Languages of Portugal

The languages of Portugal are Portuguese, Mirandese, Portuguese Sign Language, Leonese and Caló, with the inclusion of other linguistic entities like argots and transitional languages. Historically, Celtic and Lusitanian were spoken in what is now Portugal.

Modern

Portuguese is practically universal in Portugal, but there are some specificities.

Dialects of Portuguese in Portugal Alentejan Portuguese Algarvian Portuguese Azorean Portuguese Beiran Portuguese Estremaduran Portuguese Northern Portuguese (interâmnico) Madeiran Portuguese Barranquenho – A transitional language spoken in Barrancos, originally part of the Alentejan dialect of Portuguese, but influenced by Spanish and Extremaduran. Caló – a mixed Iberian-Romani language spoken by the Romani people in Portugal. A Para-Romani language based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items through language shift by the Romani community. It is often used as an argot or secret language. Leonese – A language or variety of the Astur-Leonese group. Despite being mainly spoken in Spain, in the region of Leon, the Leonese language is spoken on a small village on the Portuguese side of the border, Riudeonore. The Riunorese dialect, influenced by Portuguese instead of Spanish, has an unknown number of speakers, it might be extinct, and if it is not, it has very few speakers. Minderico – A sociolect or argot spoken in Minde, extinct in what comes to its original use (being a speech only the merchants of Minde would understand), yet, still conserved. Mirandese – A language or variety of the Astur-Leonese group spoken in Tierra de Miranda in northeastern Portugal, recognized officially as a minority language in 1999. Portuguese Sign Language In addition, it is estimated that 59.6% of Portuguese adults (aged 18–64) spoke English, 21.5% spoke French, 14.8% spoke Spanish as foreign languages as of 2016.

Sample text

Romance languages

História de um louco criminoso (Story of a crazy criminal), written originally in Rionorese Leonese.

MirandeseLeonese (Rionorese)PortugueseEnglish *due to the fact that Minderico has no established grammar, merely a handful of invented adjectives and nouns using portuguese grammar, and due to the lack of information on it, it is not on the table.

*due to the lack of information on barranquenho, it is not on the table.

Caló The Lord's Prayer CalóEnglish

Historically Other languages have been extensively spoken in the territory of modern Portugal:

Pre-Roman languages

Proto-Celtic & Celtic languages Celtiberian language Gallaecian language Tartessian language Lusitanian language

Roman, Post-Roman and Medieval languages Arabic language Andalusi Arabic Classical Arabic Berber languages Germanic languages Gothic language Suebi language Vandalic language Latin language Vulgar Latin Iberian Romance languages Galician-Portuguese Astur-Leonese Mirandese language Mozarabic languages Judeo-Romance languages Judeo-Portuguese Scythian languages Alanic language

Languages of Portugal

Bron en licentie