Instituto Camões

Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe, and the most widely used language in Mozambique. Portuguese is also one of the official languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and Macao S.A.R. of China (with Chinese). It is widely spoken, but not official, in Andorra, Luxembourg, Namibia and Paraguay. Portuguese Creoles are the mother tongue of Cape Verde and part of Guinea-Bissau's population. In Cape Verde most also sp ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Creole, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Prosody, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Geographic distribution

Indo-European - Italic - Romance - Italo-Western - Western - Gallo-Iberian - Ibero-Romance - West-Iberian - Portuguese-Galician Portuguese is orthographically similar in many ways to Spanish, but it has a distinctive phonology, grammar and vocabulary. A speaker of one of these languages may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other although generally it is easier for a Portuguese native speaker to understand Spanish than the other way around. Compare, for example: Ela fecha sempre a janela ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Creole, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Prosody, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Classification and related languages

The Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa, by Antônio Houaiss (1915 – 1999), son of Lebanese immigrants in Brazil and former Brazilian Minister of Culture, was created with the support of almost two hundred lexicographers from several countries and is the most complete Portuguese dictionary to date (about 228,500 entries, 376,500 acceptations, 415,500 synonyms, 26,400 antonyms and 57,000 historical words) It includes all variations of the Portuguese language (African, Asian, Brazilian and European Portuguese). Dedicating his life to t ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Creole, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Prosody, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Vocabulary

Portuguese is written using the Latin alphabet with 26 letters. Three of them (K, W and Y) are only used for non-Portuguese origin words, in terms like darwinismo ("Darwinism"). It uses ç and acute, grave, circumflex and tilde accents over vowels, as well as, in some forms and only in Brazil, diaeresis on a U as in lingüística (Linguistics, linguística is used in the rest of the Portuguese speaking nations). Portuguese language - Spelling reforms. As of 2005, Portuguese has two major written forms: European and A ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Creole, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Prosody, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Writing system

Portuguese is a member of the Romance branch of the Indo-European language family. Its closest relatives are Galician, Ladino, and Spanish, in that order. Its most distant relative in that family is Romanian. Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino. Galician: Spoken Portuguese, especially in its Medieval form, is very similar to spoken Galician, even though resemblance is masked in writing because Galician orthography follows the Spanish model. Indeed, the question of whether Portuguese an ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Derived languages, Portuguese language - Influence on other languages, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino, Portuguese language - Other romance languages, Portuguese language - Latin, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Lexical stress, Portuguese language - Prosody and tone, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Classification and related languages

Portuguese also loaned words to many other languages, such as Japanese, Indonesian, Malay, Tetum, Swahili, as well as in several creole languages, such as Lanc-Patuá (spoken in northern Brazil) and Sranang Tongo (spoken in Suriname). Portuguese had a strong influence on the language spoken around Sikka in Flores Island, Indonesia. In nearby Larantuka, Portuguese is used for prayers in the Tuan Ma ritual. Portuguese also influenced the Tupi-Guarani-based Lingua G ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Derived languages, Portuguese language - Influence on other languages, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino, Portuguese language - Other romance languages, Portuguese language - Latin, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Lexical stress, Portuguese language - Prosody and tone, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Influence on other languages

Starting with the 16th century, the extensive contacts between Portuguese travelers and settlers, African slaves, and local populations led to the appearance of many pidgin languages with varying amounts of Portuguese influence. These pidgins remained in use in parts of Asia and Africa untilthe 18th century. As these pidgins became the mother tongue of succeeding generations, they evolved into distinctive languages. Many of these Portuguese-based or Portuguese-influenced creole languages ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Derived languages, Portuguese language - Influence on other languages, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino, Portuguese language - Other romance languages, Portuguese language - Latin, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Lexical stress, Portuguese language - Prosody and tone, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Derived languages

As with French, Portuguese is often noted for its contrastive use of nasal vowels and the large number of diphthongs. European Portuguese has 9 simple non-nasal vowel phonemes (one of which occurs only in unstressed syllables); Brazilian Portuguese has 7. Both dialects have 5 simple nasal vowel phonemes, and 10 oral and 4 nasal diphthongal phonemes. There are 19 consonant phonemes. European Portuguese differs from the dialects spoken in Brazil and the former Portuguese colonies by a marked velarization that affects vowels as well as c ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Derived languages, Portuguese language - Influence on other languages, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino, Portuguese language - Other romance languages, Portuguese language - Latin, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Lexical stress, Portuguese language - Prosody and tone, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - Sounds

Portuguese developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from Latin brought there by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. The language began to diverge from other Romance languages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions in the 5th century, and started to be used in written documents around the 9th century. By the 15th century it had become a mature language with a rich literature. In all aspects — phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax — Portuguese is essentia ...

See also:

Portuguese language, Portuguese language - History, Portuguese language - Derived languages, Portuguese language - Influence on other languages, Portuguese language - Classification and related languages, Portuguese language - Galician Spanish and Ladino, Portuguese language - Other romance languages, Portuguese language - Latin, Portuguese language - Geographic distribution, Portuguese language - Dialects, Portuguese language - Sounds, Portuguese language - Consonants, Portuguese language - Vowels, Portuguese language - Lexical stress, Portuguese language - Prosody and tone, Portuguese language - Grammar, Portuguese language - General, Portuguese language - Verbs, Portuguese language - Nouns pronouns and adjectives, Portuguese language - Demonstratives, Portuguese language - Vocabulary, Portuguese language - Writing system, Portuguese language - Spelling reforms, Portuguese language - Examples, Portuguese language - Notes

Read more here: » Portuguese language: Encyclopedia II - Portuguese language - History

The Institute's Portuguese cultural centres (Centros culturais portugueses) are centres whose aim is the promotion of cultural relations between Portugal and other countries, in particular in countries with which Portugal has strong historical and cultural ties. Instituto Camões - Locations.  Angola (Luanda)  Brazil (Brasília, São Paulo)  Cape Verde (Praia, Mindelo)  China (Beijing) and  Macau (Macau)  France (Paris)