The Portuguese Language
Portuguese (português, also língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated
in what is today Galicia (Spain) and northern Portugal. It is the official language
of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé
and Príncipe, and co-official with Chinese in the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau and Tetum
in East Timor.
Portuguese is a major world language, being ranked fifth among the world's languages
in number of native speakers (over 200 million), and first in South America (186
million, over 51% of the population). It is also a major lingua franca in Africa.
It spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th century as Portugal set up a vast colonial
and commercial empire (1415–1999), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau
in China. In that colonial period, many Portuguese creoles appeared around the world,
especially in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Portuguese is often nicknamed The language of Camões, after the author
of the Portuguese national epic The Lusiadas; The last flower of Latium
(Olavo Bilac); and The sweet language by Cervantes.
Portuguese Dialects
Portuguese is a pluricentric language. It has two main groups of dialects, those
of Brazil and those of the Old World. For historical reasons, the dialects of Africa
and Asia are generally closer to those of Portugal than the Brazilian dialects,
although in some aspects of their phonology, especially the pronunciation of unstressed
vowels, they resemble Brazilian Portuguese more than European Portuguese. They have
not been studied as exhaustively as European and Brazilian Portuguese.
In various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, Portuguese creoles are spoken,
but they are independent languages which should not be confused with Portuguese
itself. Some audio samples of some of the main dialects of Portuguese are available
below. There are some differences between the areas but these are the best approximations
possible. For example, the caipira dialect has some differences from the one of
Minas Gerais, but in general it is very close. A good example of Brazilian Portuguese
may be found in the capital city, Brasília, due to the generalized population from
all parts of the country.