History and Influence
Mayumi Oda
ELN101.1464
Professor Judy Gex
13 November, 2008
There are more than five thousand languages in the world, whereas approximately only two hundred countries exist (Fishman, p26). According to this fact, language lasts over time as long as people use it and perceive it as their mother tongue, even if the original location of the language disappears. In addition, language has a strong power to establish identity or nationality. In a continent which has a long history, such as Europe, a lot of countries were established over time, and this was a trigger to originate various kinds of language. People emphasized their own national consciousness. Moreover, some European countries created colonies all over the world, and they forced colonial people to change their language to the controlling countries’ language. Portuguese was one of the languages that was produced by such a transition of countries in Europe, and it also existed in former colonies as a native language. I think Portuguese as a language is unique because it received some influence from some other languages. It is obvious that modern Portuguese has changed in its form by searching the history or characteristics of the Portuguese language. In interviewing three generations of people who are native Portuguese speakers, I will figure out how they can succeed in becomingbilingual, andhow Portuguese exists inside their consciousness.
The Portuguese language is spoken by more than two hundred million people as a native language today, and so it ranks as the sixth population of the native speakers in the world (“Portuguese Language,”Wikipedia). Portuguese is spoken in the PortugueseRepublic as an official language and Portuguese colonial or formerly colonial territories which are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Sao Tome and Principe (“Portuguese Language,”Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia). In Brazil that possesses more than one hundred and eighty million people, Portuguese is regarded to be only one official language in Brazil. The countries except Portugal were dominated by Portugalin the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as colonies or commercial empires, and the people in the countries kept speaking Portuguese as their own language. Therefore, the Portuguese language is widespread in the world. Although a language usually spreads the same continent by similar races, the Portuguese language is one of the rare languages that extends to some different continents, such as Europe to South America and some areas of Asia.
The Portuguese language belongs to a Romance language group (“Portuguese Language,”Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia), and it evolved from the Latin language, spoken on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Roman provinces of Lusitania (“The Portuguese Language”). After the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 216 BC, the Latin language was virtually replaced. In the territories along the Atlantic coast, it gradually evolved into what is technically known as the Gallician-Portuguese language between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. After Portugal became an independent country in 1139, Portuguese was decreed an official language in the kingdom by King Denis (“Portuguese Language,”Wikipedia). It means that the language split into Galician and Portuguese branches.
Portuguese is really similar to Spanish which is also one of the Latin languages in its vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, the Portuguese language correlates with some other languages, and it has adapted borrowed words from all over the world. It has many loanwords from Arabic because of the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula between the ninth and fifteenth centuries (“Portuguese Language,”Wikipedia). Moreover, Portuguese has been changed over time under the influence of other European languages. For instance, when Portugal was controlled by Spain between 1580 and 1640, some Spanish words, such as bobo that means fool, or granizo that means hail, were adapted into Portuguese (“The Portuguese Language”). Some French or Greek language also affected its vocabulary. On the other hand, Portuguese has had an impact on many languages, such as Japanese or Hindi. Portuguese was the first European language that Japanese people had contact with in the middle of sixteenth century (“Portuguese Language,”Wikipedia), for Japan had closed the door to foreigners for a long time. Products which were imported from Portugal were called the original Portuguese name by Japanese people, and some of them still remain as the same name as the origin. Therefore, Portuguese has altered its form by communicating with a lot of languages.
After Portuguese spread in Brazil, it changed its form over time. The reason why there are differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese is European Portuguese succeeded in changing through contact with the French. However, Brazilians had no opportunity to do as the Europeans did. In the twentieth century, the differences between them became obvious (“Portuguese Language,”Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia).
Portuguese retains many grammatical forms no longer found in other Romance languages. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and articles are inflected. For example, there are two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and a superlative inflection for adjectives. Verbs are highly inflected. For example, there are three tense (past, present, future), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), three aspects (perfective, imperfective, and progressive), and an inflected infinitive. The Portuguese is basically an SVO language like English, although word order is generally not as rigid as it is in English. The Portuguese verb is usually inflected to agree with subject’s grammatical person and grammatical number, and to express various attributes of the action (“Portuguese Language,” Wikipedia).
The community where the Portuguese speakers live who I interviewed is Sunnyside. Sunnyside is located in the western area of the borough of Queens, and it is about fifteen minutes from Midtown by the 7subway train. The area seems to be a safe area even at midnight. There are a public library, park, and public schools in the community, so I can see many families with children.
Sunnyside is a very convenient place for people to access Manhattan or other New York boroughs because people can use several forms of transportation from many choices, such as subway, cars, or buses. The 33rd/Rawson Street, 40th/Lowery Street, and 46th/Bliss Street are the stops of the 7 trains in Sunnyside. After the QueensboroBridge opened in 1909,Queens Boulevard was built. It runs in the center of the region through Sunnyside, where streets were constructed along the boulevard. There are a lot of cars and buses coming and going on the Queesns Boulevard every day. Moreover, people can use some bus services which run through Sunnyside, such as the lines Q32, Q39, Q60, and Q104. In addition, the Pennsylvania Railroad (now as Amtrak) runs through Sunnyside, and it is known as Sunnyside Yard. This is a staging area for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains from Penn Station. It is proposed that East Side Access project that includes a new Long Island Rail Road train station in Sunnyside at Queens Boulevard along the main line to Penn Station. If the project is completed, people will access Midtown Manhattan by one stop (“Sunnyside, Queens”).
People who are of various ethnic backgrounds live in Sunnyside, such as East Asian, South American, European, or Jewish people. Originally, the German, Irish, Czech, Dutch and other Europeansimmigratedto Sunnyside as their new residences. However, they moved to Long IslandCity or upstate New Yorkto lookfor more ruralplaces as theirchildren grew up. Meanwhile, Sunnyside has continued to grow and change by receiving countless immigrants from different countries. Eastern Europeans, South Americans, Koreans, Middle Eastern,and theyoung Irish relocated there a few years ago. Therefore, nowadays,I can say Sunnyside is an area where amelting pot of people live together. There is an abundance of fine restaurants and unique shops which sell various kinds of spices or foods that I cannot find in other areas, so many restaurants in Sunnyside are thronged with people who want to enjoy rare ethnic foods on weekends (“Brief History of Sunnyside”).
The completion of the QueensboroBridge is the main factor to make Sunnyside developed. Before its establishment, small farms and marshland spread in the area. The land belonged to the French in the 18th century. Sunnyside is particularly known as an area of America’s first planned communities, SunnysideGardens. SunnysideGardens was one of the first developments as a superblock model in America constructed between 1924 and 1929. Many residences’ buildings which have brick row houses with front and rear gardens and a landscaped central court also constructed at that time. The garden houses are now listed as a historic district. The neighborhood became middle class over time. During the1940s and 1950s, many artists or writers moved into Sunnyside from lower Manhattan by being attracted to large apartments of Sunnyside (“Brief History of Sunnyside”).
Sunnyside was loved by many talented people, such as the entertainers Ethel Mermanor Perry Como, jazz great Bix Biederbecke, artist Raphael Soyer, and writers and social activists such as Lewis Mumford. Moreover, The Ramones which was a punk-rock group played in Sunnyside pubs during the 1970’s. New York Giants star Hap Moran taught a youth football team as a coach in SunnysidePark before World War II. Chris Kanyon who was anAmericanprofessional wrestler and best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation was born and raised in Sunnyside, and his parents still live there (“Sunnyside, Queens”).
There are three people I interviewed who are native Portuguese speakers. I asked them some questions to know how they acquired a second language and how Portuguese affects them in American life.
First, I interviewed a woman, Valerie, who is from Brazil. She came to New York with her ex-husband when she was seventeen years old, and she has been in New York for thirteen years. Valerie, her daughter, and I live together as roommates in a Sunnyside apartment. Although she used to move from place to place around New York, she settled down in Sunnyside eight years ago. She likes Sunnyside because it is a safe area to raise children and there are many shops or restaurants which of her South American culture thatare familiar to her. She is proud of being a Brazilian, so she cooks traditional Brazilian food, and she often listens to samba music. First, I asked, “When do you feel that you are a Brazilianthe most?” She said “I feel I am a Brazilian when I see people tend to have a remote relationship between people, even it is a relationship for their parents. When I worked as a helper for senior citizens before, most old people spent their days in isolation. Their children seldom visit them even though they live close to their parent. I could not believe that. I had taken it for granted that children would take care of their parents who need nursing care.” The next question I asked her was how she acquired English. She answered with an abashed air that she learned English by some English songs with a loud voice. She succeededin memorizingvocabulary or simple phrases by singing with rhythm. Moreover, she learned grammar in a language school for several months. However, she told me that she has no confidence in her pronunciation. When she just came to New York, she was teased by her classmates in school. Therefore, she is still nervous aloud speaking to a person on the phone. In the apartment, she speaks to her daughter only in Portuguese, so I asked why she tried to speak to her daughter in Portuguese. She said that she wanted her daughter to think of being a Brazilian rather than an American even though she was born in New York. Her daughter is descended from a Brazilian family. So, Valerie wantsher little daughter to be fluent in Portuguese. Also, her family in Brazil cannot speak English at all. If they cannot communicate in the same language withher daughter, it will be really sad. Valerie could understand her daughter’s Portuguese perfectly even though she speaks the Portuguese in combination with English. However,Valerie’s parents sometimes are confusedwith what her daughter says when they have a chat online. “Is Portuguese important to you?” and “Why do you think so?” I asked her lastly. She said, “Of course, it is because it is very important to maintain my identity. If I abandon my language, I will be nobody. I know who I am, so I can survive in America even though I live apart from Brazil.”
The next respondent is Valerie’s daughter, Lana, who is a nine-year-old girl. She was born in New York, and she has never been to Brazil. First, I asked herif she thoughtshe was an American or a Brazilian. She answered she was a Brazilian of course with plenty of confidence. She told me the reason why she thought she was a Brazilian. She can speak Portuguese, and both her parents are Brazilian. I asked her which language was comfortable for her to speak, and she told me that it was hard to say either way. On weekends, she spends most of her time speaking Portuguese with Valerie. Although I thought she might have a lack of balance between two languages, she said she had not felt confused when she talked with her friends in English. She may be brilliant at switching from Portuguese to English. I asked her how she shifted from Portuguese to English. She seemed to be at a loss for the answer for a while, and she said that she had never thought about such a thing. She may not realize herself how she shifts between the languages because the switching in her head is quick. In addition, she feels the pronunciation of the Portuguese sounds are more unique than English. “Have you ever made mistakes when you spoke in English or Portuguese?” I asked. She said, “I think it is not mistakes, but I sometimes forget simple words in Portuguese. When I had a chat with my grandmother, a word, which is a holiday in Portuguese, did not come into my head, so I tried to tell her the word in another expression. She could understand it.” I asked her the reason why she did not speak to her mother in English. She told me that she felt uncomfortable speaking English when she talked with her family although she did not know why. “Is Portuguese important to you?” and “Why do you think so?” I asked. She said, “Yes. Because I cannot talk with my loved grandparents without Portuguese, so it is very important.”
Finally, I interviewed Valerie’s friend,Mauricio, who is a forty-year-old man. He moved to Sunnyside recently. When he was a teenage boy, he emigrated with his family from Brazil to America, and he has been in New York for more than twenty-five years. Although he loves Brazilian culture and he thinks he is a Brazilian, he said that he has become more American overtime. Most of his friends are American, and he has not visited Brazil since he moved to New York. He said that his rate of speaking in Portuguese decreasesas he gets older, so it is not exaggerated to say that English is his first language. Although he could not speak English at all when he just came to America, he acquired English by making friends in school. It seemed simple for him to acquire English. He said that he was fluent in English more quickly than his older brothers were. Age seems to affect the speed of acquiring a second language. He has a six-year old daughter by his ex-wife, who is a Brazilian. Although her situation seems to be similar to Lana’s, she cannot speak Portuguese at all because Mauricio and his ex-wife speak to her only in English. Unlike Lana, the six-year-old girl’s grandparents live close to her, and they can speak English. Therefore, there is no obstacle to communicate among them if she cannot speak in Portuguese. Finally, I asked him if Portuguese was important to him, and why he thought so. He answered, “Yes, it is. I cannot express it well, but I feel nostalgia whenever I listen to the sounds of Portuguese. So, I am a Brazilian.”
In conclusion, I learned there were many changes before the present form of the Portuguese language settled in through this research paper. I think Portuguese is very unique because it received some influence from some other languages. Only humans have the gift of speech to express how they feel and know who they are. Therefore, I figured out that Portuguese is not only a communication tool but also it is an essential element to be conscious of their identity by interviewing. In addition, I felt speakingPortuguese is an important existencefor the three respondents to realize how much they love their native country, Brazil.
Works Cited
“Brief History of Sunnyside.”Sunnyside Chambers of Commerce. 13 Oct. 2008
Fishman, A. Jushua. Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity. New York:
OxfordUniversity Press, 1999.
“Portuguese Language.”Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2008: 29 Sep. 2008
“Portuguese Language.”Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Sep. 2008
“Sunnyside, Queens.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Oct. 2008
“The Portuguese Language.”Delta Translator.com. 2008: 29 Sep. 2008