Portugal: Language Situation

Abstract

The official language used in Portugal for all normal purposes is European Portuguese. There are very limited areas in the northeast of the country, adjacent to the border with Spain, where the indigenous form of speech is more akin to the Leonese dialect of Spanish, and one other enclave of strong Spanish influence in the Baixo Alentejo region, although the number of speakers affected is decreasing. In general terms, Portugal may be said to be linguistically one of the most homogenous countries in the world, there being no minority languages indigenous to the country, and all dialects being generally mutually intelligible. There is, however, some variation evident in dialect forms, most notably in the north of the country, as a result of both historical and geographical factors, while the two Atlantic island groups of Madeira and the Azores also show some notable differences from the standard language, which is based upon the speech of the central region between Lisbon and Coimbra.