Portekizce

Portekizce, Turkish name for the Portuguese language, is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance branch. It developed from Vulgar Latin in the western Iberian Peninsula and evolved through the medieval Galician-Portuguese stage into a distinct language. The language has two dominant standard varieties today: European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, but many regional dialects are spoken across the world.

Portekizce is the official language of Portugal and Brazil and is widely used in many former Portuguese colonies. It is also an official language in several countries, including Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, and Macau, where it coexists with other local languages. Equatorial Guinea recognizes Portuguese as an official language since 2010. The language is also used in diaspora communities across Europe, North America, and Asia.

As of the early 2020s, native speakers number about 221 million, with total speakers—including second-language users—well above 260 million, making it one of the most widely spoken languages worldwide. Portuguese shows considerable regional variation in phonology, vocabulary, and syntax, but retains mutual intelligibility across standard varieties.

The Portuguese writing system uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics. Orthography has been harmonized in large part by cross-national agreements, resulting in standardized spelling across most Portuguese-speaking countries, though some regional differences remain. Portuguese is widely used in education, media, literature, and international communication.