Vergleich von Spanisch und Portugiesisch
Spanish (Castillian) and Portuguese are two of the most widely spoken languages in the world today. Even though they are closely related, to the point of having a moderate degree of mutual intelligibility, there are also important differences between them.
Phonology
Historical divergence
The current phonetic divergence of both languages is the result of different phonetic processes that took place in each of them.
Early differences
The evolution of Latin consonant clusters took markedly different routes in the two languages (Spanish and Portuguese words like pleno, ocular, nocturno/noturno, tremular, and so on, are not taken account in the examples below since they were re-adopted directly from Latin during Renaissance and Baroque Ages):
| Latin | Spanish | Portuguese | |
| octo | ocho | oito | eight |
| nocte(m) | noche | noite | night |
| mŭltu(m) | mucho | muito | many/much |
| argilla(m) | arcilla | argila | clay |
| clamāre | llamar | chamar | to call |
| flamma(m) | llama | chama | flame |
| plēnu(m) | lleno | cheio | full |
| blandu(m) | blando | brando | soft |
| homĭne(m) > hom'ne | hombre | homem | man |
| tremulāre > trem'lare | temblar | tremer | to tremble |
| cāsĕu(m) | queso | queijo | cheese |
| alĭu(m) | ajo | alho | garlic |
| ocŭlu(m) > oc'lu | ojo | olho | eye |
From Latin to Romance, Spanish does not drop single intervocalic and , which is characteristic of Portuguese:
| Latin | Spanish | Portuguese | |
| generāle(m) | general | geral (arch. gẽeral) | general (adj.) |
| volāre | volar | voar | to fly |
| tenēre | tener | ter (arch. tẽer) | to have |
| Luna(m) | Luna | Lua (arch. Lũa) | Moon |
| caelu(m) | cielo | céu (arch. ceo) | sky |
| arēna(m) | arena | areia (arch. arẽa) | sand |
Latin double intervocalic ll () turns into Spanish ll and Portuguese l; Latin nn () becomes Spanish ñ ( — ñ was initially a shorthand for nn) and Portuguese n.
| Latin | Spanish | Portuguese | English |
| castellu(m) | castillo | castelo | castle |
| canna(m) | caña | cana | reed |
| annu(m) | año | ano | year |
See the articles on the Spanish language and the Portuguese language, for other differences and more examples.
Later divergence
Since the late Middle Ages, both languages have gone through more sound shifts and mergers of phonemes which set them farther apart.
| Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| v → b intervocalic s → ss |
c/ç → ss z → intervocalic s |
In particular, the evolution of the sibilants took different paths in each language. In Spanish, the medieval voiced sibilants, written s between vowels, z, and j/g, merged with the voiceless sibilants ss, c/ç, and x, respectively. In Portuguese, it was the affricate sibilants c/ç, z, and ch which merged with the fricative sibilants, written ss, s between vowels, and x. Spanish kept the distinction between ch and medieval x (now written j), and the Spanish of Castile kept the distinction between ss (now written s) and medieval c/ç (now written c/z). See Spanish phonology: historical sound changes, for more details. On the other hand, most dialects of Portuguese have kept the distinction between b and v, and the medieval values of the graphemes j/g, lh, intervocalic s, and x.
*In many regions, c/ç/z further merged with ss/s (seseo).
A comparison between contemporary Spanish and Portuguese
Although the vocabularies of Spanish and Portuguese are quite similar, phonetically Portuguese is somewhat closer to Catalan or to French. It is often claimed that the complex phonology of Portuguese compared to Spanish explains why it is generally not intelligible to Spanish speakers despite the strong lexical similarity between the two languages.
The following considerations are based on a comparison of standard versions of Spanish and Portuguese. Apparent divergence of the information below from anyone's personal pronunciation may indicate one's idiolect (or dialect) diverges from the mentioned standards. Information on Portuguese phonology is based on Celso Pedro Luft ("Novo Manual de Português", 1971). Information on Spanish phonology based on Manuel Seco ("Gramática Esencial del Español, 1994).
Comparing the phonemic inventory of both languages, a noticeable divergence stands out. First, Portuguese has more phonemes than Spanish. Also, both languages have phonemes that are not shared by the other.
Consonants
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, Standard Spanish has the following consonants:
- labial: , , , and
- dental and alveolar: , , , , , (flap), (trill, written r- or -rr-), and in some regions (written z/c)
- palatal: , (in many American dialects, these two have merged into the latter), , and (written ch)
- velar: , , and (written j/g)
Regional, dialectal variations (seseo, yeísmo and others) may subtract consonats from the list but do not cause enough divergence to hinder intelligibility among different dialects.
Portuguese has the following consonants:
- labial: , , , , and .
- dental and alveolar: (with ), (with ), , , , , and (flap).
- palatal: , , (written x/ch), and (written j/g)
- velar: , , and (written r-, -r, or -rr-)
From the presentation given above Spanish counts 17-19 consonants, while Portuguese counts 19. However, several Portuguese consonants have special allophones or neutralizations (often in the syllable coda), which complicate the correspondence between spelling and pronunciation; see Portuguese orthography, for more information.
Vowels
Spanish vowels are the same found in Classical Latin: , being one of the few European languages limited to them. It features also two semivowels, and , that appear in diphthongs, although these can be considered allophones of the vowels and , respectively.
Portuguese has more vowels:
- Oral vowels: (the vowels of medieval Vulgar Latin), and, in European Portuguese, also .
- Nasal vowels:
While Spanish are mid vowels, Portuguese are close-mid. Portuguese diverges from Spanish in having a full set of nasal vowels, which, according to historical linguistics, arose from the assimilation of the nasal consonants and in syllable coda. Thus, some authors regard the nasal vowels of Portuguese as allophones of the oral vowels . In Brazilian Portuguese, appears in complementary distribution with , and is replaced with or . Portuguese has also nasal dipththongs.
Vocabulary
Spanish and Portuguese share a fairly great amount of words that are spelled either identically (although they may be pronounced slightly different), almost identically (though they may be pronounced more or less the same) or predictably similar. Statistics are yet to be compiled, but an educated guess (based on word frequency) is that about 65% or more (up to 85% in technical texts) is composed by words that have the same root and the same meaning.Vorlage:Citation needed
Vocabulary divergence between the two language arises from the following factors:
- Different orthographies (causing words to be spelled different, in spite of having the same origin): mayo / maio (for "May")
- Different phonemic inventory: cañón / canhão (for "cannon")
- Different linguistic policies over the centuries (Spanish kept most of the Mozarabic vocabulary of Arabic origin, while Portuguese did not have a Mozarabic substratum as big and replaced it gradually with Latin roots): albañil / pedreiro (for "stonemason")
- Different influences from other European languages during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Portuguese suffered a great deal of French influence, while Spanish was both more autonomous and more Mediterranean-oriented)
- Different influences in recent times (Amerindian languages, French, English and mutual influence): piña / abacaxi (for "pineapple")
- Words that are peculiar to either language: adosado ("in twos") has no Portuguese counterpart, while saudade is typical Portuguese
- Words that look similar but mean different things (false friends): cerca means "close" in Spanish, but "fence" in Portuguese; cola means "tail" in Spanish, but "glue" in Portuguese (although the word exists in Spanish with exactly the same meaning, is little used nowadays). Consider the following paragraph, taken from Manuel Seco's grammar and compare it to the Portuguese rendition below and notice the extensive vocabulary similarity and the slight changes of word order:
- Pero, a pesar de esta variedad de posibilidades que la voz posee, sería muy pobre instrumento de comunicación si no contara más que con ella. La capacidad de expresión del hombre no dispondría de más medios que la de los animales. La voz, sola, es para el hombre apenas una materia informe, que para convertirse en un instrumento perfecto de comunicación debe ser sometida a un cierto tratamiento. Esa manipulación que recibe la voz son las "articulaciones".
- Porém, apesar desta variedade de possibilidades que a voz possui, seria um instrumento de comunicação muito pobre se não contasse com mais além dela. A capacidade de expressão do homem não disporia de mais meios que a dos animais. A voz, somente, é para o homem apenas uma matéria informe, que para converter-se num instrumento perfeito de comunicação deve ser submetida a um certo tratamento. Essa manipulação que a voz recebe são as "articulações".
Grammar
Broadly speaking, the grammars of Portuguese and Spanish are not too far apart. Nevertheless, there are some differences between them which can be hurdles for people acquainted with one of the languages who attempt to learn the other.
Use of the definite article
In many varieties of Portuguese, personal names are normally preceded by a definite article, a trait also found in Catalan. This is a relatively recent development, which some Brazilian dialects have not adopted yet, most notably in the Brazilian Northeast. In those dialects of Portuguese that do regularly use definite articles before proper nouns, the article may be omitted for extra formality, or to show distance in a literary narrative. Compare, for example, Eng. "Mary left", Sp. "María salió", Port. "A Maria saiu."
In addition, in Portuguese the definite article may be used before possessive adjectives, which is not possible in Spanish. E.g. Eng. "This is my brother", Sp. "Éste es mi hermano", Portuguese: "Este é o meu irmão."
Personal a
Spanish employs a preposition before the direct object of a transitive verb when it denotes a person, the so-called "personal a". In Portuguese, this is most unusual. It is occasionally found in formal texts, like the Biblical commandment Amar a Deus sobre todas as coisas, "To love God above all else", but it sounds archaic. Since direct objects are typically not preceded by a preposition, it is easy to tell them apart from indirect objects, which are always preceded by a preposition, and the analogue of leísmo is less of an issue than in Spanish. Laísmo and loísmo never occur in Portuguese.
Dative se
The Spanish construction, se lo dio, means either "[He/she] gave it to him" or "[He/she] gave it to himself". Such a thing is unknown in Portuguese (or any other Romance language),
Lat. dedit illis illu,
Sp. > dio (i)lli (el)lo > dio ge lo > diógelo (arch.) > dióselo (rare, standard prefers se lo dio),
Port. > deu (i)lli (l)o > deu lhe (l)o > deu-lho
So modern Spanish does not make difference between reflexive pronoun se and dative se, note this did not happen in archaic Spanish: diógelo, "he gave it to him", dióselo, "he gave it to himself", the ancient g sound (similar to that of English) was replaced by s in the 14th-15th centuries (cfr. Sp. coger, "to catch", but cosecha, "harvest", Port. colher and colheita, both from Lat. colligĕre).
Note that standard pattern should be *le lo dio, but such a construction does not exist and it is not correct.
Verb "to be"
Spanish and Portuguese have two main copulas, ser and estar. For the most part, the use of these verbs is the same in both languages, but there are a few cases where it differs. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese is in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations one way or another that are made in certain constructions. For example, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case it follows the general rule regarding state/essence.
Auxiliary verb of perfect tenses
In Spanish and other Romance languages, compound perfect tenses are constructed with a verb derived from Latin habere. This used to be the case in Portuguese, too, but in recent centuries the verb ter, from Latin tenere, has been steadily overtaking haver, although the latter is still used with some frequency in writing and in formal spoken registers. While ter is used as auxiliary by other Iberian languages, it is much more pervasive in Portuguese. Compare, for instance, Sp. "Había comido cuando mi madre volvió" with Port. "Tinha comido quando a minha mãe voltou" "I had eaten when my mother came back."
Verb forms ending in -ra-
A class of false friends between the two languages is composed of the verb forms with endings in -ra-, such as cantara, cantaras, cantáramos, and so on. Spanish has two forms for the imperfect subjunctive, one with endings in -se- and another with endings in -ra- (e.g. cantase, cantara; I would sing), which are usually interchangeable. In Portuguese, only the former has the same value; the latter is employed as a synthetic pluperfect indicative, i.e. the equivalent to Spanish había cantado (I had sung). Although there is a strong tendency to use a verb phrase instead in the spoken language, like in Spanish and English, Ele tinha cantado "He had sung", the simple tense is still frequent in literature.
Personal infinitive
It is possible in Portuguese for a verb in the infinitive to agree with its subject, often showing who is supposed to perform a certain act; cf. É necessário voltares "It is necessary (for you) to return", É necessário voltarmos "It is necessary (for us) to return." In Spanish, the same idea would be expressed using the subjunctive, Es necesario que vuelvas "It is necessary that you return", and Es necesario que volvamos "It is necessary that we return", respectively. It is possible in Portuguese for a verb in the infinitive to agree with its subject, often showing who is supposed to perform a certain act; cf. É necessário voltares "It is necessary (for you) to return", É necessário voltarmos "It is necessary (for us) to return." In Spanish, the same idea would be expressed using the subjunctive, Es necesario que vuelvas "It is necessary that you return", and Es necesario que volvamos "It is necessary that we return", respectively. The inflected infinitive is mandatory in a few infinitive clauses and forbidden in some others, but the choice between it and the uninflected infinitive is otherwise very subjective, and governed by stylistic criteria.
Future subjunctive
This tense, developed by medieval Ibero-Romance, but now old-fashioned in Spanish, remains in vernacular use in Portuguese (in effect, it does not show any signs of being falling from favour). It appears in subordinate clauses that denote a condition which must be fulfilled in the future, so that the main clause will happen. Spanish and English will use the present tense in this type of clause. Contrast the following two sentences.
- Si yo fuera [imperfect subjunctive] rey, acabaría con el hambre. (Spanish)
- Se eu fosse [imperfect subjunctive] rei, acabaria com a fome. (Portuguese)
- If I were king, I would end hunger. (English)
- Si soy [present indicative] elegido presidente, cambiaré la ley. (Spanish)
- Se for [future subjunctive] eleito presidente, mudarei a lei. (Portuguese)
- If am elected president, I will change the law. (English)
The first situation is imaginary; we know that the speaker is not a king. But the second statement expresses a future possibility; the speaker may yet be elected president.
For a different example, a father speaking to his son might say:
- When you are older, you will understand. (English)
- Cuando seas [present subjunctive] mayor, comprenderás. (Spanish)
- Quando fores [future subjunctive] mais velho, compreenderás. (Portuguese)
Not all subordinate clauses of this kind require the future subjunctive, however, and sometimes the present subjunctive is used where a beginner might expect to see the future subjunctive. Other times, both the present and the future subjunctive are acceptable, though they convey different nuances to the sentence.
The Spanish future subjunctive is, however, still used in legal documents, and in some set phrases., e.g. Sp. A los que leyeren, Port. Aos que lerem, Eng. "To the readers" (lit. "To whom may read")
References
- LUFT, Celso Pedro. "Novo Manual de Português". São Paulo, Editora Globo, 1990 (13th edition) pp 43-53
- SECO, Manuel. "Gramática Esencial del Español". Madrid, Espasa, 1996 (4th edition) pp 81-94