European Portuguese
European Portuguese | |
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Portuguese of Portugal Iberian portuguese Peninsular Portuguese | |
Português europeu | |
Native to | Portugal |
Native speakers | 10 million (2012)[1] |
Indo-European
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Dialects |
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Official status | |
Official language in | Portugal |
Regulated by | Academia das Ciências de Lisboa |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
IETF | pt-PT |
Dialectical continuum of Iberian Romance languages including European Portuguese and its dialects.[image reference needed] |
European Portuguese (Portuguese: português europeu, pronounced [puɾtuˈɣez ewɾuˈpew]), also known as Portuguese of Portugal (Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese (Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese (Portuguese: português peninsular), refers to the dialects of the Portuguese language spoken in Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea-Bissau. The word "European" was chosen to avoid the clash of "Portuguese Portuguese" ("português português") as opposed to Brazilian Portuguese.
Portuguese is a
Phonology
This section needs expansion with: details of the consonants. You can help by adding to it. (December 2020) |
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Vowel classification
Portuguese uses
European Portuguese possesses quite a wide range of vowel allophones:
- All vowels are lowered and retracted before /l/.[3]
- All vowels are raised and advanced before alveolar, palato-alveolar and palatal consonants.[3]
- Word-finally, /ɨ/ as well as unstressed /u/ and /ɐ/ are voiceless [ɯ̥̽, u̥, ə̥].[3]
The realization of /ɐ/ in this contrast occurs in a limited morphological context, namely in verbal conjugation between the first person plural present and past perfect indicative forms of verbs such as pensamos ('we think') and pensámos ('we thought').[4][5] proposes that it is a kind of crasis rather than phonemic distinction of /a/ and /ɐ/. It means that in falamos 'we speak' there is the expected prenasal /a/-raising: [fɐˈlɐmuʃ], while in falámos 'we spoke' there are phonologically two /a/ in crasis: /faˈlaamos/ > [fɐˈlamuʃ]. Close-mid vowels and open-mid vowels (/e ~ ɛ/ and /o ~ ɔ/) contrast only when they are stressed.[6] In unstressed syllables, they occur in complementary distribution.
According to Mateus and d'Andrade (2000:19),[7] in European Portuguese, the stressed [ɐ] only occurs in the following three contexts:
- Before a palatal consonant (such as telha [ˈtɐʎɐ])
- Before the palatal front glide (such as lei [ˈlɐj])
- Before a nasal consonant (such as cama [ˈkɐmɐ])
In
European Portuguese "e caduc"
European Portuguese possesses a
- Traditionally, it is pronounced when "e" is unstressed; e.g. verdade [vɨɾˈðaðɨ], perigo [pɨˈɾiɣu].
- However, if "e" is initial, then it is pronounced [i]; e.g. energia [inɨɾˈʒiɐ], exemplo [iˈzẽplu].
- When "e" is adjacent to another vowel, it becomes [i]; e.g. real [ʁiˈal].
- However, notice that when the e caduc is preceded by a semi-vowel, it may become [e ~ ɛ] poesia [pwɛˈziɐ], quietude [kjɛˈtuðɨ].
- For the most part, unstressed "i" is not lowered to /ɨ/. However, when it is adjacent to a palatal consonant, [ɲ, ʎ, ʃ, ʒ], or to [i, ĩ] in the preceding/following syllable, it usually does become /ɨ/. E.g. ministro [mɨˈniʃtɾu], príncipe [ˈpɾĩsɨpɨ], artilhar [ɐɾtɨˈʎaɾ], caminhar [kɐmɨˈɲaɾ], pistola [pɨʃˈtɔlɐ], pijama [pɨˈʒɐmɐ].
- The Portuguese e caduc may be elided, becoming in some instances a syllabic consonant; e.g. verdade [vɾ̩ˈðað], perigo [ˈpɾiɣu], energia, [inɾ̩ˈʒiɐ], ministro [mˈniʃtɾu], príncipe [ˈpɾĩsp], artilhar [ɐɾtˈʎaɾ], caminhar [kɐmˈɲaɾ], pistola [pʃ̩ˈtɔlɐ].
There are very few minimal pairs for this sound: some examples include pregar [pɾɨˈɣaɾ] ('to nail') vs. pregar [pɾɛˈɣaɾ] ('to preach'; the latter stemming from earlier preegar < Latin praedicāre),[9] sê [ˈse] ('be!') vs. sé [ˈsɛ] ('see/cathedral') vs. se [sɨ] ('if'), and pêlo [ˈpelu] ('hair') vs. pélo [ˈpɛlu] ('I peel off') vs. pelo [pɨlu] ('for the'),[10] after orthographic changes, all these three words are now spelled pelo.
Geographic variation
European Portuguese is divided into Northern and Southern varieties. The prestige norms are based on two varieties: that of Coimbra and that of Lisbon.[11]
Phonetically, differences emerge within Continental Portuguese. For example, in northern Portugal, the phonemes /b/ and /v/ are less differentiated than in the rest of the Portuguese speaking world (similar to the other languages of the Iberian peninsula). Also, the original
Portuguese is spoken by a significant minority in Andorra and Luxembourg. There are also immigrant communities in France and Germany.
Galician
The Galician language, spoken in the Autonomous Community of Galicia in Spain, is very closely related to Portuguese. There is, as yet, no consensus among writers and linguists on whether Galician and Portuguese are still the same language (in fact they were for many centuries, Galician-Portuguese having developed in the region of the former Roman province of Gallaecia, from the Vulgar Latin that had been introduced by Roman soldiers, colonists and magistrates during the time of the Roman Empire) or distinct yet closely related languages.
Galicia has expressed interest in joining the CPLP as an associate observer pending permission from the Spanish government.
Prominence
The Instituto Camões is a Portuguese international institution dedicated to the worldwide promotion of the Portuguese language, Portuguese culture, and international aid, on behalf of the Government of Portugal.
RTP is the Portuguese public television network and also serves as a vehicle for European-Portuguese-providing media content throughout the world. There is a branch of RTP Internacional named RTP África, which serves Lusophone Africa.
In estimating the size of the speech community for European Portuguese, one must take into account the consequences of the Portuguese diaspora: immigrant communities located throughout the world in the Americas, Australia, Europe and Africa.
See also
- Portuguese language
- Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa de 1990
- Macanese Portuguese
- Indian Portuguese
- Malaccan Creole Portuguese
- Galician Portuguese
- Cape Verdean Portuguese
References
- ^ Portuguese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ISBN 9781853597787.
- ^ a b c d Cruz-Ferreira (1995:92)
- .
- ^ Spahr (2013:6)
- ^ Major (1992:7)
- ^ Mateus, Maria Helena; d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000). The Phonology of Portuguese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 19.
- ^ "Aprender Português Europeu - Guia de Pronúncia das Vogais" [Learn European Portuguese - Vowel Pronunciation Guide]. european-portuguese.info (in Portuguese).
- ^ Harris, Martin; Vincent, Nigel (1988). The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 972-21-0445-4.
- ISBN 3-11-012855-1.
Works cited
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995). "European Portuguese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 25 (2): 90–94. S2CID 249414876.
- Major, Roy C. (1992), "Stress and Rhythm in Brazilian Portuguese", in Koike, Dale April; Macedo, Donaldo P (eds.), Romance Linguistics: The Portuguese Context, Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, ISBN 0-89789-297-6
- Spahr, Christopher (2013). "Confronting the European Portuguese Low Vowel Distinction" (PDF).
External links
- Description of the pronunciation rules of European Portuguese Archived 2013-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Description of the pronunciation rules of Brazilian Portuguese
- Tables with the pronunciation of each vowel and consonant letter in European Portuguese
- Article on variation in European Portuguese
- On gerund clauses of Portuguese dialects