|
- The Romanic Period:
The Portuguese language, which evolved from spoken Latin, developed on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula (now Portugal and the Spanish province of
Galicia) included in the province the Romans called Lusitania. When the Romans invaded the peninsula in 218 B.C., the people living in the region adopted
Latin, the Roman's language. From then until the ninth century, all spoke Romance, a language representing an intermediate stage between vulgar or common
Latin and modern Latin languages, which include Portuguese, Castilian, French and Galician.
From 409 AD to 711, the Portuguese vocabulary adopted many new words used by invading Germanic tribes. Among these were roubar (to steal), guerrear (to wage war),
and branco (white). The effects of the Germanic migrations on the spoken language was not uniform and broke the linguistic uniformity of the peninsula. Over a period
of time, this rupture led to a differentiation of the regional languages.
Beginning in 711, when the Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula, Arabic became the official language, although the vast majority of the population continued to speak
Romance. Arabic words that entered the Portuguese language during the Moor occupation included arroz (rice), alface (lettuce), alicate (pliers), and refém (hostage).
The period between the ninth century, when Latin-Portuguese documents first appeared, and the 11th century is considered one of linguistic transition. A few Portuguese
words appear in local Latin texts, but Portuguese (more specifically Galician-Portuguese, its forerunner) was spoken only in Lusitania.
- Modern Portuguese:
Portuguese entered its modern phase in the 16th century when the first grammars defined Portuguese morphology and syntax. When Luis de Camões wrote Os Lusíadas, in 1572,
the language was already close to its current structure of phrases and morphology. From then on, linguistic changes have been minor. When Portugal was under the domination
of Spain, from 1580 to 1640, Castilian words such as bobo (fool) and granizo (hail) were absorbed into the language. French influence during the eighteenth century changed
the Portuguese spoken in the homeland, making it different from the Portuguese spoken in the colonies.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Portuguese vocabulary absorbed new contributions. Words of Greco-Latin origin, reflecting technological advances, were added to the language.
Such words included automóvel (car) and televiSão (television). This was followed by English technical words from medical, astronautical, and computer sciences, such as checkup
and software. The onrush of new words led to the creation in 1990 of a commission of representatives of the various Portuguese-speaking countries. Its goal was to create a
uniform technical vocabulary and avoid the confusion that was occurring when different words were used to describe the same objects.
- History of the Portuguese Language in Brazil:
When Portugal first colonized Brazil, a process that began with discover in the year 1500, Tupi, or more precisely the Tupinambá, one of the languages
of the Tupi-Guarani family spoken by indians who lived on the Brazilian seacoast, was used along with Portuguese as the general language of the colony.
This was primarily because the Jesuit priests studied and taught the Tupi language. In 1757, Tupi was banned by royal decree, although the language had
already been overwhelmed by Portuguese spoken by the large number of immigrants from the mother country. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1759, Portuguese
became the language of the country. However, Portuguese inherited words associated with flora and fauna from indigenous languages. Among these words were
abacaxi (pineapple), mandioca (manioc flour), caju (cashew), tatu (armadillo), and piranha, the voracious fish, as well as proper and geographic names.
The Portuguese language in Brazil received a new source of contributions with the influx of African slaves. The African influence came primarily from the
Iorubá spoken by slaves from Nigeria. Some of these words also found their way to Europe. Iorubá contributions derived from words connected with religion
and the Afro-Brazilian cuisine. From the Angolan Quimbundo language came words such as caçula, meaning the youngest child, moleque (a street child), and
the dance samba.
During the 18th century, other differences between the American and European Portuguese developed. At that time Brazilian Portuguese failed to adopt linguistic
changes taking place in Portugal produced by French influence. The Brazilian Portuguese remained loyal to the pronunciation used at the time of its discovery.
However, when Don João, the Portuguese king, and the royal entourage took refuge in Brazil in 1808 (when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal), his presence
helped to reapproximate the Portuguese spoken in the cities to the Portuguese of Portugal.
After Brazilian independence in 1822, Brazilian Portuguese became influenced by Europeans who had migrated to the central and southern parts of the country.
This is the reason one finds in those areas variations in pronunciation and a few superficial lexical changes. These changes reflect the nationalities settling
in each area.
In the 20th century, the split between the Portuguese and Brazilian variants of Portuguese heightened as the result of new words for technological innovations.
This happened because Portuguese lacked a uniform procedure for adopting such words. Certain words took different forms in different countries. For example:
in Portugal one hears comboio, and in Brazil one hears trem, both meaning train. Autocarro in Portugal is the same thing as ônibus in Brazil, both meaning bus.
At the beginning of this century, the nationalism and the individualism of the Romantic movement began promoting the creation of a language norm based on the
Brazilian version of the Portuguese language. In 1922, the Modernists reintroduced this argument, promoting a need to break with traditional Portuguese models
and to adopt the Brazilian speech pattern. This opening by the Modernists led to the successful adoption of the Brazilian norm in literature.
- Local Dialects:
The common Brazilian speech is more consistent throughout the country than what is spoken in Portugal. This surprises many people, considering that Brazil is such
a large country. Comparing the various Brazilian dialects with those of the Portuguese spoken in Portugal leads us to conclude that they are fusions of different
inflectional forms of the mother tongue. Almost all the regional traits or characteristics of the standard Portuguese in Portugal are present either in the standard
Brazilian Portuguese or in some dialect in Brazil.
Because there is a lack of complete scientific data describing the differences between various regional dialects spoken in Brazil, we cannot classify them in the manner
that the dialects of continental Portuguese were classified. There is a proposal for classifying the Brazilian differences along pronunciation lines, a methodology that
is similar to the one used to classify European Portuguese. This method is based on vowel pronunciation (for example, pEgar (to take) can be pronounced with an open or
closed "e") and speech cadence. According to this proposal, it is possible to distinguish two groups of Brazilian dialects: those of the North and those of the South.
In the dialect of the North, one can also distinguish two varieties: the Amazonan and the Northeastern. In the South, we find four varieties: the Bahian, Fluminense,
Mineira and the Sulina.
Back to Basics
|
|