Portuguese
Portuguese is spoken by around 200 million people throughout the world, and
is the official language of seven countries including Portugal (9.9 million),
Brazil (151 million), Mozambique (15.3 million) and Angola (10.3 million) 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).
Following the Moorish occupation of Iberia in 711 A.D. and subsequent invasions
by XIth century Christians, the Galician and Portuguese dialects began to split
into separate languages (although some linguists consider Galician and Portuguese
the same language with different written norms). Portuguese entered its modern
phase in the 16th century and has changed little since. In the vast noncontiguous
areas of the world where Portuguese is spoken there are differences and variations
in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, although 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 Portugal first began to colonize Brazil in the year 1500, Brazilian Portuguese
was influenced by both Tupi, one of the languages spoken by the indians living
on the Brazilian seacoast, and later, with the influx of African slaves, by
African languages. Prior to the 19th century however, Brazilian Portuguese remained
fairly loyal to the pronunciation used at the time of its colonization. Subsequent
interaction with European immigrants and the presence of the Portuguese king
in Brazil in the early 19th century, have acted to reapproximate Brazilian Portuguese
with the Portuguese of Portugal. However, at the beginning of the 20th century,
the nationalism and individualism of the Romantic movement began promoting the
creation of a language norm based on the Brazilian version of the Portuguese
language.
Source:
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