The role of women in the cross-pollination process in the Asian-Portuguese varieties

• Main Author: Maria Isabel Tomás
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open Library of Humanities 2009-12-01
• Series: Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
• Online Access: http://jpl.letras.ulisboa.pt/articles/118

In the particular case of the Portuguese-based Asian Creoles, the structural and lexical similarities found in Creoles from Diu to Macao have for decades raised questions and diverse interpretations of their genetic relationships. Dalgado’s notion of a reciprocal partial transfusion between the Asian Creoles accounts, in our view, for these striking similarities. In this paper, we will try to show how the peculiar character assumed by the Portuguese presence in Asia – the Estado da Índia – justifies this reciprocal partial transfusion, through an intense circulation of people and goods. We will further argue that a socio-historical analysis of more localised regional networks within the area covered by the Estado da Índia can contribute to a finer and more comprehensive analysis of their linguistic (structural and lexical) relationships.