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  4. History of the Portuguese Language

History of the Portuguese Language

Objectives

a) To identify Portuguese distinctive features, within the general and, in particular, Hispanic, Romance context, and to relate them with linguistic changes occurred throughout its history.
b) To describe the main changes which occurred throughout the various periods of the history of Portuguese.
c) To identify and to describe linguistic changes which explain diachronic relations between etyma and their derived forms.
d) To acquire basic competences for the analysis of different types of texts, from distinct periods, aiming at their exploration as sources for language history.
e) To relate some of the traits of Contemporary Portuguese variation to aspects of language history.

General characterization

Code

711131056

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Maria Alexandra Moreira de Jesus Fieis e Melo

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Alkire, T. & Rosen, C. (2010) Romance languages. A historical introduction. Cambridge University Press.


Brocardo, M. T. (2014) Tópicos de história da língua portuguesa. Colibri.


Brocardo, M. T. & Lopes, C. R. S. (2016) History and Current Setting. In Wetzels, W. L., Menuzzi, S. & Costa, J. (eds.) The Handbook of Portuguese Linguistics (pp. 1-14). Wiley Blackwell.


Herman, J. (2000) Vulgar Latin. Pennsylvania State University Press.


Martins, A. M. (2016) O português numa perspetiva diacrónica e comparativa. In Martins, A. M. & Carrilho, E. (eds.) Manual de Linguística Portuguesa (pp. 1-39). De Gruyter.


Teyssier, P. (1982) História da Língua Portuguesa. Sá da Costa.


Williams, E. B. (1975) Do latim ao português. Fonologia e morfologia históricas da língua portuguesa. Tempo Brasileiro.

Teaching method

Class sessions include both theoretical and practical approaches. Regular attendance is strongly advised as well as the development of autonomous work. Class sessions include extensive presentation of course topics, explanation of examples, analysis and linguistic comment of text sources, exercises.
Regular attendance is strongly advised as well as the development of autonomous work.

Evaluation method

Evaluation method


- Test 1: 40%


- Test 2: 40%


- Worksheet or assignment: 20% (to be defined at the beginning of the semester)

Subject matter

i. The formation of Portuguese


The Romance languages as a continuation of and divergence from Latin. Pan-Romance / differentiating changes. Maintenance vs. innovation in the primitive area of Portuguese.


ii. The transition to writing


The transition from writing in Latin to writing in Portuguese - commentary and analysis of texts from early documentation.


iii. Medieval Portuguese


Analysis of texts from documentation dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. Old and Middle Portuguese - changes completed or expanding in the 15th century and questions of periodization.


iv. Portuguese from the 16th century onwards


The texts of 16th and 17th century grammarians as sources for the history of language. Innovations in classical and modern Portuguese.


v. A historical perspective on contemporary Portuguese


Dialectal variation in European Portuguese - relationship with changes in the history of the language. Traits of unity / variation in different contexts of use. Brazilian Portuguese - differentiating features that can be explained diachronically.