Variation and Change in Portuguese

Code: LLT14366M

6 ECTS

Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours

Scientific Area: Linguistics

Teaching languages: Portuguese

Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English

Regime de Frequência: Presencial

Sustainable Development Goals

4. Educação de qualidade - Assegurar a educação inclusiva, e equitativa e de qualidade, e promover oportunidades de aprendizagem ao longo da vida para todos.

Learning Goals

This curricular unit aims to strengthen knowledge, acquired in the 1st Cycle of studies, on linguistic variation, in its diachronic and synchronic aspects. From this basic knowledge, it aims to help students build a critical view of the main traits of both the formation and current geography of the Portuguese language, which will result in a deep understanding and in a reasoned analysis of the main issues and challenges that the Portuguese language currently faces, as an internally differentiated and pluricentric language.
Thus, at the end of the semester, students will have acquired in-depth knowledge of the main aspects of Portuguese linguistic variation and be able to critically assess the consequences of this phenomenon, at its different levels, in the present and the future of the language, as well as to link these conclusions with the policies implemented and / or to be implemented in this field.

1.Historical aspects of the Portuguese language
1.1. Formation: general overview, from the origins to the 18th century.
1.2. Main trends of change
1.2.1. General overview of linguistic change in the history of Portuguese
1.2.2. Main changes in grammar and lexicon
2. Geography of the Portuguese language
2.1. Portuguese as a pluricentric language
2.1.1. National varieties and standards
2.1.2. Portuguese-based Creoles
2.2. European Portuguese
2.2.1. Dialectal areas: main differentiating features
2.2.2. Dialectal varieties and linguistic minorities
2.3. The Afro-Brazilian continuum of Portuguese
2.3.1. Brazilian Portuguese
2.3.2. Portuguese in Africa
2.3.2.1. The Angolan and Mozambican varieties of Portuguese
2.4. Paths of Portuguese
2.4.1. Linguistic policies
2.4.2. Perception, evaluation and prejudice: the role of metalinguistic awareness in the evolution of the Portuguese diasystem

Teaching Methods

The teaching methodologies include both conventional expository methods, with the use of audiovisual media and supporting texts, and discussion groups, which will ensure a relevant practical component. Thus, based on the information acquired in these sessions, students will develop group work to investigate and discuss the topics in question, among themselves, autonomously, and with the teacher, at the beginning of the following class.
In classroom activities, under the teacher's supervision, students can use AI to obtain data, corpora, bibliography, and explore other elements related to the subjects they are studying.
When working on independent research projects, students will be required to identify each of the aspects, parts, or data where they used AI (despachos no. 34/2026 and no. 216/2026).

Assessment

According to the system used at the University of Évora (Academic Regulations) and in the Department of Linguistics and Literature (Assessment Regulations), which oversees the course: Continuous assessment will include a written test (attendance) and an individual written assignment (with an oral presentation), each accounting for 50%, and the grades cannot be lower than 8. The exam system (normal, resit, special, and extraordinary sessions) consists of a written test, which will account for 100%. Students who score between 8.0 and 9.4 on the written test will take an oral exam. The teaching team may also call a student for an oral exam (orders no. 34/2026 and no. 216/2026) when it is considered necessary to check to what extent the student has developed the knowledge and skills expected for the course unit. In such cases, the oral exam will have, in the final grading of the course, a weight equivalent to that of the exam whose contents are intended to be assessed.