Portuguese alphabet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Portuguese alphabet consists of the following 23 letters:
Although not used in vernacular terms, the letters "K", "W", and "Y" may appear in personal names, and in words derived from them. Apart from these letters, Portuguese makes use of the following accented characters:
These are not included in the official alphabet, and they do not have entries of their own in Portuguese dictionaries. When two words differ only in the presence or absence of a diacritic, the one without it is collated first. The trema on "Ü" is currently only used in Brazilian Portuguese.
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[edit] Letter names
The names of the letters are masculine. Some of them differ in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and European Portuguese (EP).
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation (IPA) |
|---|---|---|
| Aa | á | /a/ |
| Bb | bê | /be/ |
| Cc | cê | /se/ |
| Dd | dê | /de/ |
| Ee | é or ê | /ɛ/, /e/ |
| Ff | efe | /ˈɛfi/ (BP), /ˈɛfɨ/ (EP) |
| Gg | gê or guê | /ʒe/, /ge/ |
| Hh | agá | /a'ga/ (BP), /ɐ'ga/ (EP) |
| Ii | i | /i/ |
| Jj | jota | /ˈʒɔtɐ/ |
| Kk* | cá (BP) or capa (EP) | /ka/, /ˈkapɐ/ |
| Ll | ele | /ˈɛli/ (BP), /ˈɛlɨ/ (EP) |
| Mm | eme | /ˈẽmi/ (BP), /ˈɛmɨ/ (EP) |
| Nn | ene | /ˈẽni/ (BP), /ˈɛnɨ/ (EP) |
| Oo | ó | /ɔ/ |
| Pp | pê | /pe/ |
| quê | /ke/ | |
| Rr | erre | /ˈɛʁi/ (BP), /ˈɛʁɨ/ (EP) |
| Ss | esse | /ˈɛsi/ (BP), /ˈɛsɨ/ (EP) |
| Tt | tê | /te/ |
| Uu | u | /u/ |
| Vv | vê | /ve/ |
| Ww* | dáblio | /ˈdabli̯u/ |
| Xx | xis | /ʃis/ or /ʃiʃ/ |
| Yy* | ípsilon | /ˈipsilõ/ (BP), /ˈipsɨlɔn/ (EP) |
| Zz | zê | /ze/ |
*Not part of the official alphabet. Used only in foreign words, personal names, and hybrid words derived from them.
Alternative names:
- W: duplo vê in Portugal;
- Y: ípsilo or i grego in Brazil and Portugal; ipsilão or ipsilone in Brazil.
[edit] Status of K, W, Y
The letter y was never used consistently in medieval Portuguese. During the Renaissance, some authors reintroduced it in words of Latin or Greek origin, for etymology, or as a semivowel in falling diphthongs, like in Spanish. The Portuguese spelling reform of 1911, and the later spelling convention signed between Portugal and Brazil in 1931, however, abolished etymological spellings and decreed that semivowel y should be written i, since it is an allophone of the vowel /i/.
The letters k and w were always uncommon in Portuguese spelling, although they appeared occasionally in some proper nouns. Nevertheless, the use of these three letters is allowed in hybrid words derived from foreign names, such as keynesiano and newtoniano, listed even in the most authoritative Portuguese dictionaries. They are sorted as in English.
[edit] Personal names
Family names are exempt from the above restrictions. Thus, a foreigner who emigrates to a Portuguese speaking country and whose family name has one of these letters does not have to change its spelling.
In Brazil, these letters are also widely accepted for given names, in all official records and documents. In fact, those three letters are quite popular in made-up first and middle names, such as Waldirci and Deyvide, or in the names of Japanese-Brazilians, such as Satiko and Yojiro. Family names have often retained their pre-1940 spellings — in particular, final y was retained in many names of native (chiefly Tupi-Guarani) origin, such as Guaracy.
However, the use of diacritics in personal names is generally restricted to the letter-diacritic combinations above, and often also by the applicable Portuguese spelling rules. So, for example, a Brazilian birth registrar may accept Niccoló, Schwartz, or Agüeiro; but he is likely to object to Niccolò, Nuñez, Molière, or Gödel, and possibly even to Çambel or Qadi.
Portugal is more restrictive than Brazil in what concerns given names. They must be either Portuguese or adapted to the Portuguese orthography and sound, and should also be easily discerned as either a masculine or feminine name by a Portuguese speaker. There are lists of previously accepted names, and names not included therein must be subject to consultation of the national director of registries.[1]
[edit] Trivia
The Vietnamese alphabet is based on the Portuguese alphabet, by the work of 16th century Catholic missionaries.
[edit] Keyboard layout
There are two QWERTY-based keyboard layouts used for Portuguese.
Additionally, there are two variants of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard designed for Brazilian Portuguese.
Typewriters in Portuguese-speaking countries generally have a separate extra key for "Ç", and a dead key for each diacritic except the cedilla; so that "Á" is obtained by typing first the acute accent, then the letter "A". The same thing happens with computer keyboards, except when using an "English - International" keyboard layout, where to type "Ç" one should first type the acute accent and then the letter "C".
The JLG Extended Keyboard Layout for US is a freeware that allows writing in Portuguese from a US QWERTY keyboard layout. More information at the QWERTY and accents article.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Portal do Cidadão (Portuguese)
[edit] References
- Estrela, Edite A questão ortográfica — Reforma e acordos da língua portuguesa (1993) Editorial Notícias
- Full text of the Pequeno Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa (Abridged Ortographic Vocabulary of the Portuguese Language) published by the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1943.
- Text of the decree of the Brazilian government, in 1971, amending the ortography adopted in 1943 (no updated version of the PVOLP was published).
- IILP — Orthographic Agreement of 1990 (PDF - in Portuguese)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Omniglot's page on Portuguese Includes a recording with the names of the letters and the most common pronunciation of all characters, by a Brazilian speaker.
- Online Keyboard for Portuguese
