Editing Portuguese language (section)

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Consonant phonemes of Portuguese (Portugal)<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvcoltxt|Cruz-Ferreira|1995|p=91}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Barbosa|Albano|2004|pp=228–229}}</ref><ref name="labialized velar - Carvalho">{{Cite journal |last=Carvalho |first=Joana |date=2012 |title=Sobre os Ditongos do Português Europeu |url=http://cl.up.pt/elingup/vol4n1/article/article_2.pdf |journal=ELingUp |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129081825/http://cl.up.pt/elingup/vol4n1/article/article_2.pdf |archive-date=29 November 2015 |quote=A conclusão será que nos encontramos em presença de dois segmentos fonológicos /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/, respetivamente, com uma articulação vocálica. Bisol (2005:122), tal como Freitas (1997), afirma que não estamos em presença de um ataque ramificado. Neste caso, a glide, juntamente com a vogal que a sucede, forma um ditongo no nível pós-lexical. Esta conclusão implica um aumento do número de segmentos no inventário segmental fonológico do português. |language=pt}}</ref><ref name="labialized velar - Bisol">{{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=122}}: {{lang|pt|italic=no|"A proposta é que a sequencia consoante velar + glide posterior seja indicada no léxico como uma unidade monofonemática /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/. O glide que, nete caso, situa-se no ataque não-ramificado, forma com a vogal seguinte um ditongo crescente em nível pós lexical. Ditongos crescentes somente se formam neste nível. Em resumo, a consoante velar e o glide posterior, quando seguidos de a/o, formam uma só unidade fonológica, ou seja, um segmento consonantal com articulação secundária vocálica, em outros termos, um segmento complexo."}}</ref>
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 |
! rowspan=2| [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan=2| [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan=2| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan=2| [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|-
! {{small|plain}}
! {{small|[[Labialization|labialized]]}}
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
|colspan=2|
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|kʷ}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡʷ}}
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
|colspan=2|
| 
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|colspan=2|
| {{IPA link|ʁ}}
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
! {{small|[[semivowel]]}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
| ({{IPA link|w}})
|
|-
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|ʎ}}
|colspan=2|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ}}
|
|colspan=2|
|
|}

'''Phonetic notes'''
* Semivowels contrast with unstressed high vowels in verbal conjugation, as in ''(eu) rio'' {{IPA|/ˈʁi.u/}} and ''(ele) riu'' {{IPA|/ˈʁiw/}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rodrigues|2012|pp=39–40}}</ref> Phonologists discuss whether their nature is vowel or consonant.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=123}}</ref>
* In most of Brazil and Angola, the consonant hereafter denoted as {{IPA|/ɲ/}} is realized as a [[nasal palatal approximant]] {{IPAblink|ȷ̃|j̃}}, which [[Nasalization|nasalizes]] the vowel that precedes it: {{IPA|[ˈnĩj̃u]}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Thomas|1974|p=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
|last=Perini
|first=Mário Alberto
|year=2002
|title=Modern Portuguese (A Reference Grammar)
|place=New Haven
|publisher=Yale University Press
|isbn=978-0-300-09155-7
}}</ref>
* {{Harvcoltxt|Bisol|2005|p=122}} proposes that Portuguese possesses labio-velar stops {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}} as additional phonemes rather than sequences of a velar stop and {{IPA|/w/}}.<ref name="labialized velar - Bisol" />
* The consonant hereafter denoted as {{IPA|/ʁ/}} has a variety of realizations depending on dialect. In Europe, it is typically a [[uvular trill]] {{IPA|[ʀ]}}; however, a pronunciation as a [[voiced uvular fricative]] {{IPA|[ʁ]}} may be becoming dominant in urban areas. There is also a realization as a [[voiceless uvular fricative]] {{IPA|[χ]}}, and the original pronunciation as an [[alveolar trill]] {{IPA|[r]}} also remains very common in various dialects.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Mateus|d'Andrade|2000|pp=5–6, 11}}</ref> A common realization of the word-initial {{IPA|/r/}} in the Lisbon accent is a voiced uvular fricative trill {{IPAblink|ʀ̝}}.<ref name="gr157">{{Harvcoltxt|Grønnum|2005|p=157}}</ref> In Brazil, {{IPA|/ʁ/}} can be [[velar consonant|velar]], [[uvular consonant|uvular]], or [[glottal consonant|glottal]] and may be voiceless unless between voiced sounds.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Barbosa|Albano|2004|p=228}}</ref> It is usually pronounced as a [[voiceless velar fricative]] {{IPA|[x]}}, a [[voiceless glottal fricative]] {{IPA|[h]}} or [[voiceless uvular fricative]] {{IPA|[χ]}}. See also {{section link|Guttural R#Portuguese}}.
* {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} are normally {{lcons|lamino-alveolar}}, as in English. However, a number of dialects in northern Portugal pronounce {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} as [[apico-alveolar]] sibilants (sounding somewhat like a soft {{IPA|[ʃ]}} or {{IPA|[ʒ]}}), as in the Romance languages of northern Iberia. Some very few northeastern Portugal dialects still maintain the medieval distinction between apical and laminal [[sibilant]]s (written ''s/ss'' and ''c/ç/z'', respectively).
* As a phoneme, {{IPA|/tʃ/}} occurs only in loanwords, names, and interjections, with a dialectal tendency for speakers to substitute in {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in most dialects outside of Brazil (as well as some conservative Brazilian dialects, to a variable extent.) However, {{IPA|[tʃ]}} is an [[allophone]] of {{IPA|/t/}} before {{IPA|/i/}} in a majority of Brazilian dialects. Similarly, {{IPA|[dʒ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/d/}} in the same contexts.
* In northern and central Portugal, the voiced stops ({{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) are usually lenited to [[fricative]]s {{IPA|[β]}}, {{IPA|[ð]}}, and {{IPA|[ɣ]}}, respectively, except at the beginning of words or after nasal vowels.<ref name="Cruz-Ferreira92"/><ref name="mateus11"/> At the end of a phrase, due to [[final-obstruent devoicing]], they may even be devoiced to {{IPA|[ɸ]}}, {{IPA|[θ]}}, and {{IPA|[x]}} (for example, ''verde'' at the end of a sentence may be pronounced {{IPA|[veɹθ]}}).
* In Brazil, many speakers further shift {{IPA|[ɫ]}} to {{IPA|[w]}} in closed syllables, especially outside the southern region.
* Phonetically, Portuguese (and [[French language|French]]) are quite different from the other major Romance languages. It has been suggested that this stems from the ancient link to Celtic languages such as [[Welsh language|Welsh]] or [[Breton language|Breton]],<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44938469//|title=Insular Portuguese Pronunciation:Alleged Breton Influence|date=20 January 2024|jstor=44938469 |last1=Rogers |first1=Francis Millet |journal=Romance Philology |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=305–314 }}</ref> with which it also shares a substantial number of cognates: there are 37 sounds in Portuguese, including vowels, consonants and diphthongs, most of which exist in today's Celtic languages.<ref name="Filppula-Klemola"/>