The Portuguese language originates from Vulgar Latin. It is adopted by about 230 million people, making it the eighth most spoken language on the planet. It is present on four continents.
Besides Brazil, Portuguese is also the language of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, São Tome and Principe and, of course, Portugal. It is now the second language of some countries in Africa, America, in addition to Macau and Goa.
Since 1986, Portuguese has been one of the official languages of the European Union. In 1996, the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) was created. The entity's objective is to increase cooperation between countries, create partnerships and spread the language.
Origin
The evolution of the language is divided into five periods:
- pre-Romanesque: arising from the Latin vulgaris (sermo vulgaris). Vulgar Latin was the language taken by soldiers to the conquered areas in the Roman Empire because it was the official language of Rome.
- Romanesque: are the languages that resulted from the differentiation or from the Latin taken by the Roman conquerors. With successive transformations, Latin is replaced by dialects. From these, from the transition started in the 5th century, the other Romance languages emerged four centuries later: French, Spanish, Italian, Sardinian, Provençal, Rhetic, Franco-Provencal, Dalmatian and Romanian. Portuguese appears in the 13th century.
- Galician-Portuguese: was the language of Galicia, in present-day Spain, and of the Portuguese regions of Douro and Minho. It remains until the 14th century.
- Old Portuguese: is the language spoken between the 13th century and the first half of the 16th century. It is in this period that grammatical studies of the Portuguese language begin.
- Modern Portuguese: is the language currently spoken in Brazil and in other Portuguese-speaking countries.
Summary
The unification of Portugal, which took place in the 13th century, is also the mark for defining a language for the country. With the borders defined, Galician becomes the official language of the country, with the language being defined as Galician Portuguese.
It is also in the 13th century that the first publications with entries similar to the current language are found.
History of the Portuguese Language in Brazil
It was the process of Portuguese territorial expansion that took the language to four continents. Wherever it arrived, the language suffered from local influences.
In Brazil, for example, there are words in Portuguese that are of indigenous or black origin. Brazil also has immense diversity.
The term used to classify dialects is dialectology. In Brazil, scholars consider six dialectological groups.
The group from the Amazon region is called Amazon, and the northeast, northeast. The rest of the country is divided into Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and southern. The region located in the north of the State of Mato Grosso is classified as uncharacteristic.
New Orthographic Agreement of the Portuguese Language
Lusophone countries signed, on October 12, 1990, the New Orthographic Agreement of the Portuguese Language. The objective was to unify the grammar rules for countries that adopt the language.
Deployment is gradual. For Brazil and Portugal it would end in December 2015, but countries like Cape Verde have until 2019 to complete the implementation.
The agreement was signed by Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.
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