European Portuguese also known as Portuguese of Portugal, Peninsular Portuguese, Iberian Portuguese refers to the Portuguese language spoken in Portugal. The word “European” was chosen to avoid the clash of “Portuguese Portuguese” as opposed to Brazilian Portuguese. Portuguese is a pluricentric language, i.e., it is the same language with several interacting codified standard forms in many countries. Portuguese is a Latin based language, with Gaelic, Germanic, Greek and Arabic influence. It was spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before as Galician-Portuguese. With the formation of Portugal as a country in the 12th century, the language evolved into Portuguese. In the Spanish province of Galicia, Northern border of Portugal, the native language is Galician. Both Portuguese and Galician are very similar and natives can understand each other as they share the same recent common ancestor. Portuguese and Spanish are different languages, although they share 89% of their lexicon.
Phonology
Vowel classification
Portuguese uses vowel height to contrast stressed syllables with unstressed syllables; the vowels tend to be raised to when they are unstressed. The dialects of Portugal are characterized by reducing vowels to a greater extent than others. Falling diphthongs are composed of a vowel followed by one of the high vowels or ; although rising diphthongs occur in the language as well, they can be interpreted as hiatuses. European Portuguese possesses quite a wide range of vowel allophones:
All vowels are lowered and retracted before.
All vowels are raised and advanced before alveolar, palato-alveolar and palatal consonants.
Word-finally, as well as unstressed and are voiceless.
The realization of this contrast occurs in a limited morphological context, namely in verbs conjugation between the first person plural present and past perfect indicative forms of verbs such as pensamos and pensámos. proposes that it is a kind of crasis rather than phonemic distinction of and. It means that in falamos 'we speak' there is the expected prenasal -raising:, while in falámos 'we spoke' there are phonologically two in crasis:. Close-mid vowels and open-mid vowels contrast only when they are stressed. In unstressed syllables, they occur in complementary distribution. According to Mateus and d'Andrade, in European Portuguese, the stressed only occurs in the following three contexts:
Traditionally, it is pronounced when "e" is unstressed; e.g. verdade, perigo.
However, if "e" is not surrounded by any vowel, then it is pronounced ; e.g. energia, exemplo.
When "e" is surrounded by another vowel, it becomes ; e.g. real.
However, notice that when the e caduc is preceded by a semi-vowel, it may become poesia, quietude.
Theoretically, unstressed "i" cannot be lowered to. However, when it is surrounded by or any palatal sound, it usually becomes. E.g. ministro, príncipe, artilhar, caminhar, pistola, pijama.
* The Portuguese "e caduc" may be elided, becoming in some instances a syllabic consonant; e.g. verdade, perigo, energia,, ministro, príncipe, artilhar, caminhar, pistola.
There are very few minimal pairs for this sound: some examples include pregar vs. pregar , sê vs. sé vs. se , and pêlo vs. pélo vs. pelo , 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. Phonetically, differences emerge within Continental Portuguese. For example, in northern Portugal, the phonemes and are less differentiated than in the rest of the Portuguese speaking world. Also, the original alveolar trill remains common in many northern dialects, like Transmontano, Portuense, Minhoto, and much of Beirão. Another regionalism can be found in the south and the islands with the use of the gerund in the present progressive tense rather than the infinitive. Portuguese is spoken by a significant minority in Andorra and Luxembourg. The Principality of Andorra has shown interest in membership in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. 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 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 Institue 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.
