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 characters, Portuguese makes use of the following accented letters and digraphs:
The former characters 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 dicritic, 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] Portuguese-language typewriters
Typewriters in Portuguese-speaking countries generally have a separate extra key for "Ç", and a dead key for each diacritic except the cedilha; 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".
[edit] Trivia
The Vietnamese alphabet is based on the Portuguese alphabet, by the work of 16th century Catholic missionaries.
[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.
