PORTUGUESE
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PORTUGUESE GEOGRAPHY
Portuguese Language in the World Between 170 and 210 million people speak Portuguese throughout the world today. Portuguese ranks eighth among the most spoken languages in the world (third among the western languages, after English and Castilian) and is the official language of seven countries: Angola (10.3 million inhabitants), Brazil (151 million), Cabo Verde (346,000), Guinea-Bissau (1 million), Mozambique (15.3 million), Portugal (9.9 million), and São Tomé and Príncipe islands (126,000).
In 1986, Portuguese became an official language in the European Union (EU), formerly the European Economic Community, when Portugal was admitted to the organization. As a result of the Mercosul agreements that created the Southern Latin American Common Market, who includes Brazil, Portuguese is being taught as a foreign language in the other member countries. In 1996, was created the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP in Portuguese). The purpose of this community is to increase cooperation and cultural exchanges among the member countries, to create a uniform Portuguese standard and to spread the language.
In the vast noncontiguous areas of the world where Portuguese is spoken there are differences and variations in the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary (this is the case with every living language). Though we cannot deny these differences, they are not sufficient to challenge the basic structure of the language. Despite its history, Portuguese continues to maintain its considerable cohesion among its many variations.
When we study the forms which the Portuguese language has assumed in Africa, Asia and Oceania, we must distinguish two varieties, the Creole ones and the non-Creole ones. The Creole varieties were the result of contacts established beginning in the 15th century with indigenous languages. The Creoles, more than dialects, must be considered as languages derived from Portuguese because of the important differences between them and the Portuguese mother tongue.
The Portuguese Language in Europe In the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, where Galician-Portuguese was spoken, we find three large language groups with well-defined phonetic characteristics, mainly concerning the way the sibilants are pronounced - utilization or not of the same phoneme in roSa (rose) and paSSo (step) or in Cinco (five) and Seis (six):
The border between the two Portuguese dialects noted above crosses Portugal from the northeast to the southeast. It should also be noted that a few Portuguese regions have their own peculiar phonetic characteristics. These include the northern region that takes in part of Minho and the Douro seaside; an extensive area of Beira-Baixa and the Alto-Alentejo, primarily in the central-southern part of the country and also the Algarve in the central-southern area.
The dialects spoken in the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira represent an extension of the mainland Portuguese dialects. These could be included in the central-southern group. The exceptions are the islands of São Miguel and Madeira, which, independent of each other, are moving away from the central southern norm by adding peculiarities, a few of which are also found on the mainland.
The Galician Several linguist and intellectuals defends the linguistic unity of Galician-Portuguese until today. According to this point of view, the modern Galician and Portuguese languages would be parts of a same linguistic system, with different written norms (as British and American English or European and Brazilian Portuguese). The official position in Galicia, however, is to consider the Portuguese and the Galician as autonomous languages, even if they share some characteristics.
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