Portuguese Alphabet (26 letters)
Latin script, same base set as English A–Z, plus a rich set of diacritics that change vowel quality or mark stress.
Vowels (oral and nasal)
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|
| A | a | /a/ ~ /ɐ/ | oral a; reduced in unstressed syllables (PT-PT) |
| Á | a + ´ | /a/ | stressed a |
| Â | a + ˆ | /ɐ/ | central a (PT-PT), /ɐ̃/ nasalized in some BP contexts |
| Ã | a + ˜ | /ɐ̃/ | nasal a |
| E | e | /e/ ~ /ɛ/ | quality depends on stress, dialect |
| É | e + ´ | /ɛ/ | open e |
| Ê | e + ˆ | /e/ | close e |
| I | i | /i/ | |
| Í | i + ´ | /i/ | stressed i |
| O | o | /o/ ~ /ɔ/ | quality depends on stress, dialect |
| Ó | o + ´ | /ɔ/ | open o |
| Ô | o + ˆ | /o/ | close o |
| Õ | o + ˜ | /õ/ | nasal o |
| U | u | /u/ | |
| Ú | u + ´ | /u/ | stressed u |
Consonants (single letters)
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|
| B | b | /b/ | |
| C | c | /k/ before a, o, u; /s/ before e, i | |
| Ç | c + cedilla | /s/ | always soft |
| D | d | /d/ (BP: /d͡ʒ/ before i in unstressed syllables) | |
| F | f | /f/ | |
| G | g | /ɡ/ before a, o, u; /ʒ/ before e, i | |
| H | h | silent in native words; marks digraphs ch, lh, nh | |
| J | j | /ʒ/ | |
| K | k | /k/ in loans | |
| L | l | /l/ (PT: /ɫ/ in coda) | |
| M | m | /m/; nasalizes preceding vowel in coda | |
| N | n | /n/; nasalizes preceding vowel in coda | |
| P | p | /p/ | |
| Q | q | /k/; appears as qu before e, i (/k/ or /kw/) | |
| R | r | /ʁ/ (PT, BP-south) or /h/ (BP-north) word-initial /rr/; /ɾ/ intervocalic | |
| S | s | /s/ or /z/ (intervocalic), /ʃ/ (coda in PT), /s/ (coda in BP) | |
| T | t | /t/ (BP: /t͡ʃ/ before i in unstressed syllables) | |
| V | v | /v/ | |
| W | w | /w/ in loans; in diphthongs may be /u/ | |
| X | x | /ʃ/, /s/, /ks/, /z/ depending on word (needs lexicon flag) | |
| Y | y | /i/ in loans | |
| Z | z | /z/ (BP: /s/ in coda) | |
Key Digraphs (single phoneme units)
| Digraph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|
| Ch | c + h | /ʃ/ | |
| Lh | l + h | /ʎ/ | palatal lateral |
| Nh | n + h | /ɲ/ | palatal nasal |
| Qu | q + u | /k/ or /kw/ | before e, i |
| Gu | g + u | /ɡ/ or /ɡw/ | before e, i |
| RR | r + r | /ʁ/ ~ /h/ | strong r sound; not a trill |
System Integration Notes
- Nasalization: Written with ˜ over vowels (ã, õ) or by following m/n in coda position.
- Coda behavior: M/N in coda nasalize the vowel; in LGM we treat nasalization as a feature flag on the vowel.
- Palatalization: Represented by digraphs (lh, nh) as single phoneme nodes.
- X is polyphonemic — needs lexicon to select correct output.
