View source for Social:Portuguese language

{{short description|Romance language}}
{{Infobox language
| name          = Portuguese
| ethnicity     = [[Place:Lusophone|Lusophone]]s
* Portuguese
* Brazilians
* Luso-Asians
* Luso-Africans
| nativename    = {{lang|pt|português}}
| pronunciation = {{IPA-pt|puɾtuˈɣeʃ|}}, {{IPA-pt|poʁtuˈɡe(j)s|}}
| speakers      = Native: {{sigfig|232.434250|2}} million
| date          = 2012&ndash;2020
| ref           = e25
| speakers2     = L2: {{sigfig|25.226000|2}} million (2018&ndash;2020)<ref name=e25/><br>Total: {{sigfig|257.660250|2}} million<ref name=e25/>
| speakers_label = Speakers
| familycolor   = Indo-European
| fam2          = [[Social:Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3          = Latino-Faliscan
| fam4          = [[Social:Latin|Latin]]
| fam5          = Romance
| fam6          = Italo-Western
| fam7          = Western Romance
| fam8          = Gallo-Iberian
| fam9          = Iberian Romance
| fam10         = West Iberian
| fam11         = [[Social:Galician–Portuguese|Galician–Portuguese]]
| ancestor      = Old Latin
| ancestor2     = Vulgar Latin
| ancestor3     = [[Social:Proto-Romance language|Proto-Romance]]
| ancestor4     = [[Social:Galician–Portuguese|Galician–Portuguese]]
| dia1 = Goan
| dia2 = Nusantaran
| dia3 = European
| dia4 = Brazilian
| dia5 = Uruguayan
| dia6 = São Tomean
| dia7 = Macanese
| dia8 = Angolan
| dia9 = Cape Verde
| dia10 = Guinean
| dia11 = Mozambican
| dia12 = [[Social:Judaeo-Portuguese|Judaeo-Portuguese]] {{Extinct}}
| script        = {{plainlist|
*Latin (Portuguese alphabet)
*Portuguese Braille}}
| nation        = {{Collapsible list
                  | titlestyle = font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;
                  | title = 9 countries
                  | Angola
                  | {{wipe|Brazil}}
                  | Cape Verde
                  | East Timor
                  | Equatorial Guinea<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=7775 |title=Continúan los actos del Día de la Lengua Portuguesa y la Cultura Lusófona |date=10 May 2016 |website=Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea |trans-title=Acts continue to mark Portuguese Language and Portuguese Culture Day}}</ref>
                  | Guinea-Bissau
                  | Mozambique
                  | Portugal
                  | São Tomé and Príncipe
                  | 
                  |
               }}
                 {{Collapsible list
                  | titlestyle = font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;
                  | title = 1 dependency
                  | [[Place:Macau|Macau]] ({{wipe|China}})
               }}
| minority      = {{Collapsible list
                  | titlestyle=font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;
                  | title=Cultural language
|Uruguay<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gutiérrez Bottaro |first=Silvia Etel |title=El portugués uruguayo y las marcas de la oralidad en la poesía del escritor uruguayo Agustín R. Bisio |date=2014 |url=http://www.hispanistas.org.br/arquivos/revistas/sumario/revista6/109-129.pdf |journal=Abehache |volume=4 |issue=6 |trans-title=Uruguayan Portuguese and oral marks in the poetry of Uruguayan writer Agustín R. Bisio |language=es |access-date=18 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812061109/http://www.hispanistas.org.br/arquivos/revistas/sumario/revista6/109-129.pdf |archive-date=12 August 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historiadelaslenguasenuruguay.edu.uy |title=Historia lingüística del Uruguay |website=www.historiadelaslenguasenuruguay.edu.uy |access-date=9 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405013655/http://www.historiadelaslenguasenuruguay.edu.uy/ |archive-date=5 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Fernández Aguerre |first1=Tabaré |title=Algunas notas teórico metodológicas sobre la relación entre regiones y aprendizajes en Uruguay |url=https://www.colibri.udelar.edu.uy/jspui/handle/20.500.12008/10776 |pages=11–15 |trans-title=Some theoretical methodological notes on the relationship between regions and learning in Uruguay |language=es |last2=González Bruzzese |first2=Mahira |last3=Rodriguez Ingold |first3=Cecilia |year=2017 |hdl=20.500.12008/10776 |hdl-access=free |conference=XVI Jornadas de Investigación : la excepcionalidad uruguaya en debate: ¿como el Uruguay no hay?}}</ref>  
| {{wipe|Spain}} (Galician language)
|{{wipe|South Africa}}            
|Numerous international organizations}}
| agency        = {{plainlist|
*'''Portugal''':<br />Lisbon Academy of Sciences <small>([[Organization:Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Class of Letters|Lisbon Academy Class of Letters]])</small>
*'''Brazil''':<br />[[Organization:Academia Brasileira de Letras|Academia Brasileira de Letras]]
*'''Mozambique:'''<br />Escola Portuguesa de Moçambique <small>(future)</small>}}{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}
| iso1          = pt
| iso2          = por
| iso3          = por
| lingua        = 51-AAA-a
| map              = Detailed SVG map of the Lusophone world.svg
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#002375|Countries and regions where Portuguese is the native language of the majority}}
{{legend|#1886fe|Countries and territories where Portuguese is an official or administrative language but not a majority native language}}
{{legend|#79bdff|Countries and territories where Portuguese is a cultural or secondary language}}
| notice        = IPA
| sign          = Manually coded Portuguese
| glotto        = port1283
| glottorefname = Portuguese
| map2          = Lang Status 99-NE.svg
| mapcaption2   = {{center|{{small|Portuguese is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}
}}

'''Portuguese''' ({{lang-pt|label=endonym|português}} or, in full, {{lang|pt|língua portuguesa}}) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] of [[Earth:Europe|Europe]]. It is the official language of Portugal, {{wipe|Brazil}}, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe,<ref name="CPLP">{{cite web |url=https://www.cplp.org/id-2597.aspx |title=Estados-membros |date=7 February 2017 |website=Community of Portuguese Language Countries |language=pt |trans-title=Member States}}</ref> while having co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and [[Place:Macau|Macau]]. Portuguese-speaking people or nations are "[[Place:Lusophone|Lusophone]]s" ({{lang|pt|lusófonos}}). As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese speakers is also found around the world. Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval [[History:Kingdom of Galicia|Kingdom of Galicia]] and the County of Portugal, and has kept some [[Social:Gallaecian language|Celtic]] phonology.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sites.duke.edu/judeolusitanica/2013/07/21/the-origin-and-formation-of-the-portuguese-language/ |title=The Origin and Formation of The Portuguese Language |website=Judeo-Lusitanica |publisher=Duke University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510110052/https://sites.duke.edu/judeolusitanica/2013/07/21/the-origin-and-formation-of-the-portuguese-language/ |archive-date=10 May 2017 |access-date=15 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filologia.org.br/vcnlf/anais%20v/civ8_03.htm |title=Breves considerações sobre o legado das línguas célticas |first=João |last=Bittencourt de Oliveira |website=filologia.org.br }}</ref>

With approximately 230 million native speakers and 25–30 million second language speakers, Portuguese has approximately 250 million total speakers. It is usually listed as the fifth-most spoken native language, the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/world/|title=CIA World Factbook|access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> and the second-most spoken Romance language in the world, surpassed only by [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]]. Being the second most widely spoken language in [[Earth:South America|South America]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Different Languages of South America|url=https://latinobridge.com/blog/the-different-languages-of-south-america-2/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Latino Bridge|language=en|date= 7 November 2022}}</ref> and the most-spoken language in the [[Earth:Southern Hemisphere|Southern Hemisphere]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Potencial Económico da Língua Portuguesa|url=http://www.uc.pt/international-applicants/oportunidades/linguas/economic_potential_portuguese.pdf|website=University of Coimbra}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World Portuguese Language Day|url=https://www.unesco.org/en/days/portuguese-language|website=[[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=20 Most Spoken Languages in the World in 2023|url=https://www.berlitz.com/blog/most-spoken-languages-world|website=Berlitz Corporation}}</ref> it is also the second-most spoken language, after [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]], in Latin America, one of the 10 most spoken languages in [[Earth:Africa|Africa]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://africa-facts.org/top-10-most-spoken-languages-in-africa/ |title=Top 11 Most Spoken Languages in Africa |date=2017-10-18 }}</ref> and an official language of the [[Social:European Union|European Union]], Mercosul<!-- This is the Portuguese spelling of Mercosur, Portuguese being an official language of that organization. -->, the [[Organization:Organization of American States#Official languages|Organization of American States]], the [[Organization:Economic Community of West African States|Economic Community of West African States]], the African Union, and the [[Organization:Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Community of Portuguese Language Countries]], an international organization made up of all of the world's officially [[Place:Lusophone|Lusophone]] nations. In 1997, a comprehensive academic study ranked Portuguese as one of the 10 most influential languages in the world.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130507110651/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm "The World's 10 most influential languages"], George Weber, 1997, ''Language Today''

"...includes besides many other languages, Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi/Urdu, Italian, Marathi, Panjabi, Persian, <u>Brazilian (Portuguese)</u>, Russian, the Scandinavian languages, and Spanish."

"'''''Portuguese''''' today means above all Brazilian."</ref><ref>Bernard Comrie, Encarta Encyclopedia (1998); George Weber, [http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm "Top Languages: The World's 10 Most Influential Languages"], ''Language Today'' (Vol. 2, December 1997). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110927062910/http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm Archived] from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-28.</ref>

== History ==

When the [[Place:Rome|Romans]] arrived in the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] in 216&nbsp;BC, they brought with them the [[Social:Latin language|Latin language]], from which all Romance languages are descended. The language was spread by Roman soldiers, settlers, and merchants, who built Roman cities mostly near the settlements of previous Celtic civilizations established long before the Roman arrivals. For that reason, the language has kept a relevant substratum of much older, Atlantic European Megalithic Culture<ref>Benozzo, F. (2018): "Uma paisagem atlântica pré-histórica. Etnogénese e etno-filologia paleo-mesolítica das tradições galega e portuguesa", in proceedings of Jornadas das Letras Galego-Portugesas 2015–2017. Università de Bologna, DTS and Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. pp. 159–170</ref> and Celtic culture,<ref name="Gramatica 2007">{{Cite web |last=Bagno |first=Marcos |title=Gramática Histórica do latim ao português brasileiro |date=2007 |url=https://www.academia.edu/29728732 |trans-title=Historical Grammar from Latin to Brazilian Portuguese |publisher=University of Brasília |via=www.academia.edu}}</ref> part of the Hispano-Celtic group of ancient languages.<ref name="Colera 2007 p.750 quote">"In the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and more specifically between the west and north Atlantic coasts and an imaginary line running north-south and linking Oviedo and Merida, there is a corpus of Latin inscriptions with particular characteristics of its own. This corpus contains some linguistic features that are clearly Celtic and others that in our opinion are not Celtic. The former we shall group, for the moment, under the label northwestern Hispano-Celtic. The latter are the same features found in well-documented contemporary inscriptions in the region occupied by the Lusitanians, and therefore belonging to the variety known as LUSITANIAN, or more broadly as GALLO-LUSITANIAN. As we have already said, we do not consider this variety to belong to the Celtic language family." Jordán Colera 2007: p.750</ref> In Latin, the Portuguese language is known as ''lusitana'' or ''(latina) lusitanica'', after the Lusitanians, a pre-Celtic tribe that lived in the territory of present-day Portugal and Spain that adopted the Latin language as Roman settlers moved in. This is also the origin of the ''luso-'' prefix, seen in terms like "[[Place:Lusophone|Lusophone]]".

Between AD 409 and AD 711, as the Roman Empire collapsed in [[Place:Western Europe|Western Europe]], the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Germanic peoples of the [[History:Migration Period|Migration Period]]. The occupiers, mainly Suebi,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Comparative Grammar of Latin 34 |url=http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/CGL_34_Language_Contact_5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927041334/http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/CGL_34_Language_Contact_5.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Ethnologic Map of Pre-Roman Iberia (c. 200 BC)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405013713/http://www.arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |date=5 April 2016 }}. Arkeotavira.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.</ref> Visigoths and Buri<ref>Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese)</ref> who originally spoke Germanic languages, quickly adopted late Roman culture and the Vulgar Latin dialects of the peninsula and over the next 300 years totally integrated into the local populations. Some Germanic words from that period are part of the Portuguese lexicon, together with place names, surnames, and first names. With the [[History:Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Umayyad conquest]] beginning in 711, [[Social:Arabic language|Arabic]] became the administrative and common language in the conquered regions, but most of the remaining Christian population continued to speak a form of Romance called [[Social:Mozarabic language|Mozarabic]] which introduced a few hundred words from Arabic as well as Persian, Turkish, and Berber.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corriente |first=F. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/234431540 |title=Dictionary of Arabic and allied loanwords : Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician and kindred dialects |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16858-9 |location=Leiden |oclc=234431540}}</ref> Like other Neo-Latin and European languages, Portuguese has adopted a significant number of [[Social:Loanword|loanword]]s from [[Social:Greek language|Greek]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eduportal.gr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/www.eduportal.gr_media_files_lexeis_2.pdf |title=Palavras que cheiram mar 2: Etimologia de mais de 1000 Palavras Gregas Usadas em Português (Λέξεις που μυρίζουν θάλασσα) |first=Dimitrios |last=Koutantos }}</ref> mainly in technical and scientific terminology. These borrowings occurred via Latin, and later during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Portuguese evolved from the medieval language, known today by linguists as Galician-Portuguese, Old Portuguese or Old Galician, of the northwestern medieval [[History:Kingdom of Galicia|Kingdom of Galicia]] of which the County of Portugal was part.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/30975383 |title=Vocabulário Ortográfico da Galiza elaborado pela Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa (AGLP) |publisher=Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa (AGLP) |location=Santiago de Compostela, Portugal |date=2015 |language=Portuguese |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref> [[File:Idioma galaicoportugués.png|thumb|Spoken area of Galician-Portuguese (also known as Old Portuguese or Medieval Galician) in the kingdoms of Galicia and León around the 10th century, before the separation of Galician and Portuguese.]]It is in Latin administrative documents of the 9th century that written Galician-Portuguese words and phrases are first recorded. This phase is known as Proto-Portuguese, which lasted from the 9th century until the 12th-century independence of the County of Portugal from the [[Place:Kingdom of León|Kingdom of León]], which had by then assumed reign over Galicia.

In the first part of the [[Social:Galician-Portuguese|Galician-Portuguese]] period (from the 12th to the 14th century), the language was increasingly used for documents and other written forms. For some time, it was the language of preference for lyric poetry in Christian Hispania, much as Occitan was the language of the poetry of the troubadours in France. The Occitan digraphs ''lh'' and ''nh'', used in its classical orthography, were adopted by the orthography of Portuguese, presumably by Gerald of Braga,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lay |first=Stephen |date=2015 |title=Sanctity and Social Alienation in Twelfth-Century Braga as Portrayed in the Vita Sancti Geraldi |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=153–168 |doi=10.5699/portstudies.31.2.0153 |journal=Portuguese Studies|s2cid=164609309 }}</ref> a monk from Moissac, who became bishop of Braga in Portugal in 1047, playing a major role in modernizing written Portuguese using classical Occitan norms.<ref>Jean-Pierre Juge (2001) ''Petit précis – Chronologie occitane – Histoire & civilisation'', p. 25</ref> Portugal became an independent kingdom in 1139, under King Afonso I of Portugal. In 1290, King Denis of Portugal created the first Portuguese university in Lisbon (the ''Estudos Gerais'', which later moved to [[Organization:University of Coimbra|Coimbra]]) and decreed for Portuguese, then simply called the "common language", to be known as the Portuguese language and used officially.

In the second period of Old Portuguese, in the 15th and 16th centuries, with the [[Age of Discovery|Portuguese discoveries]], the language was taken to many regions of Africa, Asia, and the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]]. By the mid-16th century, Portuguese 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 Portuguese expanded across South America, across Africa to the Pacific Ocean, taking their language with them.

Its spread was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people and by its association with [[Organization:Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[Religion:Missionary|missionary]] efforts, which led to the formation of [[Social:Creole language|creole language]]s such as that called [[Social:Kristang language|Kristang]] in many parts of Asia (from the word ''cristão'', "Christian"). The language continued to be popular in parts of Asia until the 19th century. Some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in {{wipe|India}}, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal.

The end of the Old Portuguese period was marked by the publication of the ''Cancioneiro Geral'' by Garcia de Resende, in 1516. The early times of Modern Portuguese, which spans the period from the 16th century to the present day, were characterized by an increase in the number of learned words borrowed from Classical Latin and [[Social:Ancient Greek|Classical Greek]] because of the [[Philosophy:Renaissance|Renaissance]] (learned words borrowed from Latin also came from [[Social:Renaissance Latin|Renaissance Latin]], the form of Latin during that time), which greatly enriched the lexicon. Most literate Portuguese speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing, and eventually speech, in Portuguese.<ref>{{Cite web |last=de Assis |first=Maria Cristina |title=História da língua portuguesa |url=http://biblioteca.virtual.ufpb.br/files/histaria_da_langua_portuguesa_1360184313.pdf |access-date=21 February 2019 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308025308/http://biblioteca.virtual.ufpb.br/files/histaria_da_langua_portuguesa_1360184313.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes once called Portuguese "the sweet and gracious language", while the Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac described it as {{lang|pt|a última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela}} ("the last flower of [[Place:Latium|Latium]], naïve and beautiful").<ref>{{cite book|date=2002|edition=2.ª|first=Pedro Paulo Abreu|isbn=9788572441605|language=pt|last=Funari|location=São Paulo|page=80|publisher=Contexto|quote=Dos romanos herdamos, também, nossa própria língua, pois o português nada mais é do que um latim modificado. A maioria das palavras do português deriva do latim, sendo, em alguns casos, exatamente as mesmas. Vamos a um exemplo, como é o caso de família, "família". Noutros casos, são palavras quase iguais, como filius, "filho" ou adolescentes, "adolescentes". O português deriva do latim, porque os romanos dominaram a Península Ibérica e, por muitos séculos, o latim foi ali falado. Por isso, o português é conhecido como "a última flor do Lácio", ou seja, a última língua derivada do latim, a língua do Lácio, região onde estava Roma.|title=Grécia e Roma}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=13 October 2022|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409183949/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/opiniao/fz1608200410.htm|date=16 August 2004|first=Arnaldo|language=pt|last=Niskier|quote=Por que gastar o seu latim nestes tempos descartáveis que vivemos? Uma resposta óbvia — pelo menos para aqueles que lidam diretamente com a língua portuguesa e lutam pela sua preservação — é que ela é conhecida como "a última flor do Lácio", ou seja, foi a última ramificação do latim.|title=Identidade cultural: língua e soberania|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/opiniao/fz1608200410.htm|url-status=live|website=Folha de S.Paulo}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite journal|access-date=13 October 2022|archive-date=13 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013232237/https://www.revistaphilologus.org.br/index.php/rph/article/view/327|date=2020|first1=Haline Janaína Franco|first2=Luiz Roberto Peel Furtado de|journal=Revista Philologus|language=pt|last1=Almeida|last2=Oliveira|number=78|pages=1132–1142|publisher=Círculo Fluminense de Estudos Filológicos e Linguísticos|quote=Conhecida como "A última flor do Lácio", a língua portuguesa vem sofrendo transformações no decorrer dos séculos, a partir do latim vulgar, sendo caracterizada como dinâmica e heterogênea.|title=Cartografando os neologismos na quarentena: ampliando o vocabulário da língua portuguesa|url=https://www.revistaphilologus.org.br/index.php/rph/article/view/327|url-status=live|volume=26}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=13 October 2022|archive-date=13 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013234012/https://www.gazetanews.com/comentando-sobre-origens-e-descendencias/index.html|date=17 November 2016|language=pt|quote=Com a Língua Portuguesa não foi diferente. Você sabia que o português é conhecido como a última flor do Lácio?|title=Comentando sobre origens e descendências|url=https://www.gazetanews.com/comentando-sobre-origens-e-descendencias/index.html|url-status=live|website=Gazeta Brazilian News}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=24 August 2006|archive-date=7 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007095253/http://www.ruadapoesia.com/content/view/125/47/|language=pt|quote=Última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela,/ És, a um tempo, esplendor e sepultura:/ Ouro nativo, que na ganga impura/ A bruta mina entre os cascalhos vela…|title=Língua Portuguesa|url=http://www.ruadapoesia.com/content/view/125/47/|website=Rua da Poesia}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Portuguese is also termed "the language of Camões", after Luís Vaz de Camões, one of the greatest literary figures in the Portuguese language and author of the Portuguese epic poem ''The Lusiads''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watts |first=Henry Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofmigueldece00watt |title=Miguel de Cervantes: His Life & Works |publisher=Walter Scott |year=1891 |location=London |author-link=Henry Edward Watts}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Literature|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofli01ship|url-access=registration|first=Joseph T.|last=Shipley|publisher=Philosophical Library|year=1946|page=1188}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A historical companion to postcolonial literatures: continental Europe and its empires|first1=Prem |last1=Poddar |first2=Rajeev S. |last2=Patke |first3=Lars |last3=Jensen |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ghah5S3usnsC&q=%22language+of+Cam%C3%B5es%22&pg=PA431|chapter=Introduction: The Myths and Realities of Portuguese (Post) Colonial Society|page=431|isbn=978-0-7486-2394-5}}</ref>

In March 2006, the Museum of the Portuguese Language, an interactive museum about the Portuguese language, was founded in São Paulo, Brazil, the city with the greatest number of Portuguese language speakers in the world.<ref name="NOVA">{{cite web |url=http://www.noticiaslusofonas.com/view.php?load=arcview&article=13562&catogory=CPLP |title=Museu da Língua Portuguesa aberto ao público no dia 20 |date=8 March 2006 |website=Noticiaslusofonas.com |language=pt |trans-title=Portuguese Language Museum open to the public on 20 |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> The museum is the first of its kind in the world.<ref name="NOVA" /> In 2015 the museum was partially destroyed in a fire,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brazil-fire-engulfs-portuguese-language-museum-sao-paulo-one-killed-1534447|title=Brazil: Fire engulfs Portuguese language museum in Sao Paulo, one killed|newspaper=International Business Times|date=22 December 2015}}</ref> but restored and reopened in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2021-07/museu-da-lingua-portuguesa-sera-reaberto-ao-publico-no-domingo|title=Museu da Língua Portuguesa será reaberto ao público no domingo|date=29 July 2021|website=Agência Brasil}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==
[[File:Multilingual Emergency Assembly Area Sign in Oizumi.JPG|thumb|Sign in Japanese, Portuguese, and English in Oizumi, {{wipe|Japan}}, which has a large lusophone community due to return immigration of Japanese Brazilians.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nlxybOVae8C&q=oizumi+brazilians&pg=PT150 |title=Migrants and Identity in Japan and Brazil: The Nikkeijin |isbn=978-1-135-78765-3 |last1=Carvalho |first1=Daniela de |date=1 February 2013|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>]]

Portuguese is spoken by approximately 200 million people in South America, 30 million in Africa, 15 million in Europe, 5 million in North America and 0.33 million in Asia and Oceania.
Portuguese is the native language of the vast majority of the people in Portugal,<ref name="Special Eurobarometer 243">{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf |title=Special Eurobarometer 243 "Europeans and their Languages"|year=2006|page=6|publisher=European Commission|access-date=11 May 2011}}</ref> Brazil<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/brazil/39.htm |title=Portuguese language in Brazil |publisher=Country Studies US |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> and São Tomé and Príncipe (95%).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hagemeijer |first=Tjerk |title=As Línguas de S. Tomé e Príncipe |url=https://www.um.edu.mo/fah/ciela/old_ciela/rcblpe/doc/As%20Linguas%20de%20S%20Tome%20e%20Principe.pdf |journal=Revista de Crioulos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Espanhola |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |year=2009}}</ref> Perhaps 75% of the population of urban Angola speaks Portuguese natively,<ref>{{ELL2|Angola: Language Situation}}</ref><!--reports that 85% or more speak it natively are based on rates in the cities, and a little exaggerated for the country as a whole. See ELL for a ref.--> with approximately 85% fluent; these rates are lower in the countryside.<ref>Medeiros, Adelardo. ''Portuguese in Africa'' – Angola</ref> Just over 50% (and rapidly increasing) of the population of Mozambique are native speakers of Portuguese, and 70% are fluent, according to the 2007 census.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linguaportuguesa.ufrn.br/pt_3.4.d.php|title=Portuguese in Africa – Mozambique|last=A. D. Medeiros|first=Adelardo|access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> Portuguese is also spoken natively by 30% of the population in Guinea-Bissau, and a Portuguese-based creole is understood by all.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linguaportuguesa.ufrn.br/pt_3.4.c.php|title=Portuguese in Africa – Guinea-Bissau|last=A. D. Medeiros|first=Adelardo|access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> Almost 50% of the East Timorese are fluent in Portuguese. No data is available for Cape Verde, but almost all the population is bilingual, and the monolingual population speaks the Portuguese-based Cape Verdean Creole. Portuguese is mentioned in the Constitution of South Africa as one of the languages spoken by communities within the country for which the Pan South African Language Board was charged with promoting and ensuring respect.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions#6|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, Chapter 1: Founding Provisions |website=www.gov.za|access-date=2019-06-20}}</ref>

There are also significant Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities in many countries including [[Religion:Andorra|Andorra]] (17.1%),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://static1.ara.cat/ara/public/content/file/original/2019/1216/13/principals-dades-de-l-estudi-sobre-coneixements-i-usos-lingueistics-d0807a0.pdf |title=Coneixements i usos lingüístics de la població d'Andorra: Situació actual i evolució 1995–2018 |date=2019 |language=Portuguese |publisher=Government of Andorra |access-date=20 July 2022}}</ref> Bermuda,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldinfozone.com/country.php?country=Bermuda |title=Bermuda |publisher=World InfoZone |access-date=21 April 2010}}</ref> {{wipe|Canada}} (400,275 people in the 2006 census),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo11a-eng.htm |title=Population by mother tongue, by province and territory (2006 Census) |publisher=Statistics Canada |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313161228/https://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo11a-eng.htm |archive-date=13 March 2012 }}</ref> {{wipe|France}} (1,625,000 people),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://languageknowledge.eu/languages/portuguese |title=Portuguese in Europe · Portuguese-speaking countries & Portuguese language knowledge in Europe |publisher=Languageknowledge.eu |access-date=2022-03-19}}</ref> {{wipe|Japan}} (400,000 people),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.correiodoestado.com.br/noticias/japao-imigrantes-brasileiros-popularizam-lingua-portuguesa_43355/ |title=Japão: imigrantes brasileiros popularizam língua portuguesa |language=pt |year=2008 |access-date=13 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706152346/http://www.correiodoestado.com.br/noticias/japao-imigrantes-brasileiros-popularizam-lingua-portuguesa_43355/ |archive-date=6 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Jersey,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/jersey/ |title=4.6% according to the 2001 census, see |publisher=Cia.gov |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> Luxembourg (about 25% of the population as of 2021), Namibia (about 4–5% of the population, mainly refugees from Angola in the north of the country),<ref name="www.namibian.com.na">{{cite web|url=http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=85817&no_cache=1|title=The Namibian|author=Carin Pretorius – Developed CEIT Development CC}}</ref> Paraguay (10.7% or 636,000 people),<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PY Paraguay] in {{e25}}</ref> {{wipe|Switzerland}} (550,000 in 2019, learning + mother tongue),<ref>{{cite report |year=2019 |title=Lingue della Svizzera |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/it/home/statistiche/popolazione/rilevazioni/esrk.assetdetail.15324911.html |work=Pratiche linguistiche in Svizzera: Primi risultati dell'Indagine sulla lingua, la religione e la cultura 2019 |language=it}}</ref> Venezuela (554,000),<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PY Venezuela] in {{e25}}</ref> and the United States (0.35% of the population or 1,228,126 speakers according to the 2007 American Community Survey).<ref>{{cite book |last=Carvalho |first=Ana Maria |contribution=Portuguese in the USA |year=2010 |editor-last=Potowski |editor-first=Kim |title=Language Diversity in the USA |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-74533-8 |page =346 }}</ref>

In some parts of former [[History:Portuguese India|Portuguese India]], namely Goa<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.colaco.net/1/port.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010529163919/http://www.colaco.net/1/port.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 May 2001 |title=Portuguese Language in Goa |publisher=Colaco.net |access-date=21 April 2010 }}</ref> and Daman and Diu,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rjmacau.com/english/rjm1996n3/ac-mary/portuguese.html |title=The Portuguese Experience: The Case of Goa, Daman and Diu |publisher=Rjmacau.com |access-date=21 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721135904/http://www.rjmacau.com/english/rjm1996n3/ac-mary/portuguese.html |archive-date=21 July 2006 }}</ref> the language is still spoken by about 10,000 people. In 2014, an estimated 1,500 students were learning Portuguese in Goa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revistamacau.com/2014/06/02/1-500-pessoas-estudam-portugues-em-goa/ |title=1.500 pessoas estudam português em Goa|publisher=Revistamacau.com|date=2 June 2014|access-date=10 July 2015}}</ref> Approximately 2% of the people of Macau, China are fluent speakers of Portuguese. Additionally, the language is being very actively studied in the Chinese school system right up to the doctorate level. The Kristang people in Malaysia speak [[Social:Kristang language|Kristang]], a Portuguese-Malay creole; however, the Portuguese language itself is not widely spoken in the country.

=== Official status ===
[[File:Detailed SVG map of the Lusophone world.svg|thumb|right|upright=2|Countries and regions where Portuguese has official status.]]

The [[Organization:Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Community of Portuguese Language Countries]]<ref name=CPLP />
(in Portuguese ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa'', with the Portuguese acronym CPLP) consists of the nine independent countries that have Portuguese as an official language: Angola, {{wipe|Brazil}}, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe.<ref name="CPLP" />

Equatorial Guinea made a formal application for full membership to the CPLP in June 2010, a status given only to states with Portuguese as an official language.<ref>{{cite web|author=Factoria Audiovisual S.R.L. |url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=703 |title=El portugués será el tercer idioma oficial de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial – Página Oficial del Gobierno de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial |publisher=Guineaecuatorialpress.com |date=20 July 2010 |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> In 2011, Portuguese became its third official language (besides [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Social:French language|French]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/equatorial-guinea-adds-portuguese-as-the-countrys-third-official-language-131882808.html|title=Equatorial Guinea Adds Portuguese as the Country's Third Official Language|website=PR Newswire|access-date=7 February 2017}}</ref> and, in July 2014, the country was accepted as a member of the CPLP.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/noticia.php?id=5434 |title=Equatorial Guinea, member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries|author=Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea}}</ref>

Portuguese is also one of the official languages of the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China of Macau (alongside [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]]) and of several international organizations, including Mercosul,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://actrav.itcilo.org/actrav-english/telearn/global/ilo/blokit/mercopro.htm#Chapter%20VIII |title=Official languages of Mercosul as agreed in the ''Protocol of Ouro Preto'' |publisher=Actrav.itcilo.org |access-date=23 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722053855/http://actrav.itcilo.org/actrav-english/telearn/global/ilo/blokit/mercopro.htm#Chapter%20VIII |archive-date=22 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Organization:Organization of Ibero-American States|Organization of Ibero-American States]],<ref>Statutes, Article 1{{cite web |url=http://www.oei.es/estatutos.htm |title=Official statute of the organization |publisher=Oei.es |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> the [[Organization:Union of South American Nations|Union of South American Nations]],<ref>Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations, Article 23 {{Cite web |title=Tratado Constitutivo de la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas |url=https://www.unasursg.org/images/descargas/DOCUMENTOS%20CONSTITUTIVOS%20DE%20UNASUR/Tratado-UNASUR-solo.pdf |access-date=4 October 2018 |archive-date=15 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715170723/http://www.unasursg.org/images/descargas/DOCUMENTOS%20CONSTITUTIVOS%20DE%20UNASUR/Tratado-UNASUR-solo.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Organization:Organization of American States|Organization of American States]],<ref>General Assembly of the OAS, [http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/agres_1737_xxxo00.htm Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515221257/http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/agres_1737_xxxo00.htm |date=15 May 2011 }}, 5 June 2000</ref> the African Union,<ref name="africa-union.org">Article 11, Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union {{cite web |url=http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/Documents/Treaties/Text/Protocol%20on%20Amendments%20to%20the%20Constitutive%20Act.pdf |title=Protocol on the Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208183015/http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/Documents/Treaties/Text/Protocol%20on%20Amendments%20to%20the%20Constitutive%20Act.pdf |archive-date=8 December 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> the [[Organization:Economic Community of West African States|Economic Community of West African States]],<ref name="africa-union.org" /> the Southern African Development Community<ref name="africa-union.org" /> and the [[Social:European Union|European Union]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Languages in Europe&nbsp;– Official EU Languages |publisher=EUROPA web portal |url=http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm |access-date=12 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202112407/http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm |archive-date=2 February 2009 }}</ref>

=== Lusophone countries ===
According to ''The World Factbook''{{'}}s country population estimates for 2018, the population of each of the ten jurisdictions is as follows (by descending order):
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
! Country
! Population of country<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_main|title=Statistics Portugal - Web Portal|website=www.ine.pt}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibge.gov.br/apps/populacao/projecao/index.html|title=IBGE &#124; Projeção da população|website=www.ibge.gov.br}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/|title=Population by Country (2022) - Worldometer|website=www.worldometers.info}}</ref>
! More information
! Native language<br />of the majority
! Spoken by
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Brazil}} {{wipe|Brazil}} ||style="text-align:right;"| 203,062,512 || Portuguese in Brazil||{{ya}}||95% as a native language<ref name="Ethn.ST">{{e26|por}}, 2022</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Angola}} Angola ||  style="text-align:right;"| 35,981,281 || Portuguese in Angola||{{na}}||40% as a native language, 60% total<ref name="Ethn.AO">{{e26|por}}, 2021</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Mozambique}} Mozambique || style="text-align:right;"| 32,513,805 || Portuguese in Mozambique||{{na}}||17% as a native language, 44% total<ref name="Ethn.ST">{{e26|por}}, 2022</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Portugal}} Portugal || style="text-align:right;"| 10,467,366 || Portuguese in Portugal||{{ya}}||95% as a native language<ref name="Ethn.PT">{{e26|por}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Guinea-Bissau}} Guinea-Bissau ||style="text-align:right;"| 2,078,820 || Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau||{{na}}||0.3% as a native language, 20% total<ref name="Ethn.TL">{{e26|por}}, 2015</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flagdeco|Equatorial Guinea}} Equatorial Guinea<sup>2</sup>|| style="text-align:right;" | 1,679,172 || Portuguese in Equatorial Guinea||{{na}}||Small minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flagdeco|East Timor}} East Timor|| style="text-align:right;" | 1,340,513 || Portuguese in East Timor||{{na}}||0.1% as a first language; 5% total<ref name="Ethn.TL">{{e26|por}}, 2015</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Macau}} [[Place:Macau|Macau]]<sup>1</sup>||style="text-align:right;"| 682,300 || Portuguese in Macau||{{na}}||0.5% as a native language, 3% total<ref name="Ethn.MO">{{e26|por}}, 2017 (L1), 2021 census (L2)</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flagdeco|Cape Verde}} Cape Verde || style="text-align:right;"| 561,901 || Portuguese in Cape Verde||{{na}}|| 2% as a native language, 48% total<ref name="Ethn.CV">{{e26|por}}, 2010 census</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|{{flagdeco|São Tomé and Príncipe}} São Tomé and Príncipe|| style="text-align:right;"| 220,372 || Portuguese in São Tomé and Príncipe||{{ya}}||65% as a native language, 99% total<ref name="Ethn.ST">{{e26|por}}, 2022</ref>
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:left;"| '''Total''' || style="text-align:right;"| 288,588,042 ||colspan=3|[[Organization:Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Community of Portuguese Language Countries]]
|}
{{smalldiv|1=
Notes:
#[[Place:Macau|Macau]] is one of the two autonomous Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China (the other being [[Social:English language|Anglophone]] [[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], a former British colony).
# Equatorial Guinea adopted Portuguese as one of its official languages in 2007, being admitted to CPLP in 2014. The use of the Portuguese language in this country is limited.
}}

The combined population of the entire [[Place:Lusophone|Lusophone]] area was estimated at 300 million in January 2022.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpgid=ine_main&xpid=INE|title=Statistics Portugal - Web Portal|website=www.ine.pt}}</ref> This number does not include the Lusophone diaspora, estimated at 10 million people (including 4.5 million Portuguese, 3 million Brazilians, although it is hard to obtain official accurate numbers of diasporic Portuguese speakers because a significant portion of these citizens are naturalized citizens born outside of Lusophone territory or are children of immigrants, and may have only a basic command of the language. Additionally, a large part of the diaspora is a part of the already-counted population of the Portuguese-speaking countries and territories, such as the high number of Brazilian and PALOP emigrant citizens in Portugal or the high number of Portuguese emigrant citizens in the PALOP and Brazil.

The Portuguese language therefore serves more than 250 million people daily, who have direct or indirect legal, juridical and social contact with it, varying from the only language used in any contact, to only education, contact with local or international administration, commerce and services or the simple sight of road signs, public information and advertising in Portuguese.

=== Portuguese as a foreign language ===
Portuguese is a mandatory subject in the school curriculum in Uruguay.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/lusa/2007/11/05/ult611u75523.jhtm |title=Governo uruguaio torna obrigatório ensino do português |date=5 November 2007 |website=UOL Notícias |language=pt |trans-title=Uruguayan government makes Portuguese mandatory |access-date=13 July 2010}}</ref> Other countries where Portuguese is commonly taught in schools or where it has been introduced as an option include Venezuela,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.letras.etc.br/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:lingua-portuguesa-sera-opcao-no-ensino-oficial-venezuelano&catid=6:noticia&Itemid=13/ |title=Portuguese language will be option in the official Venezuelan teachings |language=pt |date=24 May 2009 |access-date=13 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522092756/https://www.letras.etc.br/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93%3Alingua-portuguesa-sera-opcao-no-ensino-oficial-venezuelano&catid=6%3Anoticia&Itemid=13%2F |archive-date=22 May 2011 }}</ref> Zambia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movv.org/2009/05/26/a-zambia-vai-adotar-a-lingua-portuguesa-no-seu-ensino-basico/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528221719/http://movv.org/2009/05/26/a-zambia-vai-adotar-a-lingua-portuguesa-no-seu-ensino-basico/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 May 2009 |title=Zambia will adopt the Portuguese language in their Basic school |language=pt |date=26 May 2009 |access-date=13 July 2010 }}</ref> the Republic of the Congo,<ref name="estadao">{{cite web|url=http://cultura.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,congo-passara-a-ensinar-portugues-nas-escolas,561666 |title=Congo will start to teach Portuguese in schools |language=pt |date=4 June 2010 |access-date=13 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807021226/http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/arteelazer%2Ccongo-passara-a-ensinar-portugues-nas-escolas%2C561666%2C0.htm |archive-date=7 August 2010 }}</ref> Senegal,<ref name="estadao" /> Namibia,<ref name="www.namibian.com.na" /> Eswatini,<ref name="estadao" /> {{wipe|South Africa}},<ref name="estadao" /> Ivory Coast,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc21/comunicacao/noticia?i=20160623-mne-costa-marfim |title=Português entra no currículo escolar da Costa do Marfim no próximo ano letivo |date=23 June 2016 |website=www.portugal.gov.pt |language=pt |trans-title=Portuguese enters the Ivory Coast school curriculum next school year}}</ref> and [[Earth:Mauritius|Mauritius]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cplp.org/id-4440.aspx|title=República da Maurícia|website=www.cplp.org}}</ref> In 2017, a project was launched to introduce Portuguese as a school subject in Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/portugues-vai-ser-introduzido-no-ensino-secundario-no-zimbabue |title=Português vai ser introduzido no ensino secundário no Zimbabué |date=18 January 2017 |website=SAPO 24 |language=pt |trans-title=Portuguese to be introduced to secondary education in Zimbabwe}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.angop.ao/angola/pt_pt/noticias/africa/2017/0/3/Zimbabwe-Portugues-vai-ser-introduzido-ensino-secundario-pais,7e5aad04-47b2-4b4f-aee8-c8351c5ae23f.html |title=Zimbabwe: Português vai ser introduzido no ensino secundário do país |date=19 January 2017 |agency=Angola Press – ANGOP |language=pt |trans-title=Zimbabwe: Portuguese to be introduced into the country's secondary education |access-date=22 January 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806105712/http://www.angop.ao/angola/pt_pt/noticias/africa/2017/0/3/Zimbabwe-Portugues-vai-ser-introduzido-ensino-secundario-pais,7e5aad04-47b2-4b4f-aee8-c8351c5ae23f.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also, according to Portugal's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the language will be part of the school curriculum of a total of 32 countries by 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/portugues-sera-lingua-curricular-em-32-paises-no-proximo-ano-letivo |title=Português será língua curricular em 32 países no próximo ano letivo |date=22 July 2019 |website=SAPO 24 |language=pt |trans-title=Portuguese will be curricular language in 32 countries next school year}}</ref> In the countries listed below, Portuguese is spoken either as a native language by vast majorities due to the Portuguese colonial past or as a ''lingua franca'' in bordering and multilingual regions, such as on the border between Brazil and Uruguay & Paraguay, as well as Angola and Namibia. In many other countries, Portuguese is spoken by majorities as a second language. And there are still communities of thousands of Portuguese (or [[Social:Creole language|Creole]]) first language speakers in Goa, Sri Lanka, [[Place:Kuala Lumpur|Kuala Lumpur]], Daman and Diu, etc. due to [[Place:Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colonization]]. In East Timor, the number of Portuguese speakers is quickly increasing as Portuguese and Brazilian teachers are making great strides in teaching Portuguese in the schools all over the island.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/479/1/17753_Disserta00E700E3odeMestradoLCP.pdf|title=Portuguese language in Timor Leste}}</ref> Additionally, there are many large Portuguese immigrant communities all over the world.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
! Country
! Population<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html|title=The World Factbook – Field Listing – Population – CIA|access-date=2015-03-07|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004113653/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><br />(July 2017 est.)
! More information
! Mandatory taught
! Spoken by
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Uruguay}} ||style="text-align: right"| 3,444,006 || Portuguese in Uruguay||{{ya}}||Significant minority as a native language; significant minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Argentina}} || style="text-align: right"|43,847,430 || Portuguese in Argentina||{{ya}}||Minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Paraguay}} || style="text-align: right"| 7,052,984 || Portuguese in Paraguay||{{na}}||Significant minority as a native language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Venezuela}} ||  style="text-align: right"|31,568,179 || Portuguese in Venezuela||{{ya}}||Minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|South Africa}} || style="text-align: right"| 57,725,600 || Portuguese in South Africa||{{na}}||Small minority as a native language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Namibia}} ||  style="text-align: right"|2,606,971 || Portuguese in Namibia||{{na}}||Small minority as a native language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Congo}} ||  style="text-align: right"|5,125,821 || Portuguese in Congo||{{na}}||Small minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Zambia}} ||  style="text-align: right"|16,591,390 || Portuguese in Zambia||{{na}}||Small minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Senegal}} || style="text-align: right"| 15,411,614 || Portuguese in Senegal||{{na}}||Small minority as a second language
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| {{flag|Eswatini}} || style="text-align: right"| 1,343,098 || Portuguese in Eswatini||{{na}}||Small minority as a second language
|}

=== Future ===
[[File:MC 澳門 Macau 港珠澳大橋 HK-Zhu-Macau Bridge port building Jan 2019 IX2 63.jpg|thumb|Multilingual signage in Chinese, Portuguese and English at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge port building in Macau. Portuguese is a co-official language in Macau.]]
According to estimates by [[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]], Portuguese is the fastest-growing European language after [[Social:English language|English]] and the language has, according to the newspaper ''The Portugal News'' publishing data given from UNESCO, the highest potential for growth as an international language in [[Place:Southern Africa|southern Africa]] and [[Earth:South America|South America]].<ref name="The Portugal News">{{cite web|url=http://www.theportugalnews.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=906-9|title=Portuguese language gaining popularity|publisher=Anglopress Edicões e Publicidade Lda|date=5 May 2007|access-date=18 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318152307/http://www.theportugalnews.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=906-9|archive-date=18 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Portuguese is a globalized language spoken officially on five continents, and as a second language by millions worldwide.

Since 1991, when Brazil signed into the economic community of Mercosul with other South American nations, namely {{wipe|Argentina}}, Uruguay and Paraguay, Portuguese is either mandatory, or taught, in the schools of those South American countries.

Although early in the 21st century, after [[Place:Macau|Macau]] was returned to {{wipe|China}} and immigration of Brazilians of Japanese descent to {{wipe|Japan}} slowed down, the use of Portuguese was in decline in [[Earth:Asia|Asia]], it is once again becoming a language of opportunity there, mostly because of increased diplomatic and financial ties with economically powerful Portuguese-speaking countries in the world.<ref>{{cite web|last=Leach |first=Michael |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6469/is_92/ai_n29406744/ |title=talking Portuguese; China and East Timor |access-date=18 May 2011 |website=Arena Magazine |year=2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105033001/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6469/is_92/ai_n29406744/ |archive-date=5 November 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.macaomagazine.net/china/promising-future-portuguese-language-china |title=Promising future for Portuguese language in China |last=Bilrero |first=António |date=15 March 2018 |website=Macao Magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702230400/https://www.macaomagazine.net/china/promising-future-portuguese-language-china |archive-date=2019-07-02}}</ref>

===Current status and importance===
Portuguese, being a language spread on all continents, is official in several international organizations; one of twenty official languages of the [[Social:European Union|European Union]], an official language of NATO, the [[Organization:Organization of American States|Organization of American States]] (alongside Spanish, French and English), and one of eighteen official languages of the [[Organization:European Space Agency|European Space Agency]].

It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, French, German, and Italian), and Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, French and Arabic), in addition to being the official legal language in the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, also in [[Organization:Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Community of Portuguese Language Countries]], an international organization formed essentially by [[Place:Lusophone|lusophone countries]].

== Dialects, accents and varieties ==
[[File:Sprachen_Osttimors-en.png|thumb|Ethnically diverse East Timor has Portuguese as one of its official languages.]]

{{lang|pt|Você}}, a pronoun meaning "you", is used for educated, formal, and colloquial respectful speech in most Portuguese-speaking regions. In a few Brazilian states such as Rio Grande do Sul, Pará, among others, {{lang|pt|você}} is virtually absent from the spoken language. Riograndense and European Portuguese normally distinguishes formal from informal speech by verbal conjugation. Informal speech employs {{lang|pt|tu}} followed by second person verbs, formal language retains the formal {{lang|pt|você}}, followed by the third person conjugation.

Conjugation of verbs in {{lang|pt|tu}} has three different forms in Brazil (verb "to see": {{lang|pt|tu viste?}}, in the traditional second person, {{lang|pt|tu viu?}}, in the third person, and {{lang|pt|tu visse?}}, in the innovative second person), the conjugation used in the Brazilian states of Pará, Santa Catarina and Maranhão being generally traditional second person, the kind that is used in other Portuguese-speaking countries and learned in Brazilian schools.

The predominance of Southeastern-based media products has established {{lang|pt|você}} as the pronoun of choice for the second person singular in both writing and multimedia communications. However, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the country's main cultural center, the usage of {{lang|pt|tu}} has been expanding ever since the end of the 20th century,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.celsul.org.br/Encontros/09/artigos/Viviane%20dos%20Santos.pdf |title=A Constituição de Corpora Orais Para a Análise das Formas de Tratamento |last=Viviane Maia dos Santos |publisher=Anais do IX Encontro do CELSUL Palhoça, SC, out. 2010 Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034721/http://www.celsul.org.br/Encontros/09/artigos/Viviane%20dos%20Santos.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref> being most frequent among youngsters, and a number of studies have also shown an increase in its use in a number of other Brazilian dialects.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/signum/article/view/11776/11181 |title='Por onde tá "o tu"?' no português falado no Maranhão |last=Béliche Alves |first=Cibelle Corrêa |journal=Signum: Estudos da Linguagem |volume=15 |number=1 |pages=13–31 |year=2012 |doi=10.5433/2237-4876.2012v15n1p13 |access-date=10 August 2017|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loregian-Penkal |first=Loremi |date=2005 |title=Alternância tu/você em Santa Catarina: uma abordagem variacionista |url=http://www.gel.org.br/estudoslinguisticos/edicoesanteriores/4publica-estudos-2005/4publica-estudos-2005-pdfs/alternancia-tu-voce-411.pdf |journal=Estudos Lingüísticos |language=pt |volume=XXXIV |pages=362–367 |access-date=10 August 2017 |via=Tu/você alternation in Santa Catarina: a variationist approach}}</ref>

[[File:Uso dos pronomes de segunda pessoa no Brasil.svg|thumb|The status of second person pronouns in Brazil.
{{col-begin}}
{{legend|#A40000|Near exclusive use of {{lang|pt|você}} (greater than 96%)}}
{{legend|#5B4FDE|Decidedly predominant use of {{lang|pt|tu}} (greater than 80%), but with near exclusive third person ({{lang|pt|você}}-like) verbal conjugation.}}
{{legend|#590000|50-50 {{lang|pt|você}}/{{lang|pt|tu}} variation, with {{lang|pt|tu}} being nearly always accompanied by third person ({{lang|pt|você}}-like) verbal conjugation.}}
{{legend|#00C4DC|Decidedly predominant to near exclusive use of {{lang|pt|tu}} (76% to 95%) with reasonable frequency of second person ({{lang|pt|tu}}-like) verbal conjugation.}}
{{legend|#85C700|Balanced você/tu distribution, being {{lang|pt|tu}} exclusively accompanied by third person ({{lang|pt|você}}-like) verbal conjugation.}}
{{legend|#006700|Balanced {{lang|pt|você}}/{{lang|pt|tu}} distribution, {{lang|pt|tu}} being predominantly accompanied by third person ({{lang|pt|você}}-like) verbal conjugation.}}
{{legend|#E6E6E6|No data}}
{{col-end}}]]
[[File:2018 Rio de Janeiro - Fachada do Real Gabinete Português de Leitura - Luis de Camões.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of the Portuguese Poet Luís de Camões at the entrance of the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura in Rio de Janeiro.]]
[[File:Estação da luz-13.jpg|thumb|right|Museum of the Portuguese Language in São Paulo.]]

Modern Standard European Portuguese ({{lang|pt|português padrão}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoescola.com/linguistica/portugues-na-europa/|title=Português na Europa|website=InfoEscola}}</ref> or {{lang|pt|português continental}}) is based on the Portuguese spoken in the area including and surrounding the cities of [[Place:Coimbra|Coimbra]] and [[Place:Lisbon|Lisbon]], in central Portugal. Standard European Portuguese is also the preferred standard by the Portuguese-speaking African countries. As such, and despite the fact that its speakers are dispersed around the world, Portuguese has only two dialects used for learning: the European and the Brazilian. Some aspects and sounds found in many dialects of Brazil are exclusive to South America, and cannot be found in Europe. The same occur with the Santomean, Mozambican, Bissau-Guinean, Angolan and Cape Verdean dialects, being exclusive to Africa. See Portuguese in Africa.

Audio samples of some dialects and accents of Portuguese are available below.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa07.html|title=Audio samples of the dialects of Portuguese|access-date=12 June 2015|publisher=Instituto Camões}}</ref> There are some differences between the areas but these are the best approximations possible. IPA transcriptions refer to the names in local pronunciation.

=== Brazil ===
# ''Caipira''&nbsp;– Spoken in the states of São Paulo (most markedly on the countryside and rural areas); southern Minas Gerais, northern Paraná and southeastern Mato Grosso do Sul. Depending on the vision of what constitutes ''caipira'', Triângulo Mineiro, border areas of Goiás and the remaining parts of Mato Grosso do Sul are included, and the frontier of ''caipira'' in Minas Gerais is expanded further northerly, though not reaching metropolitan Belo Horizonte. It is often said that ''caipira'' appeared by [[Philosophy:Decreolization|decreolization]] of the língua brasílica and the related língua geral paulista, then spoken in almost all of what is now São Paulo, a former lingua franca in most of the contemporary Centro-Sul of Brazil before the 18th century, brought by the ''bandeirantes'', interior pioneers of Colonial Brazil, closely related to its northern counterpart Nheengatu, and that is why the dialect shows many general differences from other variants of the language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sosaci.org/balaio2.htm |title=Nheengatu and caipira dialect |publisher=Sosaci.org |access-date=23 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215070133/http://www.sosaci.org/balaio2.htm |archive-date=15 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It has striking remarkable differences in comparison to other Brazilian dialects in phonology, prosody and grammar, often [[Social:Social stigma|stigmatized]] as being strongly associated with a [[Social:Prestige (sociolinguistics)|substandard variant]], now mostly rural.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Ferraz |first=Irineu da Silva |title=Características fonético-acústicas do /r/ retroflexo do portugues brasileiro: dados de informantes de Pato Branco (PR) |date=2005 |degree=Master's |publisher=Universidade Federal do Paraná |url=http://dspace.c3sl.ufpr.br/dspace/bitstream/handle/1884/3955/CARACTER%C3%8DSTICAS%20FON%C3%89TICO.pdf?sequence=1 |hdl=1884/3955 |trans-title=Acoustic-phonetic characteristics of the Brazilian Portuguese's retroflex /r/: data from respondents in Pato Branco, Paraná |pages=19–21 |lang=pt}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leite |first=Cândida Mara Britto |date=2010 |title=O /r/ em posição de coda silábica na capital do interior paulista: uma abordagem sociolinguística |trans-title=Syllable coda /r/ in the "capital" of the Paulista hinterland: a sociolinguistic analysis |url=http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766 |journal=Sínteses |language=pt |volume=15 |page=111 |archive-date=22 December 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222082929/http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Callou |first1=Dinah |title=Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia |last2=Leite |first2=Yonne |publisher=Jorge Zahar Editora |year=2001 |page=24 |language=pt |trans-title=Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Castilho  |first=Ataliba T. de |title=Saber uma língua é separar o certo do errado? A língua é um organismo vivo que varia conforme o contexto e vai muito além de uma coleção de regras e normas de como falar e escrever |url=http://www.poiesis.org.br/files/mlp/texto_16.pdf |trans-title=To know a language is really about separating correct from awry? Language is a living organism that varies by context and goes far beyond a collection of rules and norms of how to speak and write |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222082936/http://www.poiesis.org.br/files/mlp/texto_16.pdf |publisher=Museu da Língua Portuguesa |language=pt |archive-date=22 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Linguistic prejudice and the surprising (academic and formal) unity of Brazilian Portuguese |url=http://www.lendo.org/preconceito-linguistico-o-portugues-do-brasil-apresenta-uma-unidade-surpreendente/ |access-date=22 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021055958/http://www.lendo.org/preconceito-linguistico-o-portugues-do-brasil-apresenta-uma-unidade-surpreendente/ |archive-date=21 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
# ''Cearense'' or ''Costa norte''&nbsp;– is a dialect spoken more sharply in the states of Ceará and Piauí. The variant of Ceará includes fairly distinctive traits it shares with the one spoken in Piauí, though, such as distinctive regional phonology and vocabulary (for example, a debuccalization process stronger than that of Portuguese, a different system of the vowel harmony that spans Brazil from ''fluminense'' and ''mineiro'' to ''amazofonia'' but is especially prevalent in ''nordestino'', a very coherent coda sibilant palatalization as those of Portugal and Rio de Janeiro but allowed in fewer environments than in other accents of ''nordestino'', a greater presence of dental stop palatalization to palato-alveolar in comparison to other accents of ''nordestino'', among others, as well as a great number of archaic Portuguese words).<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://repositorio.ufc.br/bitstream/riufc/31547/1/2000_art_jlmonteiro.pdf |title=As descrições fonológicas do português do Ceará: de Aguiar a Macambira |first=José Lemos |last=Monteiro |journal=Revista do GELNE |volume=2 |issue=1 |year=2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Maia |first=Viviane dos Santos |title='Tu vai para onde? ... Você vai para onde?': manifestações da segunda pessoa na fala carioca |date=2012 |degree=Master's |publisher=Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |url=http://www.letras.ufrj.br/posverna/mestrado/SantosVM.pdf |language=pt |trans-title='Tu vai para onde? ... Você vai para onde?: manifestations of the second person in Carioca speech |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011052321/http://www.letras.ufrj.br/posverna/mestrado/SantosVM.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aragão |first=Maria do Socorro Silva de |title=Aspectos Fonético-Fonológicos do Falar do Ceará: O Que Tem Surgido nos Inquéritos Experimentais do Atlas Lingüístico do Brasil – ALiB-Ce |url=http://www.profala.ufc.br/trabalho6.pdf |trans-title=Phonetic-Phonological Aspects of the Speech of Ceará: What Has Appeared in Experimental Surveys of the Linguistic Atlas of Brazil – ALiB-Ce |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201172230/https://profala.ufc.br/trabalho6.pdf |language=pt |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=2014-02-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Seung Hwa |date=2006 |title=Sobre as vogais pré-tônicas no Português Brasileiro |trans-title=About pre-tonic vowels in Brazilian Portuguese |url=http://www.gel.org.br/estudoslinguisticos/edicoesanteriores/4publica-estudos-2006/sistema06/shl.pdf |journal=Estudos Lingüísticos |language=pt |volume=XXXV |pages=166–175 |access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aragão |first=Maria do Socorro Silva de |date=2009 |title=Os estudos fonético-fonológicos nos estados da Paraíba e do Ceará |trans-title=Phonetic-phonological studies in the states of Paraíba and Ceará |url=http://www.abralin.org/site/data/uploads/revistas/2009-vol-8-n-1/mariasocorro.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Revista da ABRALIN |language=pt |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=163–184 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011052325/http://www.abralin.org/site/data/uploads/revistas/2009-vol-8-n-1/mariasocorro.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2017 |access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nascimento |first1=Katiene |last2=Guimarães |first2=Daniela |last3=Barboza |first3=Clerton |last4=Silva |first4=Thaïs Cristófaro |display-authors=3 |year=2012 |title=Revisitando a palatalização no português brasileiro |trans-title=Revisiting palatalization in Brazilian Portuguese |url=http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/relin/article/view/2744/2699 |journal=Revista de Estudos da Linguagem |language=pt |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=59–89}}</ref>
# ''Baiano''&nbsp;– Found in [[Place:Bahia|Bahia]] and border regions with Goiás and Tocantins. Similar to ''nordestino'', it has a very characteristic syllable-timed rhythm and the greatest tendency to pronounce unstressed vowels as open-mid {{IPAblink|ɛ}} and {{IPAblink|ɔ}}.[[File:Br.pt.png|thumb|[[Social:Variety (linguistics)|Variants]] and sociolects of Brazilian Portuguese.]]
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som90.html ''Fluminense'']&nbsp;– A broad dialect with many variants spoken in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and neighboring eastern regions of Minas Gerais. ''Fluminense'' formed in these previously ''caipira''-speaking areas due to the gradual influence of European migrants, causing many people to distance their speech from their original dialect and incorporate new terms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sibila.com.br/english/learn-about-portuguese-language-2/2721|title=Learn about Portuguese language|date=25 April 2009 |publisher=Sibila|access-date=27 November 2012}}</ref> ''Fluminense'' is sometimes referred to as ''carioca'', however ''carioca'' is a more specific term referring to the accent of the Greater Rio de Janeiro area by speakers with a ''fluminense'' dialect.
# ''Gaúcho''&nbsp;– in Rio Grande do Sul, similar to ''sulista''. There are many distinct accents in Rio Grande do Sul, mainly due to the heavy influx of European immigrants of diverse origins who have settled in colonies throughout the state, and to the proximity to Spanish-speaking nations. The ''gaúcho'' word in itself is a Spanish [[Social:Loanword|loanword]] into Portuguese of obscure [[Social:Indigenous languages of the Americas|Indigenous Amerindian]] origins.
# [[File:Mapa produzido com base no Esboço de um Atlas Linguístico de Minas Gerais (EALMG), Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (MG), 1977. Com legenda.png|thumb|Linguistic map of the state of Minas Gerais, according to the scientific study ''Esboço de um Atlas Linguístico de Minas Gerais'' (EALMG), "Draft of a Linguistic Atlas for Minas Gerais". Federal University of Juiz de Fora, 1977. The light zone speaks mineiro, the intermeadite zone caipira, the dark zone ''baiano''.]]''Mineiro''&nbsp;– Minas Gerais (not prevalent in the Triângulo Mineiro). As the ''fluminense'' area, its associated region was formerly a sparsely populated land where ''caipira'' was spoken, but the discovery of gold and gems made it the most prosperous Brazilian region, what attracted Portuguese colonists, commoners from other parts of Brazil and their African slaves. South-southwestern, southeastern and northern areas of the state have fairly distinctive speech, actually approximating to ''caipira'', ''fluminense'' (popularly called, often pejoratively, ''carioca do brejo'', "marsh carioca") and ''baiano'' respectively. Areas including and surrounding Belo Horizonte have a distinctive accent.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som91.html ''Nordestino'']<ref name="ReferenceB">Note: the speaker of this sound file is from Rio de Janeiro, and he is talking about his experience with ''nordestino'' and ''nortista'' accents.</ref>&nbsp;– more marked in the Sertão (7), where, in the 19th and 20th centuries and especially in the area including and surrounding the ''sertão'' (the dry land after [[Place:Agreste|Agreste]]) of Pernambuco and southern Ceará, it could sound less comprehensible to speakers of other Portuguese dialects than Galician or Rioplatense Spanish, and nowadays less distinctive from other variants in the metropolitan cities along the coasts. It can be divided in two regional variants, one that includes the northern Maranhão and southern of Piauí, and other that goes from Ceará to Alagoas.
# ''Nortista'' or ''amazofonia''&nbsp;– Most of Amazon Basin states, i.e. Northern Brazil. Before the 20th century, most people from the ''nordestino'' area fleeing the droughts and their associated poverty settled here, so it has some similarities with the Portuguese dialect there spoken. The speech in and around the cities of Belém and Manaus has a more European flavor in phonology, prosody and grammar.
# ''Paulistano''&nbsp;– Variants spoken around Greater São Paulo in its maximum definition and more easterly areas of São Paulo state, as well as perhaps "educated speech" from anywhere in the state of São Paulo (where it coexists with ''caipira''). ''Caipira'' is the hinterland sociolect of much of the Central-Southern half of Brazil, nowadays conservative only in the rural areas and associated with them, that has a historically [[Social:Prestige (sociolinguistics)|low prestige]] in cities as Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, and until some years ago, in São Paulo itself. [[Social:Sociolinguistics|Sociolinguistics]], or what by times is described as "[[Social:Linguistic discrimination|linguistic prejudice]]", often correlated with [[Social:Class discrimination|classism]],<ref>{{cite web |title=O MEC, o "português errado" e a linguistica... |url=http://www.imprenca.com/2011/05/mec-portugues-errado-e-linguistica.html |date=2011-05-17 |website=Imprenca.com |language=pt |trans-title=MEC, "wrong Portuguese" and linguistics…  |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419090139/http://www.imprenca.com/2011/05/mec-portugues-errado-e-linguistica.html |archive-date=19 April 2012 |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cartilha do MEC ensina erro de Português |url=http://www.saindodamatrix.com.br/archives/2011/05/cartilha_do_mec.html |date=18 May 2011 |website=Saindo da Matrix |language=pt |trans-title=MEC primer teaches Portuguese error |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jornaldebeltrao.com.br/noticia/63414/livro-do-mec-ensina-o-portugues-errado-ou-apenas-valoriza-as-formas-linguisticas |title=Livro do MEC ensina o português errado ou apenas valoriza as formas linguísticas?|work=Jornal de Beltrão |language=pt |date=26 May 2011 |access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> is a polemic topic in the entirety of the country since the times of Adoniran Barbosa. Also, the "Paulistano" accent was heavily influenced by the presence of immigrants in the city of São Paulo, especially the Italians.
# ''Sertanejo''&nbsp;– Center-Western states, and also much of Tocantins and Rondônia. It is closer to ''mineiro'', ''caipira'', ''nordestino'' or ''nortista'' depending on the location.
# ''Sulista''&nbsp;– The variants spoken in the areas between the northern regions of Rio Grande do Sul and southern regions of São Paulo state, encompassing most of southern Brazil. The city of Curitiba does have a fairly distinct accent as well, and a relative majority of speakers around and in Florianópolis also speak this variant (many speak ''florianopolitano'' or ''manezinho da ilha'' instead, related to the European Portuguese dialects spoken in Azores and Madeira). Speech of northern Paraná is closer to that of inland São Paulo.
# ''Florianopolitano''&nbsp;– Variants heavily influenced by European Portuguese spoken in Florianópolis city (due to a heavy immigration movement from Portugal, mainly its insular regions) and much of its metropolitan area, Grande Florianópolis, said to be a continuum between those whose speech most resemble ''sulista'' dialects and those whose speech most resemble ''fluminense'' and European ones, called, often pejoratively, ''manezinho da ilha''.
# ''Carioca''&nbsp;– Not a dialect, but [[Social:Sociolect|sociolect]]s of the ''fluminense'' variant spoken in an area roughly corresponding to Greater Rio de Janeiro. It appeared after locals came in contact with the Portuguese aristocracy amidst the Portuguese royal family fled in the early 19th century. There is actually a continuum between Vernacular countryside accents and the ''carioca'' sociolect, and the educated speech (in Portuguese ''norma culta'', which most closely resembles other Brazilian Portuguese standards but with marked recent Portuguese influences, the nearest ones among the country's dialects along ''florianopolitano''), so that not all people native to the state of Rio de Janeiro speak the said sociolect, but most ''carioca'' speakers will use the standard variant not influenced by it that is rather uniform around Brazil depending on context (emphasis or formality, for example).
# ''Brasiliense''&nbsp;– used in [[Engineering:Brasília|Brasília]] and its metropolitan area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sotaque branco |url=http://www.meiamaratonadebrasilia.com.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=71 |publisher=Meia Maratona Internacional CAIXA de Brasília |language=pt |trans-title=White accent |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517200320/http://www.meiamaratonadebrasilia.com.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=71 |archive-date=17 May 2016 |access-date=25 September 2012}}</ref> It is not considered a dialect, but more of a regional variant&nbsp;– often deemed to be closer to ''fluminense'' than the dialect commonly spoken in most of Goiás, ''sertanejo''.
# ''Arco do desflorestamento'' or ''serra amazônica''&nbsp;– Known in its region as the "accent of the migrants", it has similarities with ''caipira'', ''sertanejo'' and often ''sulista'' that make it differing from ''amazofonia'' (in the opposite group of Brazilian dialects, in which it is placed along ''nordestino'', ''baiano'', ''mineiro'' and ''fluminense''). It is the most recent dialect, which appeared by the settlement of families from various other Brazilian regions attracted by the cheap land offer in recently deforested areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=O Que É? Amazônia |url=http://amarnatureza.org.br/site/amazonia-2,9399/ |date=1 September 2009  |website=Amarnatureza.org.br |publisher=Associação de Defesa do Meio Ambiente Araucária (AMAR) |language=pt |trans-title=What is? Amazon |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222084453/https://amarnatureza.org.br/site/amazonia-2%2C9399/ |archive-date=22 December 2012 |access-date=25 September 2012}}</ref>
# ''Recifense''&nbsp;– used in Recife and its metropolitan area.
# ''Amazônico Ocidental'' — used in the extreme Western Amazon region, namely: Southwestern Amazonas, including the region of Boca do Acre and throughout the State of Acre, which share important historical-cultural aspects, such as, once belonging to Peru-Bolivian Confederation , the First [[Chemistry:Amazon rubber cycle|Amazon rubber cycle]] and Acre Time Zone, sociologically, is considered a homogenous region. Differing from the traditional Northern dialect, in which the phonetic realization of the "s" always has the sound of ''ch'', in the Brazilian Western Amazon region, there will only be the sound of ''ch'' whose words the "s" are in the middle of the word, as examples; ''costa'', ''festa'' or ''destino'', as well as the one observed in dialect of the north coast. Within the Brazilian countryside, it is one of the few areas where the phonetic realization of "r" resembles those observed in the Carioca dialect (open), other examples where this phenomenon is observed: Brasília dialect and Belo Horizonte dialect.<ref>[https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8136/tde-07052002-130429/publico/tese04b. pdf] - Seringueiros da Amazônia, University of São Paulo (USP), Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences, Department of Geography</ref>

=== Portugal ===
[[File:Portugal portuguese dialects.png|thumb|Portugal's Portuguese Dialects.]]
[[File:Falantes PT no mundo.svg|thumb|right|Percentage of worldwide Portuguese speakers per country.]]
[[File:Edificio de Correos y Telégrafos, Macao, 2013-08-08, DD 03.jpg|thumb|right|The main post office building of Macau]]
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som69.html ''Micaelense (Açores)''] (São Miguel) – Azores.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som40.html ''Alentejano''] – Alentejo (Alentejan Portuguese), with the Oliventine subdialect.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som44.html ''Algarvio''] – Algarve (there is a particular dialect in a small part of western Algarve).
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som1.html ''Minhoto'']&nbsp;– Districts of Braga and Viana do Castelo (hinterland).
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som49.html ''Beirão''; ''Alto-Alentejano''] – Central Portugal (hinterland).
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som9.html ''Beirão''] – Central Portugal.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som22.html ''Estremenho'']&nbsp;– Regions of Coimbra and [[Place:Lisbon|Lisbon]] (this is a disputed denomination, as Coimbra and is not part of "Estremadura", and the Lisbon dialect has some peculiar features that are not only not shared with that of Coimbra, but also significantly distinct and recognizable to most native speakers from elsewhere in Portugal).
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som60.html ''Madeirense''] (Madeiran)&nbsp;– Madeira.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som14.html ''Portuense'']&nbsp;– Regions of the district of Porto and parts of Aveiro.
# [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som6.html ''Transmontano'']&nbsp;– Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.

=== Other countries and dependencies ===
* {{flag|Angola}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://www.cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som85.html ''Angolano''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806102044/http://www.cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som85.html |date=6 August 2020 }} (Angolan Portuguese)
* {{flag|Cape Verde}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som87.html ''Cabo-verdiano''] (Cape Verdean Portuguese)
* {{flag|East Timor}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som84.html ''Timorense''] (East Timorese Portuguese)
* {{flag|India}}&nbsp;– ''Damaense'' (Damanese Portuguese) and ''Goês'' (Goan Portuguese)
* {{flag|Guinea-Bissau}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som88.html ''Guineense''] (Guinean Portuguese)
* {{flag|Macau}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som92.html ''Macaense''] (Macanese Portuguese)
* {{flag|Mozambique}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som89.html ''Moçambicano''] (Mozambican Portuguese)
* {{flag|São Tomé and Príncipe}}&nbsp;– [[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11px]] [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/som83.html ''Santomense''] (São Tomean Portuguese)
* {{flag|Uruguay}}&nbsp;– ''Dialectos Portugueses del Uruguay (DPU)''

Differences between dialects are mostly of accent and vocabulary, but between the Brazilian dialects and other dialects, especially in their most colloquial forms, there can also be some grammatical differences. The Portuguese-based creoles spoken in various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas are independent languages.

=== Characterization and peculiarities ===
Portuguese, like [[Social:Catalan language|Catalan]], preserves the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin which became diphthongs in most other Romance languages; cf. Port., Cat., Sard. ''pedra'' ; Fr. ''{{wiktfr|pierre}}'', Sp. ''{{wiktes|piedra}}'', It. ''{{wiktit|pietra}}'', Ro. ''{{wiktro|piatră}}'', from Lat. ''{{wiktla|petra}}'' ("stone"); or Port. ''{{wiktpt|fogo}}'', Cat. ''{{wiktca|foc}}'', Sard. ''{{wiktsc|fogu}}''; Sp. ''{{wiktes|fuego}}'', It. ''{{wiktit|fuoco}}'', Fr. ''{{wiktfr|feu}}'', Ro. ''{{wiktro|foc}}'', from Lat. ''{{wiktla|focus}}'' ("fire"). Another characteristic of early Portuguese was the loss of intervocalic ''l'' and ''n'', sometimes followed by the merger of the two surrounding vowels, or by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel between them: cf. Lat. ''{{wiktla|salire}}'' ("to exit"), ''{{wiktla|tenere}}'' ("to have"), ''{{wiktla|catena}}'' ("jail"), Port. ''{{wiktpt|sair}}'', ''{{wiktpt|ter}}'', ''{{wiktpt|cadeia}}''.

When the elided consonant was ''n'', it often nasalized the preceding vowel: cf. Lat. ''{{wiktla|manum}}'' ("hand"), ''{{wiktla|ranam}}'' ("frog"), ''{{wiktla|bonum}}'' ("good"), Old Portuguese ''{{wiktpt|mão}}'', ''{{wiktpt|rãa}}'', ''{{wiktpt|bõo}}'' (Portuguese: ''{{wiktpt|mão}}'', ''{{wiktpt|rã}}'', ''{{wiktpt|bom}}''). This process was the source of most of the language's distinctive nasal diphthongs. In particular, the Latin endings ''-anem'', ''{{wiktla|-anum}}'' and ''{{wiktla|-onem}}'' became ''{{wiktpt|-ão}}'' in most cases, cf. Lat. ''{{wiktla|canis}}'' ("dog"), ''{{wiktla|germanus}}'' ("brother"), ''{{wiktla|ratio}}'' ("reason") with Modern Port. ''{{wiktpt|cão}}'', ''{{wiktpt|irmão}}'', ''{{wiktpt|razão}}'', and their plurals ''-anes'', ''-anos'', ''-ones'' normally became ''-ães'', ''-ãos'', ''-ões'', cf. ''cães'', ''irmãos'', ''razões''. This also occurs in the minority Swiss Romansh language in many equivalent words such as ''maun'' ("hand"), ''bun'' ("good"), or ''chaun'' ("dog").<ref>http://romansh.romanche.free.fr/</ref>

The Portuguese language is the only Romance language that preserves the clitic case mesoclisis: cf. {{lang|pt|dar-te-ei}} (I'll give thee), {{lang|pt|amar-te-ei}} (I'll love you), {{lang|pt|contactá-los-ei}} (I'll contact them). Like Galician, it also retains the Latin synthetic pluperfect tense: {{lang|pt|eu estivera}} (I had been), {{lang|pt|eu vivera}} (I had lived), {{lang|pt|vós vivêreis}} (you had lived).<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GILmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |chapter=On the Italian, Latin, and Portuguese Temporal Systems |title=Tense and Aspect: From Semantics to Morphosyntax |isbn=978-0-19-509193-9|last1=Giorgi|first1=Alessandra|last2=Pianesi|first2=Fabio|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> [[Social:Romanian language|Romanian]] also has this tense, but uses the -s- form.

== Vocabulary ==
[[File:Languages of pre-Roman Iberia.gif|thumb|Linguistic map of Pre-Roman Iberia.]]
[[File:Palácio Presidencial em Bissau (1).jpg|thumb|right|The Bissau-Guinean Presidential Palace, with its Portuguese colonial architecture, is a building that has a library, a small theater and was formerly the palace of the colonial governor of Portuguese-Guinea, seen from the PAIGC-building (formerly the seat of the local commercial association ''Associação Comercial, Industrial e Agrícola de Bissau''), located at the ''Praça dos Heróis Nacionais'' square (formerly ''Praça do Império square''), in downtown Bissau.]]

Most of the lexicon of Portuguese is derived, directly or through other Romance languages, from Latin. Nevertheless, because of its original Lusitanian and Celtic Gallaecian heritage, and the later participation of Portugal in the [[Age of Discovery]], it has a relevant number of words from the ancient Hispano-Celtic group<ref name="Colera 2007 p.750 quote" /> and adopted [[Social:Loanword|loanword]]s from other languages around the world.

A number of Portuguese words can still be traced to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Portugal, which included the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes. Most of these words derived from the Hispano-Celtic [[Social:Gallaecian language|Gallaecian language]] of northwestern Iberia, and are very often shared with Galician since both languages have the same origin in the medieval language of Galician-Portuguese. A few of these words existed in Latin as loanwords from other Celtic sources, often [[Social:Gaulish|Gaulish]]. Altogether these are over 3,000 words, verbs, toponymic names of towns, rivers, surnames, tools, lexicon linked to rural life and natural world.<ref name="Filppula-Klemola">{{cite journal|last1=Filppula |first1=Markku |last2=Klemola |first2=Juhani |title=Celtic Influences in English: A Re-Evaluation |journal=Neuphilologische Mitteilungen |volume=115 |number=1 |date=2014 |pages=33–53 |jstor=43344757 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43344757 |access-date=20 January 2024}}</ref>

In the 5th century, the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania) was conquered by the Germanic, Suebi and Visigoths. As they adopted the [[History:Ancient Rome|Roman]] civilization and language, however, these people contributed with some 500 
Germanic words to the lexicon. Many of these words are related to:
* '''warfare''', such as {{lang|pt|espora}} 'spur', {{lang|pt|estaca}} ('stake'), and {{lang|pt|guerra}} ('war'), from [[Social:Gothic language|Gothic]] ''*spaúra'', ''*stakka'', and ''*wirro'' respectively; 
* '''natural world''', such as {{lang|pt|suino}} ('swine') from ''*sweina'', {{lang|pt|gavião}} ('hawk') from ''*gabilans'', {{lang|pt|vaga}} ('wave') from ''*vigan'';
* '''human emotions''', such as {{lang|pt|orgulho}} or {{lang|pt|orgulhoso}} ('pride', 'proud') from Old Germanic ''*urguol'', and
* '''verbs''' like {{lang|pt|gravar}} ('to craft, record, graft') from ''*graba'' or {{lang|pt|esmagar}} ('to squeeze, quash, grind') from Suebian ''*magōn'' or {{lang|pt|esfarrapar}} ('to shred') from ''*harpō''.

The Germanic languages influence also exists in toponymic surnames and patronymic surnames borne by Visigoth sovereigns and their descendants, and it dwells on placenames such as Ermesinde, Esposende and Resende where ''sinde'' and ''sende'' are derived from the Germanic ''sinths'' ('military expedition') and in the case of Resende, the prefix ''re'' comes from Germanic ''reths'' ('council'). Other examples of Portuguese names, surnames and town names of Germanic toponymic origin include Henrique, Henriques, Vermoim, Mandim, Calquim, Baguim, Gemunde, Guetim, Sermonde and many more, are quite common mainly in the old Suebi and later Visigothic dominated regions, covering today's Northern half of Portugal and Galicia.

Between the 9th and early 13th centuries, Portuguese acquired some 400 to 600 words from [[Social:Arabic language|Arabic]] by influence of Moorish Iberia. They are often recognizable by the initial Arabic article ''a(l)-'', and include common words such as {{lang|pt|aldeia}} ('village') from الضيعة ''aḍ-ḍayʿa'', {{lang|pt|alface}} ('lettuce') from الخسة ''al-khassa'', {{lang|pt|armazém}} ('warehouse') from المخزن ''al-makhzan'', and {{lang|pt|azeite}} ('olive oil') from الزيت ''az-zayt''.

[[File:State_Central_Library,_Goa_Dec_27,_2012_14.JPG|thumb|left|A sign at Goa Central Library, in Panaji, India, listing three Portuguese-language newspapers]]

Starting in the 15th century, the Portuguese maritime explorations led to the introduction of many loanwords from Asian languages. For instance, {{lang|pt|catana}} ('cutlass') from [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]] ''[[Engineering:Katana|katana]]'', {{lang|pt|chá}} ('tea') from [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]] ''chá'', and ''canja''<ref>{{cite web |title=Canja |url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/Canja |website=Dicionário Priberam}}</ref> ('chicken-soup, piece of cake') from [[Social:Malay language|Malay]].

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, because of the role of Portugal as intermediary in the [[History:Atlantic slave trade|Atlantic slave trade]], and the establishment of large Portuguese colonies in Angola, Mozambique, and Brazil, Portuguese acquired several words of African and Amerind origin, especially names for most of the animals and plants found in those territories. While those terms are mostly used in the former colonies, many became current in European Portuguese as well. From Kimbundu, for example, came ''kifumate'' > {{lang|pt|cafuné}} ('head caress') (Brazil), ''kusula'' > {{lang|pt|caçula}} ('youngest child') (Brazil), {{lang|pt|marimbondo}} ('tropical wasp') (Brazil), and ''kubungula'' > {{lang|pt|bungular}} ('to dance like a wizard') (Angola). From South America came {{lang|pt|batata}} ('[[Biology:Potato|potato]]'), from Taino; {{lang|pt|ananás}} and {{lang|pt|abacaxi}}, from [[Social:Tupi–Guarani languages|Tupi–Guarani]] ''naná'' and [[Social:Tupi language|Tupi]] ''ibá cati'', respectively (two species of [[Biology:Pineapple|pineapple]]), and {{lang|pt|pipoca}} ('popcorn') from Tupi and {{lang|pt|tucano}} ('toucan') from [[Social:Guarani language|Guarani]] ''tucan''.

Finally, it has received a steady influx of loanwords from other European languages, especially French and [[Social:English language|English]]. These are by far the most important languages when referring to loanwords. There are many examples such as: {{lang|pt|colchete}}/{{lang|pt|crochê}} ('bracket'/'crochet'), {{lang|pt|paletó}} ('jacket'), {{lang|pt|batom}} ('lipstick'), and {{lang|pt|filé}}/{{lang|pt|filete}} ('steak'/'slice'), {{lang|pt|rua}} ('street'), respectively, from French {{lang|fr|crochet}}, {{lang|fr|paletot}}, {{lang|fr|bâton}}, {{lang|fr|filet}}, {{lang|fr|rue}}; and {{lang|pt|bife}} ('steak'), {{lang|pt|futebol}}, {{lang|pt|revólver}}, {{lang|pt|stock}}/{{lang|pt|estoque}}, {{lang|pt|folclore}}, from English "beef", "football", "revolver", "stock", "folklore."

Examples from other European languages: {{lang|pt|macarrão}} ('pasta'), {{lang|pt|piloto}} ('pilot'), {{lang|pt|carroça}} ('carriage'), and {{lang|pt|barraca}} ('barrack'), from Italian {{lang|it|maccherone}}, {{lang|it|pilota}}, {{lang|it|carrozza}}, and {{lang|it|baracca}}; {{lang|pt|melena}} ('hair lock'), {{lang|pt|fiambre}} ('wet-cured ham') (in Portugal, in contrast with ''presunto'' 'dry-cured ham' from Latin ''prae-exsuctus'' 'dehydrated') or ('canned ham') (in Brazil, in contrast with non-canned, wet-cured (''presunto cozido'') and dry-cured (''presunto cru'')), or ''castelhano'' ('Castilian'), from Spanish ''melena'' ('mane'), ''fiambre'' and ''castellano.''

== Classification and related languages ==
[[File:Linguistic map Southwestern Europe.gif|thumb|upright=1.65|right|Map showing the historical retreat and expansion of Portuguese (Galician-Portuguese) within the context of its linguistic neighbors between the year 1000 and 2000.]] thumb|upright=1.45|right|Map showing mostly contemporary West Iberian and Occitano-Romance languages, as well many of their mainland European dialects (areas colored green, [[Social:Aragonese language|gold or pink/purple represent languages deemed endangered by UNESCO, so this may be outdated in less than a few decades). It shows European Portuguese, Galician, Eonavian, Mirandese and the Fala as not only closely related but as dialect continuum, though it excludes dialects spoken in insular Portugal (Azores and Madeira–Canaries is not shown either).{{Image reference needed|date=November 2022}}]]


Portuguese belongs to the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages, and it has special ties with the following members of this group:
* Galician, Fala and ''portunhol do pampa'' (the way ''riverense'' and its sibling dialects are referred to in Portuguese), its closest relatives.
* Mirandese, Leonese, Asturian, Extremaduran and Cantabrian (Astur-Leonese languages). Mirandese is the only recognised regional language spoken in Portugal (beside Portuguese, the only official language in Portugal).
* [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] and ''calão'' (the way ''caló'', language of the Iberian Romani, is referred to in Portuguese).

Portuguese and other Romance languages (namely [[Social:French language|French]] and [[Social:Italian language|Italian]]) share considerable similarities in both vocabulary and grammar. Portuguese speakers will usually need some formal study before attaining strong comprehension in those Romance languages, and vice versa. However, Portuguese and Galician are fully mutually intelligible, and Spanish is considerably intelligible for lusophones, owing to their genealogical proximity and shared genealogical history as West Iberian (Ibero-Romance languages), historical contact between speakers and mutual influence, shared areal features as well as modern lexical, structural, and grammatical similarity (89%) between them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jensen
|first=John B.
|year=1989
|title=On the Mutual Intelligibility of Spanish and Portuguese
|journal=Hispania
|volume=72
|issue=4
|pages=848–852
|jstor=343562
|doi=10.2307/343562}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Penny
|first=Ralph
|year=2000
|title=Variation and Change in Spanish
|publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}
|isbn=978-0-521-78045-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVNGMlx7cOYC&q=how+well+do+spanish+speakers+understand+portuguese&pg=PA14
|page=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalby
|first=Andrew
|year=1998
|title=Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages
|publisher=Columbia University Press
|isbn=978-0-231-11568-1
|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflang00dalb
|url-access=registration
|quote=how well do spanish speakers understand portuguese?.
|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflang00dalb/page/501 501]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ginsburgh
|first1=Victor
|last2=Weber
|first2=Shlomo
|year=2011
|title=How Many Languages Do We Need?: The Economics of Linguistic Diversity
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=978-0-691-13689-9
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4QX8ri2o1TUC&q=how+well+do+spanish+speakers+understand+portuguese&pg=PA90
|page=90}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Similar languages to Portuguese |url=https://www.ezglot.com/most-similar-languages.php?l=por |website=EZ Glot}}</ref>

Portuñol/Portunhol, a form of [[Social:Code-switching|code-switching]], has a more lively use and is more readily mentioned in popular culture in South America. Said code-switching is not to be confused with the Portuñol spoken on the borders of Brazil with Uruguay ({{lang|pt|dialeto do pampa}}) and Paraguay ({{lang|pt|dialeto dos brasiguaios}}), and of Portugal with Spain ({{lang|pt|barranquenho}}), that are Portuguese dialects spoken natively by thousands of people, which have been heavily influenced by Spanish.<ref name="Lipski">{{Cite conference |last=Lipski |first=John M |year=2006 |editor-last=Face |editor-first=Timothy L |editor2-last=Klee |editor2-first=Carol A |title=Too close for comfort? the genesis of 'portuñol/portunhol' |url=http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/8/paper1251.pdf |pages=1–22 |access-date=21 June 2015 |journal=Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium}}</ref>

Portuguese and Spanish are the only Ibero-Romance languages, and perhaps the only Romance languages with such thriving inter-language forms, in which visible and lively bilingual contact dialects and code-switching have formed, in which functional bilingual communication is achieved through attempting an approximation to the target foreign language (known as 'Portuñol') without a learned acquisition process, but nevertheless facilitates communication. There is an emerging literature focused on such phenomena (including informal attempts of standardization of the linguistic continua and their usage).<ref name="Lipski" />

=== Galician-Portuguese in Spain ===
The closest relative of Portuguese is Galician, which is spoken in the autonomous community and nationality of Galicia (Spanish Kingdom). The two were at one time a single language, known today as [[Social:Galician-Portuguese|Galician-Portuguese]], but they have diverged especially in pronunciation and vocabulary due to the political separation of Portugal from Galicia. There is, however, still a linguistic continuity consisting of the variant of Galician referred to as ''galego-português baixo-limiao'', which is spoken in several Galician and Portuguese villages within the transboundary biosphere reserve of Gerês-Xurés. It is "considered a rarity, a living vestige of the medieval language that ranged from Cantabria to Mondego [...]".<ref name="agal-gz.or">{{Cite web |title=A Fala Galego-Portuguesa da Baixa-Limia e Castro Laboreiro |url=http://www.agal-gz.org/pdf/falabaixalimia.pdf |trans-title=The Galician-Portuguese Speech of Baixa-Limia and Castro Laboreiro |language=pt |access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref>
As reported by UNESCO, due to the pressure of Spanish on the standard official version of Galician and centuries-old Hispanization, the Galician language was on the verge of disappearing.<ref name="agal-gz.or" /> According to the UNESCO philologist Tapani Salminen, the proximity to Portuguese protects Galician.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 February 2009 |title=O galego deixa de ser unha das linguas 'en perigo' para a Unesco |language=gl |trans-title=Galician is no longer one of the "endangered" languages for Unesco |work=Galicia Hoxe |url=http://www.galiciahoxe.com/mare/gh/galego-deixa-ser-unha-das-linguas-perigo-unesco/idNoticia-397878 |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-date=6 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106122417/http://www.galiciahoxe.com/mare/gh/galego-deixa-ser-unha-das-linguas-perigo-unesco/idNoticia-397878 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The core vocabulary and grammar of Galician are noticeably closer to Portuguese than to those of Spanish and within the EU context, Galician is often considered the same language as Portuguese.<ref name="moniz1">{{cite journal |last=Moniz|first=Alexandre |date=2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/60fb35650b093e286fe31ba8/original/how-to-kill-a-language-planning-diglossia-bi-normativism-the-internet-and-galician.pdf|title=Galician: How to Kill a Language|website=Cambridge Engage|access-date=21 Sep 2021}}</ref> Galician like Portuguese, uses the future subjunctive, the personal infinitive, and the synthetic pluperfect. Mutual intelligibility estimated at 85% is excellent between Galicians and Portuguese.<ref>{{e25|glg|Galician}}</ref> Despite political efforts in Spain to define them as separate languages, many linguists consider Galician to be a co-dialect of the Portuguese language with regional variations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://lusojornal.com/nuno-gomes-garcia-conversa-com-eduardo-maragoto-o-galego-e-o-portugues-sao-a-mesma-lingua|title=O galego e o português são a mesma língua/|date=27 January 2020 }}</ref><ref name="moniz1"/>

Another member of the Galician-Portuguese group, most commonly thought of as a Galician dialect, is spoken in the Eonavian region in a western strip in Asturias and the westernmost parts of the provinces of León and Zamora, along the frontier with Galicia, between the Eo and Navia rivers (or more exactly Eo and Frexulfe rivers). It is called ''eonaviego'' or ''gallego-asturiano'' by its speakers.

The Fala language, known by its speakers as ''xalimés'', ''mañegu'', ''a fala de Xálima'' and ''chapurráu'' and in Portuguese as ''a fala de Xálima'', ''a fala da Estremadura'', ''o galego da Estremadura'', ''valego'' or ''galaico-estremenho'', is another descendant of Galician-Portuguese, spoken by a small number of people in the Spanish towns of Valverde del Fresno (''Valverdi du Fresnu''), Eljas (''As Ellas'') and San Martín de Trevejo (''Sa Martín de Trevellu'') in the autonomous community of Extremadura, near the border with Portugal.

There are a number of other places in Spain in which the native language of the common people is a descendant of the Galician-Portuguese group, such as La Alamedilla, Cedillo (''Cedilho''), Herrera de Alcántara (''Ferreira d'Alcântara'') and Olivenza (''Olivença''), but in these municipalities, what is spoken is actually Portuguese, not disputed as such in the mainstream.

The diversity of dialects of the Portuguese language is known since the time of medieval Portuguese-Galician language when it coexisted with the Lusitanian-Mozarabic dialect, spoken in the south of Portugal. The dialectal diversity becomes more evident in the work of Fernão d'Oliveira, in the ''Grammatica da Lingoagem Portuguesa'', (1536), where he remarks that the people of Portuguese regions of Beira, Alentejo, Estremadura, and Entre Douro e Minho, all speak differently from each other. Also Contador d'Argote (1725) distinguishes three main varieties of dialects: the local dialects, the dialects of time, and of profession (work jargon). Of local dialects he highlights five main dialects: the dialect of Estremadura, of Entre-Douro e Minho, of Beira, of Algarve and of Trás-os-Montes. He also makes reference to the overseas dialects, the rustic dialects, the poetic dialect and that of prose.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In the kingdom of Portugal, ''Ladinho'' (or ''Lingoagem Ladinha'') was the name given to the pure Portuguese romance language, without any mixture of Aravia or Gerigonça Judenga.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/diccionariodalin02morauoft|page=[https://archive.org/details/diccionariodalin02morauoft/page/140 140]|quote=aravia.|title=Diccionario da lingua portugueza|publisher=Na typ. de M. P. de Lacerda|access-date=30 May 2015|last1=Silva|first1=António de Morais|year=1823}}</ref> While the term ''língua vulgar'' was used to name the language before D. Dinis decided to call it "Portuguese language",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Osório |first=Jorge A. |date=1993 |title=D. Dinis: o Rei a Língua e o Reino |trans-title=D. Dinis: the King the Language and the Kingdom |url=http://repositorio-aberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/20003/2/jaosoriomathesis41993000083737.pdf |hdl=10216/20003 |journal=Máthesis |language=pt |issue=2 |pages=17–36 |access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> the erudite version used and known as Galician-Portuguese (the language of the Portuguese court) and all other Portuguese dialects were spoken at the same time. In a historical perspective the Portuguese language was never just one dialect. Just like today there is a standard Portuguese (actually two) among the several dialects of Portuguese, in the past there was Galician-Portuguese as the "standard", coexisting with other dialects.

=== Influence on other languages ===
[[File:St_Peter_Church_Melaka_3.jpg|thumb|An Old Portuguese [[Philosophy:Memento mori|Memento mori]] memorial sign in Malacca City.]] 

Portuguese has provided [[Social:Loanword|loanword]]s to many languages, such as [[Social:Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Social:Manado Malay|Manado Malay]], [[Social:Malayalam|Malayalam]], Sri Lankan Tamil and [[Social:Sinhala language|Sinhala]], [[Social:Malay language|Malay]], [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]], English, [[Social:Hindi|Hindi]], [[Social:Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Social:Afrikaans|Afrikaans]], [[Social:Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Social:Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Social:Tetum language|Tetum]], Xitsonga, [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]], Lanc-Patuá, Esan, Bandari (spoken in Iran) and Sranan Tongo (spoken in Suriname). It left a strong influence on the ''língua brasílica'', a Tupi–Guarani language, which was the most widely spoken in Brazil until the 18th century, and on the language spoken around Sikka in Flores Island, Indonesia. In nearby Larantuka, Portuguese is used for prayers in Holy Week rituals.
The Japanese–Portuguese dictionary ''Nippo Jisho'' (1603) was the first dictionary of Japanese in a European language, a product of Jesuit missionary activity in Japan. Building on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries, the ''Dictionarium Anamiticum, Lusitanum et Latinum'' (Annamite–Portuguese–Latin dictionary) of Alexandre de Rhodes (1651) introduced the modern orthography of Vietnamese, which is based on the orthography of 17th-century Portuguese. The [[Social:Romanization|Romanization]] of [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]] was also influenced by the Portuguese language (among others), particularly regarding Chinese surnames; one example is ''Mei''. During 1583–88 Italian Jesuits Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci created a Portuguese–Chinese dictionary&nbsp;– the first ever European–Chinese dictionary.<ref name=camus>{{cite web|url=http://www.riccimac.org/doc/JesuitsJourneys.pdf|title=Jesuits' Journeys in Chinese Studies|last=Camus|first=Yves|access-date=12 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924090942/http://www.riccimac.org/doc/JesuitsJourneys.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="ricciDict">''Dicionário Português–Chinês : Pu Han ci dian: Portuguese–Chinese dictionary'', by Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci; edited by John W. Witek. Published 2001, Biblioteca Nacional. {{ISBN|972-565-298-3}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A7h5YbM5M60C Partial preview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215183226/https://books.google.com/books?id=A7h5YbM5M60C |date=15 December 2022 }} available on [[Google Books]]</ref>

For instance, as [[Place:Portuguese Empire|Portuguese merchants]] were presumably the first to introduce the sweet orange in Europe, in several modern [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European languages]] the fruit has been named after them. Some examples are Albanian ''portokall'', Bosnian (archaic) ''portokal'', ''prtokal'', Bulgarian портокал (''portokal''), Greek πορτοκάλι (''portokáli''), [[Social:Macedonian language|Macedonian]] ''{{transliteration|mk|portokal}}'', Persian پرتقال (''porteghal''), and Romanian ''portocală''.<ref name="plantname">{{cite web |title=Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database: Sorting Citrus Names |url=http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Citrus_2.html|publisher=University of Melbourne |access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="OstergrenBosse2011">{{cite book |author1=Ostergren, Robert C.  |author2=Le Bosse, Mathias  |name-list-style=amp |title=The Europeans, Second Edition: A Geography of People, Culture, and Environment |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-1fwix23zMC&pg=PA129 |year=2011 |publisher=Guilford Press |isbn=978-1-60918-140-6 |page=129}}</ref> Related names can be found in other languages,<!--"Amharic birtukan": NOT in sources--> such as Arabic البرتقال (''burtuqāl''), [[Social:Georgian language|Georgian]] ფორთოხალი (''p'ort'oxali''), Turkish ''portakal'' and [[Social:Amharic|Amharic]] ''birtukan''.<ref name="plantname" /> Also, in southern [[Social:Italian language|Italian dialects]] (e.g. Neapolitan), an orange is ''portogallo'' or ''purtuallo'', literally "(the) Portuguese (one)", in contrast to standard Italian ''arancia''.

[[File:2014 Lusophony Games map.svg|thumb|right|Participating countries of the Lusophony Games.]]

=== Derived languages ===

Beginning in the 16th century, the extensive contacts between Portuguese travelers and settlers, African and Asian slaves, and local populations led to the appearance of many [[Social:Pidgin|pidgin]]s with varying amounts of Portuguese influence.

As each of these pidgins became the mother tongue of succeeding generations, they evolved into fully fledged [[Social:Creole language|creole language]]s, which remained in use in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America until the 18th century.

Some Portuguese-based or Portuguese-influenced creoles are still spoken today, by over three million people worldwide, especially people of partial Portuguese ancestry.

== Phonology ==
[[File:WIKITONGUES-_Sara_speaking_Portuguese.webm|thumb|Sara, a native speaker of European Portuguese.]]
[[File:2JOB Brasilândia.ogg|thumb|Spoken Brazilian Portuguese.]]

Portuguese phonology is similar to those of languages such as [[Social:Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]] and Catalan, whereas that of Spanish is similar to those of Sardinian and the Southern Italian dialects. Some would describe the phonology of Portuguese as a blend of [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]], Gallo-Romance (e.g. [[Social:French language|French]]) and the languages of northern Italy (especially Genoese).<ref>''Handbook of the International Phonetic Association'' pp.&nbsp;126–130</ref><ref name="Gramatica 2007" />

There is a maximum of 9 oral vowels, 2 semivowels and 21 consonants; though some varieties of the language have fewer [[Social:Phoneme|phoneme]]s. There are also five nasal vowels, which some linguists regard as allophones of the oral vowels.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Galician-Portuguese developed in the region of the former Roman province of Gallaecia, from the Vulgar Latin (common Latin) that had been introduced by Roman soldiers, colonists and magistrates during the time of the Roman Empire. Although the process may have been slower than in other regions, the centuries of contact with Vulgar Latin, after a period of bilingualism, completely extinguished the native languages, leading to the evolution of a new variety of Latin with a few Gallaecian features.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Luján Martínez |first=Eugenio R. |date=2006 |title=The language(s) of the Callaeci |url=https://dc.uwm.edu/ekeltoi/vol6/iss1/16 |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=715–748 |issn=1540-4889}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Piel |first=Joseph-Maria |url=http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/biblioteca/origens_lex_port.pdf |title=Estudos de Linguística Histórica Galego-Portuguesa |publisher=IN-CM |year=1989 |location=Lisboa |pages=9–16 |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Studies in Galician-Portuguese Historical Linguistics |chapter=Origens e estruturação histórica do léxico português |trans-chapter=Origins and historical structure of the Portuguese lexicon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227235128/https://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/biblioteca/origens_lex_port.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2008}}</ref>

[[Social:Gallaecian language|Gallaecian]] and [[Social:Lusitanian language|Lusitanian]] influences were absorbed into the local Vulgar Latin dialect, which can be detected in some Galician-Portuguese words as well as in placenames of Celtic and Iberian origin.<ref>Such as ''Bolso'': [http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RGVE1999_015.pdf A Toponímia Céltica e os vestígios de cultura material da Proto-História de Portugal. Freire, José. Revista de Guimarães, Volume Especial, I, Guimarães, 1999, pp. 265–275] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206114400/http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RGVE1999_015.pdf |date=6 February 2012 }}. (PDF) . Retrieved 14 November 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cabeza Quiles |first1=Fernando |title=A toponimia celta de Galicia |date=2014 |publisher=Toxosoutos |location=Noia |isbn=978-84-942224-4-3}}</ref>

An early form of Galician-Portuguese was already spoken in the [[Place:Kingdom of the Suebi|Kingdom of the Suebi]] and by the year 800 Galician-Portuguese had already become the [[Social:Vernacular|vernacular]] of northwestern Iberia.<ref name="lus">{{cite web |title=As origens do romance galego-português |url=http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/brevesum/porque.html#Origens |website=História da Língua Portuguesa em linha |publisher=Instituto Camões |language=Portuguese |trans-title=The origins of the Galician-Portuguese romance language}}</ref> The first known phonetic changes in Vulgar Latin, which began the evolution to Galician-Portuguese, took place during the rule of the Germanic groups, the Suebi (411–585) and Visigoths (585–711).<ref name="lus" /> The Galician-Portuguese "inflected infinitive" (or "personal infinitive")<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Alinei |first1=Mario |url=http://www.continuitas.org/texts/alinei_benozzo_alguns-aspectos.pdf |title=Alguns aspectos da Teoria da Continuidade Paleolítica aplicada à região galega |last2=Benozzo |first2=Francesco |year=2008 |isbn=978-989-618-200-7 |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Some aspects of the Paleolithic Continuity Theory applied to the Galician region |access-date=14 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Raposo |first1=Eduardo |chapter=Prepositional Infinitival Constructions in European Portuguese |editor=Osvaldo A. Jaeggli |editor2=Kenneth J. Safir |title=The Null Subject Parameter |series=Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory |year=1989 |volume=15 |pages=277–305 |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-2540-3_10 |isbn=978-1-55608-087-6}}</ref> and the nasal vowels may have evolved under the influence of local Celtic (as in [[Social:Old French|Old French]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Comparative Grammar of Latin 34: Language Contact |url=http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/CGL_34_Language_Contact_5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927041334/http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/CGL_34_Language_Contact_5.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ethnologic Map of Pre-Roman Iberia (circa 200 B.C.) |url=http://www.arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |last=Silva |first=Luís Fraga da |website=Arkeotavira.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125215509/http://www.arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |archive-date=2011-11-25 |access-date=14 November 2011}}</ref> The nasal vowels would thus be a phonologic characteristic of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Roman Gallaecia, but they are not attested in writing until after the 6th and 7th centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fonética histórica |url=http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/gramhist/fonetica.html |website=História da Língua Portuguesa em linha |publisher=Instituto Camões |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Historical phonetics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922075547/http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/gramhist/fonetica.html |archive-date=22 September 2007}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
[[File:European Portuguese vowel chart.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|Chart of monophthongs of the Portuguese of Lisbon, with its {{IPA|/ɐ, ɐ̃/|cat=no}} in central schwa position.]]
[[File:Museu de História Natural (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Earth:Natural history|Natural History]] Museum of Mozambique (Manueline) in Maputo.]]
[[File:FUDACAO ORIENTE.jpg|thumb|right|The Fundação Oriente of Fontainhas, {{wipe|India}}. The Fundação Oriente, along with Instituto Camões, Instituto Menezes Bragança among others, are institutions dedicated to the worldwide promotion of the Portuguese language and culture.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foriente.pt/static.php?id=3B2FB7E1-AC3A-4E7C-AB36-39480ADFF5B8&area=a-fundacao |title=Delegação da Índia|website=www.foriente.pt |access-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527172830/https://www.foriente.pt/static.php?id=3B2FB7E1-AC3A-4E7C-AB36-39480ADFF5B8&area=a-fundacao |archive-date=27 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ]]
[[File:Praia-Instituto_Internacional_de_Língua_Portuguesa_(2).jpg|thumb|right|The International Portuguese Language Institute headquarters, in Praia.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Vowel phonemes of Portuguese (Portugal)<ref name="Cruz-Ferreira92">{{Harvcoltxt|Cruz-Ferreira|1995|p=92}}</ref><ref name="mateus11">{{Harvcoltxt|Mateus|d'Andrade|2000|p=11}}</ref><ref name="SpahrC">{{cite web |last1=Christopher |first1=Spahr |title=Confronting the European Portuguese low vowel distinction |url=http://individual.utoronto.ca/spahr/spahr_crc_2013.pdf |website=UToronto |access-date=22 December 2021}}</ref>
|-
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="2"|Front
!colspan="2"|Central
!colspan="2"|Back
|-
!{{small|oral}}
!{{small|nasal}}
!{{small|oral}}
!{{small|nasal}}
!{{small|oral}}
!{{small|nasal}}
|-
!Close
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|ĩ}}
|({{IPA link|ɯ̽|ɨ}})
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|{{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
!Close-mid
|{{IPA link|e}}
|{{IPA link|ẽ}}
|colspan="2"|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|{{IPA link|õ}}
|-
!Open-mid
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɐ}}
|{{IPA link|ɐ̃}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|
|-
!Open
|colspan="2"|
|{{IPA link|ä|a}}
|
|colspan="2"|
|}
Like [[Social:Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Social:German language|German]], Portuguese uses vowel quality to contrast stressed syllables with unstressed syllables. Unstressed isolated vowels tend to be raised and sometimes centralized.

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Consonant phonemes of Portuguese (Portugal)<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvcoltxt|Cruz-Ferreira|1995|p=91}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Barbosa|Albano|2004|pp=228–229}}</ref><ref name="labialized velar - Carvalho">{{Cite journal |last=Carvalho |first=Joana |date=2012 |title=Sobre os Ditongos do Português Europeu |url=http://cl.up.pt/elingup/vol4n1/article/article_2.pdf |journal=ELingUp |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129081825/http://cl.up.pt/elingup/vol4n1/article/article_2.pdf |archive-date=29 November 2015 |quote=A conclusão será que nos encontramos em presença de dois segmentos fonológicos /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/, respetivamente, com uma articulação vocálica. Bisol (2005:122), tal como Freitas (1997), afirma que não estamos em presença de um ataque ramificado. Neste caso, a glide, juntamente com a vogal que a sucede, forma um ditongo no nível pós-lexical. Esta conclusão implica um aumento do número de segmentos no inventário segmental fonológico do português. |language=pt}}</ref><ref name="labialized velar - Bisol">{{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=122}}: {{lang|pt|italic=no|"A proposta é que a sequencia consoante velar + glide posterior seja indicada no léxico como uma unidade monofonemática /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/. O glide que, nete caso, situa-se no ataque não-ramificado, forma com a vogal seguinte um ditongo crescente em nível pós lexical. Ditongos crescentes somente se formam neste nível. Em resumo, a consoante velar e o glide posterior, quando seguidos de a/o, formam uma só unidade fonológica, ou seja, um segmento consonantal com articulação secundária vocálica, em outros termos, um segmento complexo."}}</ref>
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 |
! rowspan=2| Labial
! rowspan=2| Dental/<br />Alveolar
! rowspan=2| Palatal
! colspan=2| Velar
! rowspan=2| Uvular
|-
! {{small|plain}}
! {{small|labialized}}
|-
!colspan=2| Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
|colspan=2|
|
|-
!rowspan=2| Plosive
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|kʷ}}
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡʷ}}
|
|-
!rowspan=2| Fricative
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
|colspan=2|
| 
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|colspan=2|
| {{IPA link|ʁ}}
|-
!rowspan=2| Approximant
! {{small|semivowel}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|-
! {{small|lateral}}
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|ʎ}}
|colspan=2|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Flap
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ}}
|
|colspan=2|
|
|}

'''Phonetic notes'''
* Semivowels contrast with unstressed high vowels in verbal conjugation, as in ''(eu) rio'' {{IPA|/ˈʁi.u/}} and ''(ele) riu'' {{IPA|/ˈʁiw/}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rodrigues|2012|pp=39–40}}</ref> Phonologists discuss whether their nature is vowel or consonant.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=123}}</ref>
* In most of Brazil and Angola, the consonant hereafter denoted as {{IPA|/ɲ/}} is realized as a nasal palatal approximant {{IPAblink|ȷ̃|j̃}}, which nasalizes the vowel that precedes it: {{IPA|[ˈnĩj̃u]}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Thomas|1974|p=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
|last=Perini
|first=Mário Alberto
|year=2002
|title=Modern Portuguese (A Reference Grammar)
|place=New Haven
|publisher=Yale University Press
|isbn=978-0-300-09155-7
}}</ref>
* {{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=122}} proposes that Portuguese possesses labio-velar stops {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}} as additional phonemes rather than sequences of a velar stop and {{IPA|/w/}}.<ref name="labialized velar - Bisol" />
* The consonant hereafter denoted as {{IPA|/ʁ/}} has a variety of realizations depending on dialect. In Europe, it is typically a uvular trill {{IPA|[ʀ]}}; however, a pronunciation as a voiced uvular fricative {{IPA|[ʁ]}} may be becoming dominant in urban areas. There is also a realization as a voiceless uvular fricative {{IPA|[χ]}}, and the original pronunciation as an alveolar trill {{IPA|[r]}} also remains very common in various dialects.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Mateus|d'Andrade|2000|pp=5–6, 11}}</ref> A common realization of the word-initial {{IPA|/r/}} in the Lisbon accent is a voiced uvular fricative trill {{IPAblink|ʀ̝}}.<ref name="gr157">{{Harvcoltxt|Grønnum|2005|p=157}}</ref> In Brazil, {{IPA|/ʁ/}} can be velar, uvular, or glottal and may be voiceless unless between voiced sounds.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Barbosa|Albano|2004|p=228}}</ref> It is usually pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative {{IPA|[x]}}, a voiceless glottal fricative {{IPA|[h]}} or voiceless uvular fricative {{IPA|[χ]}}. See also {{section link|Guttural R#Portuguese}}.
* {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} are normally {{lcons|lamino-alveolar}}, as in English. However, a number of dialects in northern Portugal pronounce {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} as apico-alveolar sibilants (sounding somewhat like a soft {{IPA|[ʃ]}} or {{IPA|[ʒ]}}), as in the Romance languages of northern Iberia. Some very few northeastern Portugal dialects still maintain the medieval distinction between apical and laminal sibilants (written ''s/ss'' and ''c/ç/z'', respectively).
* As a phoneme, {{IPA|/tʃ/}} occurs only in loanwords, names, and interjections, with a dialectal tendency for speakers to substitute in {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in most dialects outside of Brazil (as well as some conservative Brazilian dialects, to a variable extent.) However, {{IPA|[tʃ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/t/}} before {{IPA|/i/}} in a majority of Brazilian dialects. Similarly, {{IPA|[dʒ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/d/}} in the same contexts.
* In northern and central Portugal, the voiced stops ({{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) are usually lenited to fricatives {{IPA|[β]}}, {{IPA|[ð]}}, and {{IPA|[ɣ]}}, respectively, except at the beginning of words or after nasal vowels.<ref name="Cruz-Ferreira92"/><ref name="mateus11"/> At the end of a phrase, due to final-obstruent devoicing, they may even be devoiced to {{IPA|[ɸ]}}, {{IPA|[θ]}}, and {{IPA|[x]}} (for example, ''verde'' at the end of a sentence may be pronounced {{IPA|[veɹθ]}}).
* In Brazil, many speakers further shift {{IPA|[ɫ]}} to {{IPA|[w]}} in closed syllables, especially outside the southern region.
* Phonetically, Portuguese (and [[Social:French language|French]]) are quite different from the other major Romance languages. It has been suggested that this stems from the ancient link to Celtic languages such as [[Social:Welsh language|Welsh]] or [[Social:Breton language|Breton]],<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44938469//|title=Insular Portuguese Pronunciation:Alleged Breton Influence|date=20 January 2024|jstor=44938469 |last1=Rogers |first1=Francis Millet |journal=Romance Philology |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=305–314 }}</ref> with which it also shares a substantial number of cognates: there are 37 sounds in Portuguese, including vowels, consonants and diphthongs, most of which exist in today's Celtic languages.<ref name="Filppula-Klemola"/>

== Orthography ==
{{excerpt|Portuguese orthography|only=paragraphs|paragraphs=1-2}}

=== Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 ===
{{excerpt|Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990|Changes|only=table|tables=2}}

== Grammar ==

A notable aspect of the grammar of Portuguese is the verb. Morphologically, more verbal inflections from classical Latin have been preserved by Portuguese than by any other major Romance language. Portuguese and Spanish share very similar grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure. Portuguese also has some grammatical innovations not found in other Romance languages (except Galician and Fala):
* The present perfect has an iterative sense unique to the Galician-Portuguese language group. It denotes an action or a series of actions that began in the past but expected to occur again in the future. For instance, the sentence ''Tenho tentado falar contigo'' would be translated to "I have been trying to talk to you", not "I have tried to talk to you." On the other hand, the correct translation of "Have you heard the latest news?" is not ''*Tens ouvido as últimas?'' but ''Ouviste as últimas?'' since no repetition is implied.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Verbal Periphrases in Romance: Aspect, Actionality, and Grammaticalization |last=Squartini |first=Mario |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=1998 |isbn=978-3-11-016160-1 |location=Berlin |oclc=39007172}}</ref>
* Portuguese makes use of the future subjunctive mood, which developed from medieval West Iberian Romance. In modern Spanish and Galician, it has almost entirely fallen into disuse. The future subjunctive appears in dependent clauses that denote a condition that must be fulfilled in the future so that the independent clause will occur. English normally employs the present tense under the same circumstances:

:''Se eu ''for'' eleito presidente, mudarei a lei.''
:If ''I am'' elected president, I will change the law.

:''Quando ''fores'' mais velho, vais entender.''
:When ''you grow'' older, you will understand.
* The personal infinitive can [[Social:Inflection|inflect]] according to its subject in person and number. It often shows who is expected to perform a certain action. ''É melhor voltares'' "It is better [for you] to go back", ''É melhor voltarmos'' "It is better [for us] to go back." Perhaps for that reason, infinitive clauses replace subjunctive clauses more often in Portuguese than in other Romance languages.

== Sample text ==
Article 1 of the ''[[Philosophy:Universal Declaration of Human Rights|Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]'' in Portuguese:<ref>{{cite web|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Portuguese (Portugal) |website=Unicode |url=https://unicode.org/udhr/d/udhr_por_PT.html}}</ref>
:{{lang|pt|Todos os seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade e em direitos. Dotados de razão e de consciência, devem agir uns para com os outros em espírito de fraternidade.}}

Article 1 of the ''Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' in English:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|publisher=United Nations}}</ref>
:''All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.''

== See also ==
* Portuguese literature
* Portuguese Africans
* Angolan literature
* Brazilian literature
* [[Social:Gallaecian language|Gallaecian language]]
*Indo-Portuguese
* [[Social:Reintegrationism|Galician Reintegrationism]]
* International Portuguese Language Institute
* List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an official language
* List of international organizations which have Portuguese as an official language
* List of Portuguese-language poets
* [[Social:Lusitanian language|Lusitanian language]]
* Mozambican Portuguese
* Portuguese language in Asia
* Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990
* Portuguese poetry

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* ''História da Lingua Portuguesa'' – [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/conhecer/bases-tematicas/historia-da-lingua-portuguesa.html/ Instituto Camões website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206190639/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/conhecer/bases-tematicas/historia-da-lingua-portuguesa.html |date=6 February 2016 }}
* ''A Língua Portuguesa'' in [https://web.archive.org/web/20020526102021/http://linguaportuguesa.ufrn.br/ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil]
* ''Carta de dotação e fundação da Igreja de S. Miguel de Lardosa, a.D. 882 (o mais antigo documento latino-português original conhecido)'' [http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/philologia/CARTA882.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910141848/http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/philologia/CARTA882.html |date=10 September 2019 }}
{{refend}}

; Literature
{{refbegin}}
* ''Poesia e Prosa Medievais'', by Maria Ema Tarracha Ferreira, Ulisseia 1998, 3rd ed., {{ISBN|978-972-568-124-4}}.
* ''Bases Temáticas&nbsp;– Língua, Literatura e Cultura Portuguesa'' in [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/area-conhecer-bases-tematicas Instituto Camões] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605122734/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/area-conhecer-bases-tematicas |date=5 June 2014 }}
* ''Portuguese literature'' in [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12307a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050426015652/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12307a.htm |date=26 April 2005 }}
{{refend}}

; Phonology, orthography and grammar
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal
|last1=Barbosa
|first1=Plínio A.
|last2=Albano
|first2=Eleonora C.
|year= 2004
|title=Brazilian Portuguese
|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association
|volume=34
|issue=2
|pages=227–232
|doi=10.1017/S0025100304001756
|doi-access=free
}}
* Bergström, Magnus & Reis, Neves ''Prontuário Ortográfico'' Editorial Notícias, 2004.
* {{Cite book
|last=Bisol
|first=Leda
|year=2005
|title=Introdução a estudos de fonologia do português brasileiro
|location=Porto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul
|publisher=EDIPUCRS
|language=pt
|isbn=978-85-7430-529-5
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFzWAq-S7I0C&pg=PA215
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Cruz-Ferreira
|first=Madalena
|year= 1995
|title=European Portuguese
|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association
|volume=25
|issue=2
|pages=90–94
|doi=10.1017/S0025100300005223
|s2cid=249414876
}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Grønnum
|first=Nina
|year=2005
|title=Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk
|edition=3rd
|publisher=Akademisk Forlag
|location=Copenhagen
|isbn=978-87-500-3865-8
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RtCAgAAQBAJ
}}
* {{Cite book
|last1=Mateus
|first1=Maria Helena
|last2=d'Andrade
|first2=Ernesto
|year= 2000
|title=The Phonology of Portuguese
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Onr9OFylajYC&pg=PP1
|isbn=978-0-19-823581-1
}}
* {{Cite thesis
 |last=Rodrigues
 |first=Marisandra Costa
 |date=2012
 |title=Encontros Vocálicos Finais em Português: Descrição e Análise Otimalista
 |publisher=Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
 |url=http://www.letras.ufrj.br/posverna/doutorado/GomesMCR.pdf
 |access-date=25 December 2015
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011052326/http://www.letras.ufrj.br/posverna/doutorado/GomesMCR.pdf
 |archive-date=11 October 2017
 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book
|first=Earl W.
|last=Thomas
|title=A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese
|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press
|location=Nashville, TN
|year=1974
|isbn=978-0-8265-1197-3
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gm8yS1ZKJ5gC
}}
* [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/cpp2/index.html A pronúncia do português europeu&nbsp;– European Portuguese Pronunciation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710051842/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/cpp2/index.html |date=10 July 2014 }} - Instituto Camões website
* [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa02.html Dialects of Portuguese] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204211046/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa02.html |date=4 February 2012 }} – Instituto Camões website
* [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa06.html Audio samples of the dialects of Portugal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418071536/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa06.html |date=18 April 2017 }} – Instituto Camões website
* [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa07.html Audio samples of the dialects from outside Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427031743/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/geografia/mapa07.html |date=27 April 2015 }} – Instituto Camões website
* [http://learn101.org/portuguese.php Portuguese Grammar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321030809/http://www.learn101.org/portuguese.php |date=21 March 2012 }} – Learn101.org
{{refend}}

; Reference dictionaries
{{refbegin}}
* Antônio Houaiss (2000), ''Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa'' (228,500 entries).
* Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira, ''Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa'' (1809 pp.)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707050228/http://www.italian.org.cn/web/epcd/ English–Portuguese–Chinese Dictionary (Freeware for Windows/Linux/Mac)]
{{refend}}

; Linguistic studies
{{refbegin}}
* Cook, Manuela. Portuguese Pronouns and Other Forms of Address, from the Past into the Future – Structural, Semantic and Pragmatic Reflections, Ellipsis, vol. 11, APSA, www.portuguese-apsa.com/ellipsis, 2013
* {{cite journal |last=Cook |first=Manuela |title=Uma Teoria de Interpretação das Formas de Tratamento na Língua Portuguesa |journal=Hispania |volume=80|issue=3|year=1997|pages=451–464|doi=10.2307/345821|jstor=345821}}
* Cook, Manuela. On the Portuguese Forms of Address: From ''Vossa Mercê'' to ''Você'', Portuguese Studies Review 3.2, Durham: University of New Hampshire, 1995
* Lindley Cintra, Luís F. [http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/biblioteca/novaproposta.pdf ''Nova Proposta de Classificação dos Dialectos Galego- Portugueses''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109125936/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/hlp/biblioteca/novaproposta.pdf |date=9 November 2013 }} (PDF) Boletim de Filologia, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1971.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Curlie|Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Indo-European/Italic/Romance/Portuguese/Learning/}}

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