Portuguese Dialects

Portuguese dialects are variants of the Portuguese language that are shared by a substantial number of speakers over several generations, but are not sufficiently distinct from the official norms to be considered separate languages. The differences between Portuguese dialects are mostly in phonology, in the frequency of usage of certain grammatical forms, and especially in the distance between the formal and informal levels of speech. Lexical differences are numerous but largely confined to "peripheral" words such as plants, animals, and other local items, with little impact in the core lexicon. Dialectal deviations from the official grammar are relatively few. As a consequence, all Portuguese dialects are mutually intelligible; although for some of the most extremely divergent pairs the phonological changes may make it difficult for speakers to understand rapid speech.

Portuguese does not have an internationally unified body of language regulators. The two main language regulators, the Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazil) and the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Classe de Letras (Portugal), work separately from each other, and on a national level only.

Read more about Portuguese Dialects:  Differences, Notable Features of Some Dialects, Mixed Languages, Closely Related Languages, List of Dialects