Description:

This project follows from a proposal of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and aims at the elaboration of a very detailed descriptive grammar of the contemporary standard European Portuguese. Some linguistic topics which show regional and social variation within the Portuguese territory are presented, as well as historical information. The most salient contrastive features displayed by Brazilian and by African Portuguese varieties with respect to European Portuguese are also mentioned. This Grammar is addressed to an audience of instructed users, not necessarily experts in linguistics. The main thematic areas are: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics/Discourse issues, offering a comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of real usage. This Grammar is a collective work, involving around 30 researchers in linguistics from Portuguese and foreign universities (Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, Braga, Maputo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Santa Barbara and Stockholm). These experts have been asked to use the recent issues of theoretical linguistics and their personal research to describe in an accessible style the linguistic facts of Portuguese language. The organization of the different contributions (around 30 chapters, and 2.200 pages) and of the final format of the Grammar is committed to a Scientific Board.