé "I am fallen" ("I have fallen").

Pidgins and creoles

The global spread of colonial Romance languages has given rise to numerous creoles and pidgins. Some of the lesser-spoken languages have also had influences on varieties spoken far from their traditional regions.
- List creoles and pidgins, grouped by source-language.
- Lingua Franca, influenced by the Romance languages of the Western Mediterranean and Arabic.
- French Creoles
  - Haitian Creole is a national language of Haiti
  - Antillean Creole spoken primarily in Dominica and St. Lucia.
  - Kreyol Lwiziyen Louisiana creole
  - Mauritian Creole is the lingua franca in Mauritius
  - Seychellois Creole Also known as Seselwa, Seychellois Creole is an official language, along with English and French, as well as the lingua franca of the Seychelles.
  - Lanc-Patuá Spoken in Brazil, mostly in Amapá state. It has been influenced by Portuguese. It was developed by immigrants from neighboring French Guiana and French territories of the Caribbean Sea.
- Portuguese Creoles
  - Angolar Spoken in coastal areas of São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
  - Annobonnese Spoken in the island of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea.
  - Crioulo do Barlavento (Criol) Spoken in Barlavento islands of Cape Verde.
  - Crioulo de São Vicente Spoken in São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. It could not be a, de facto, Creole.
  - Crioulo do Sotavento (Kriolu) Spoken in Sotavento islands of Cape Verde.
  - Daman Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Daman, India. 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 Spoken in the village of Korlay, India.
  - Lunguyê Spoken in Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe. Almost extinct.
  - Macanese Spoken in Macau and Hong Kong. Decreolization process occurred.
  - Papiamento Spoken in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Spanish influenced.
  - Saramaccan Portuguese/English Creole. Spoken in Surinam.
  - Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Coastal cities of Sri Lanka.
  - Upper Guinea Creole (Kriol) lingua franca of Guinea-Bissau, also spoken in Casamance, Senegal.
- Spanish Creoles
  - Chavacano -Spoken in Zamboanga and Cavite , Philippines.
  - Palenquero
  - Papiamento. It is often hard to tell Portuguese influences from Spanish ones.
  - Spanglish, spoken in northern Mexico and southern United States.
  - Yanito While not being pidgins nor creoles, English (see Middle English creole hypothesis) and Basque have a substantial Romance influence in their vocabularies.

Constructed languages

Latin and the Romance languages also give rise to numerous constructed languages, both international auxiliary languages (well-known examples of which are Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua) and languages created for artistic purposes only (such as Brithenig and Wenedyk).

Listing

Here is a more detailed listing of languages and dialects (roughly ordered from west to east):
- Iberian Romance languages
  - Portuguese-Galician
    - Portuguese language
      - European Portuguese
      - Brazilian Portuguese
      - African Portuguese
      -
- Angolan Portuguese
      -
- Capeverdean Portuguese
      -
- Guinean Portuguese
      -
- Mozambican Portuguese
      -
- São Tomean Portuguese
      - Judeo-Portuguese
    - Galician
      - Eonaviegan (a Galician dialect with some traits of Asturian)
    - Fala language (spoken in a a valley of the northwestern part of Extremadura in Spain)
  - Astur-Leonese
    - Leonese
    - Asturian (the variant with more vitality)
    - Mirandese (spoken in a tiny corner of Portugal — very archaic)
    - Extremaduran (the south variant, more Castilian like)
  - Spanish (Castilian)
    - Ladino (Judæo-Spanish)
  - Aragonese
  - Mozarabic variants (extinct by the 15th century)
  - Catalan
    - Western Catalan
      - North-Western Catalan
      -
- Ribagorçan (transitional to Aragonese)
      - Valencian
    - Eastern Catalan
      - Central Catalan (includes Barcelona dialect)
      - Northern Catalan (Roussillonese)
      - Balearic
      - Alguerese
- Occitan or langue d'oc
  - Gascon
    - Aranese
  - Lemosin
  - Auvernhat
  - Aupenc
  - Lengadocian
  - Provençal
    - Niçard
- Francoprovençal
- langues d'oïl
  - French
  - Picard language
  - Walloon language
  - Norman language
    - Jèrriais
    - Dgèrnésiais
    - Anglo-Norman language (extinct)
  - Gallo language
  - Franc-Comtois
  - Champenois
  - Poitevin-Saintongeais
  - Bourguignon-Morvandiau
  - Lorrain
- Rhaetian languages
  - Friulian
  - Ladin
  - Romansh
- Italian
  - Gallo-Italian languages
    - Piemontese
    - Ligurian
      - Monegasque
    - Lombard
    - Emilio-Romagnolo
    - Venetian
  - Napoletano-Calabrese
  - Sicilian
  - Corsican (closely related to Tuscan dialects, with Ligurian elements)
  - Gallurese (close to Corsican)
  - Sassarese (transitional to Corsican)
- Sardinian
  - Campidanese
  - Logudorese
- Dalmatian (extinct)
- Istriot
- Eastern Romance languages
  - Romanian (also named Moldovan in Moldova)
  - Aromanian
  - Meglenitic
  - Istro-Romanian (these latter three are sometimes regarded as dialects of the Romanian language).

Ethnologue classification

The classification below is largely based on the analysis provided at ethnologue.com. The ISO-639-2 code roa is applied by the ISO for any Romance language that does not have its own code. The Ethnologue classification (produced by the SIL International) is at one extreme of linguists, who divide into 'splitters' and 'lumpers'. Ethnologue produce a very detailed classification, which is more precise than many other linguists would accept, but it is valuable as a description of varieties. The Southern group
- Sardinian Four versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, sc; ISO 639-2 code, srd)
  - Sardinian, Sassarese - (SIL code, SDC)
  - Sardinian, Gallurese - (SIL Code, SDN)
  - Sardinian, Logudorese - (SIL Code, SRD)
  - Sardinian, Campidanese - (SIL Code, SRO)
- Corsican - (SIL Code, COI; ISO 639-1 code, co; ISO 639-2 code, cos) The Italo-Western group
The Western sub-group
. .Gallo-Iberian division
. . .Ibero-Romance sub-division
. . . .West Iberian section
- Asturo-Leonese
  - Asturian - (SIL Code, AUB; ISO 639-2 code, ast)
  - Mirandese - (SIL Code, MWL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
- Castilian
  - Spanish - (SIL Code, SPN; ISO 639-1 code, es; ISO 639-2 code, spa)
  - Spanish, Loreto-Ucayali - (SIL Code, SPQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Ladino (Judæo-Spanish) - (SIL Code, SPJ; ISO 639-2 code, lad)
  - Extremaduran - (SIL Code, EXT; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Caló - (SIL Code, RMR; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
- Portuguese-Galician
  - Portuguese - (SIL Code, POR; ISO 639-1 code, pt; ISO 639-2 code, por)
  - Galician - (SIL Code, GLN; ISO 639-1 code, gl; ISO 639-2 code, glg)
  - Fala - (SIL Code, FAX; ISO 639-2 code, roa) . . . .East Iberian section

- Catalan-Valencian-Balear - (SIL Code, CLN; ISO 639-1 code, ca; ISO 639-2 code, cat) . . . .Oc section

- Occitan (langue d'oc) - Six versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, oc; ISO 639-2 code, oci) - all are from France
  - Auvergnat - (SIL Code, AUV)
  - Gascon - (SIL Code, GSC)
  - Limousin - (SIL Code, LMS)
  - Languedocien - (SIL Code, LNC)
  - Provençal - (SIL Code, PRV)
  - Shuadit - (SIL Code, SDT) . . .Gallo-Romance sub-division
. . . .Gallo-Rhaetian section
- Rhaetian
  - Friulian - (SIL Code, FRL; ISO 639-2 code, fur)
  - Ladin - (SIL Code, LLD; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Romansh - (SIL Code, RHE; ISO 639-1 code, rm; ISO 639-2 code, roh)
- Langues d'Oïl
  - French (langue d'oïl)
    - Standard French - (SIL Code, FRN; ISO 639-1 code, fr; ISO 639-2(B) code, fre; ISO 639-2(T) code, fra)
    - Cajun French - (SIL Code, FRC; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
    - Picard - (SIL Code, PCD; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
    - Zarphatic - (SIL Code, ZRP; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct
  - Franco-Provençal - (SIL Code, FRA; ISO 639-2 code, roa) . . . .Gallo-Italian section
  - Emilio-Romagnolo - (SIL Code, EML; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Ligurian - (SIL Code, LIJ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Lombard - (SIL Code, LMO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Piemontese - (SIL Code, PMS; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Venetian - (SIL Code, VEC; ISO 639-2 code, roa) . .Pyrenean-Mozarabic division
- Pyrenean
  - Aragonese - (SIL Code, AXX; ISO 639-1 code, an;ISO 639-2 code, arg)
- Mozarabic
  - Mozarabic - (SIL Code, MXI; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - Extinct for common speech The Italo-Dalmatian sub-group
  - Italian - (SIL Code, ITN; ISO 639-1 code, it; ISO 639-2 code, ita)
  - Napoletano-Calabrese - (SIL Code, NPL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Sicilian - (SIL Code, SCN; ISO 639-2 code, scn)
  - Judeo-Italian - (SIL Code, ITK; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  - Dalmatian - (SIL Code, DLM; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct in 19th century.
  - Istriot - (SIL Code, IST; ISO 639-2 code, roa) The Eastern group
- Romanian - (SIL Code, RUM; ISO 639-1 code, ro; ISO 639-2(B) code, rum; ISO 639-2(T) code, ron) - Includes Daco-Romanian.
- :Also as Moldovan - (ISO 639-1 code, mo; ISO 639-2 code, mol)
- Macedo Romanian - (SIL Code, RUP; ISO 639-2 code, rup) - known by native speakers as Aromanian
- Megleno Romanian - (SIL Code, RUQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - also known as Moglenitic or Meglenitic
- Istro Romanian - (SIL Code, RUO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)

See also


- Latin Union
- Romance copula Romanic
-

External links


- [http://www.orbilat.com/ Orbis Latinus, site on Romance languages] als:Romanische Sprachen ja:ロマンス語 simple:Romance languages zh-min-nan:Romance gí-giân

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 uniqu