University of Iowa

When the Portuguese arrived in Goa, India in 1510, a great deal of the colonization was undertaken by the Catholic church⁸⁷. Initially, priests attempted to teach Catholic doctrine in Konkani, the local language. They took careful measures to keep Konkani pure and prevent borrowing from Portuguese lexicon (Rodrigues 1981: 61). Priests attempted to learn Konkani; but as time progressed they taught and conducted the affairs of the church in Portuguese. Shortly after their arrival, the priests set up a printing press adopting the Roman script for Konkani, which previously had been handwritten in Devanagari script. Use of the Roman script and the printing press facilitated borrowing from Portuguese into Konkani. Soon priests who did learn Konkani and local Konkani speakers began borrowing words from Portuguese into Konkani. Along with the church, the Portuguese administration in Goa enacted measures to promote Portuguese through a series of decrees and laws (da Cunha Rivara 1958: 162-69; Miranda 1982: 204-13). Konkani became more and more dependent upon Portuguese for lexical replenishment. By the mid-1700's Konkani speakers, especially Catholic Konkani speakers, borrowed heavily from Portuguese. By this time Konkani became divided into two distinct dialects-Catholic and Hindu (Sar Dessai 1981: 3).

In the following centuries borrowing from Portuguese increased until reaching a peak in the early 1900's. During the mid-twentieth century the struggle for statehood inaugurated a movement to make Konkani the official language of Goa. By the time of liberation from Portugal in 1961, the Konkani language was viewed by many Goans to be the true language of Goa, and the Portuguese language was viewed in less favorable light. In 1987, Goa was incorporated into India as a state and Konkani became the official language.

A fieldwork study conducted in 1984 on Portuguese language maintenance and language shift in Goa concluded that the Portuguese language would survive there only through the numerous loanwords that had been incorporated into Konkani (Wherritt 1985 b: 450). Sar Dessai (1981: 5) estimated that at the time of liberation from Portugal in 1961, 15% of Konkani lexicon consisted of Portuguese loanwords.

Few studies have been undertaken on Portuguese loanwords in Konkani. The most notable was a glossary completed in 1913 by S. Rodolfo Dalgado, a native speaker of Konkani and a Portuguese language scholar. He dealt with nearly fifty Asiatic languages in his work. The language with the largest number of loanwords from Portuguese in his glossary is Konkani, with 1,681 entries. Aside from Dalgado's work, two other articles published on Portuguese loanwords in Konkani (Rodrigues 1981 and Sar Dessai 1981) treat the topic briefly. Rodrigues's study is primarily a historical account, and Sar Dessai gives an overview based on personal observation. The Dalgado glossary of Portuguese loanwords in Konkani is the most thorough listing to date. The list may be thought of as a reasonably accurate picture of the loanwords during the early twentieth century.

The purpose of this paper is to review Dalgado's word list and to assess the current situation of Portuguese loanwords in Konkani, twenty-eight years after the absence of Portuguese rule. Analysis of the current situation is based on fieldwork which documented use of Portuguese loanwords in Konkani. Data collection

Dalgado's glossary is an alphabetical listing of Portuguese loanwords, accompanied by definitions. No systematic categorization of words appears in his work. In order to study the distribution of parts of speech, the words were categorized and counted. Table 1 shows the distribution of grammatical categories in Dalgado's list.

Nouns account for the largest percentage of borrowed words, followed by verbs. Nouns are borrowed more frequently than other parts of speech because they designate new things and concepts. These new things and concepts constitute what is most often learned from another culture. The percentage of words in grammatical categories is similar to other studies. For example, Higa (1979: 288-89) compared several studies of loanwords incorporated into Japanese. The distribution of loanwords he reported is close to the percentages of grammatical categories in Table 1.

Generally, when Portuguese words were naturalized into Konkani they were pluralized, nominalized, or verbalized like an indigenous word. Examples of nouns, verbs, and adjectives taken from Dalgado's list follow.

1. Nouns account for 87% of the total words borrowed from Portuguese into Konkani (Table 1). Principally, these nouns name persons or objects, although some abstract nouns were also borrowed. Abstract terms and derivatives are formed and the nouns are declined in conformity with the general rules of the Konkani language. Two examples are: bebdó < bêbedo «drunkard» which gives bebdepan or bebdikáy «drunkenness» and kazár < casar «to marry», also used as a noun in the sense of «marriage», from which is derived kazarí «married», kazaratsí «marriageable», and kazarí «marriage» in a deprecatory sense (Dalgado 1930: xlvi).

2. Verbs have been borrowed in lesser numbers, totaling about eight percent of the total borrowings. They generally remain unchanged and are conjugated with the vernacular verb corresponding to «to make» or «to be» according to whether the verb is transitive, for example, kazar-karunk < casar «to marry» or intransitive, for example, kazar-zavunk < casar-se «to marry».

3. Adjectives account for less than six percent of the total loanwords (Table 1). Some adjectives are used adverbially as the result of indigenous influence: júst < justo «just» and «justly» and sert < certo 'certain' and 'certainly' (Dalgado 1930: xlvi).

Portuguese loanwords are adopted into the Konkani phonetic system. That is, there is an attempted reproduction of the Portuguese word within the patterns of Konkani. Phonological changes include universal tendencies of language change at work, such as shortening and consonant weakening. The most salient changes with examples follow (adapted from Dalgado 1930: xliv-li).

1. Loss of final unstressed vowels: vigár < vigário«vicar», kámbr < câmara «chamber», and búl < bule «teapot»

2. Loss of unstressed medial vowels: tyolg < teólogo «theologian», okl < óculos «glasses», and lamvet < canivete «pocket knife».

3. Simplification of compound words: agbént < áqua-benta «holy water», satmém < São Tomé «Saint Thomas», madrupél < madrepérola «mother of pearl»; and agsál < áqua e sal «a kind of curry».

4. Alternation of consonants:

j < z, s; z, s < j: zanel < janela «window», ereji < heresia «heresy», and phajend < fazenda «revenue department».

m < n: komsagrar < consagrar «consecrate», sémsur < censura «censure», and laramf < laranja «orange».

mb < m: kambust < camarista «municipal counselor», limbó < limão «lemon», and tumbur < tumor «tumor».

5. Insertion of a vowel in a cluster: karab

Simplification of diphthongs: ladín < ladainha «litany», banhar-karunk < bainhar, «to hem», and bêr < beira «brink, eaves»:

7. An initial vowel when it constitutes a syllable by itself is sometimes dropped in polysyllabic words: kaphlár < acafelar «to plaster» vanjel < evangelho «evangel», and kajámv < ocasião «occasion».

8. An initial unstressed syllable beginning with a consonant is occasionally dropped: siplin < disciplina «discipline» and zaphi < desafío «wager»

The dominance-subordination relationship between two cultures coming into contact with each other can be determined almost immediately through observation of loanwords (Higa 1979: 280). In general, words are borrowed to signify objects unknown or little known, to name new flora and fauna, to show prestige, to incorporate humor and slang, and to supply synonyms for vocabulary replenishment (see Weinreich 1953 and Haugen 1950 for detailed treatments of these issues).

In this section, the categories of Dalgado's list will be discussed, incorporating comments on present-day usage as viewed by local Konkani speakers. Data on current usage was collected from 20 local informants of various professions: four college students, three university professors, three priests, three business people, two librarians, and one each real estate broker, computer programmer, radio broadcaster, fitness consultant, and doctor. They were asked to comment on words in the list in areas of their expertise and familiarity.

Dalgado's list is simply an alphabetical listing, in order to gain a better idea of the semantic categories of borrowing, the words are classified into categories as demonstrated it Table 2.

An examination of the semantic categories derived from rearranging Dalgado's list offers a reasonably complete picture of two processes which occurred during Portuguese rule in India. First, the official dominance of the colonizers created a need to borrow an abundance of religious, legal, political, military, professional, educational, business, and scientific terms. Second, through cultural dominance converted Catholics and some Hindus attempted to integrate and learn from the Portuguese in areas such as architecture, foods, clothing, medicine, music, hobbies, games, emotions, personality traits, and social customs. Official dominance and cultural dominance will be discussed in the remainder of this section. Although the terms are not mutually exclusive, they provide a convenient scheme to view the various lexical fields.

As to official dominance, religious terms and accompanying ethical and philosophical terms comprise the greatest single category in Dalgado's list, 216 words, (12.9%), of Portuguese loanwords (Table 2). Often no vernacular terms corresponded exactly to what the Portuguese wished to teach. Even when suitable terms or expressions existed in Konkani, the priests made use of the Portuguese words to avoid confusion of Christianity with Hinduism or Mohammedanism and thereby trace resemblances between these three religions (Dalgado 1930: lxiv).

Loanwords in the category of religion are mostly specific -for example, adjudarkarunk < ajudar «to assist», especially in serving mass; camp < campo «plot of land

To determine the current status of loanwords pertaining to religion, Catholic priests were shown Dalgado's list of religious terms and they were asked to comment on current usage in Konkani. The unanimous impression was that English and a few Konkani terms are currently replacing the loanwords and that only priests of the older generation would consistently use a large amount of Portuguese loanwords.

The categories of legal, official, political, and military terms comprise approximately 14% of the total words (Table 2). As an example of dominance in government, Goans adopted the Portuguese legal system and continue to use many of the laws today. Business people indicated that in these categories words which are still used today in Konkani include: delegad < delegado «deputy» julgament < julgamento «trial», kapitamv < capitão «captain», phiskal < fiscal «inspector», and semsur < censura «censure».

One hundred twenty-two words (7.3%) denoting professions, titles, identities and types also come from Portuguese: words including use of a Portuguese root mestre to mean mestir, «teacher», mestirn, «female teacher», and mistirpan, «the teaching profession». Some of the terms identified by Dalgado, such as julj < juiz «judge», advogad < advogado «lawyer», ezner < engenheiro «engineer», and cuziner < cozinheiro «cook» are still used today according to the college students and university professors interviewed.

There are 62 (3.7%) words relating to education on the list including diplom < diploma «diploma»; ditar karunk < ditar «dictate», and karto < cartapácio «notebook». One linguist-informant stated that some of these terms are no longer used today, but even in these cases the vestiges may still remain. For example, in describing levels in schooling one still uses primer grau < primeiro grau «first grade» and quint an < quinto ano «fifth standard». Nevertheless, the Portuguese ordinal numbers are no longer used in many other contexts in Konkani.

The Portuguese entrance into the business, commercial, and financial worlds left 73 words amounting to 4.3% of the total list, and 25 transportation and travel words make up another 1.5%. Examples include: jur < juro «interest on money»; negos < negócio «business», parcer < parceiro «partner (business)», bateló < batel «small boat». The real estate broker and business people stated that some of the financial words are used today and others have been replaced by English. Schoolaged children confirmed that transportation words have been mostly substituted by English words.

Similarly, the dominance of the Portuguese medical profession and sciences in Goa accounted for 5.5% of the loanwords, including mam < mama «breast», duvems < doença «illness»; medsin < medicina «medicine»; salitri < salitre «salt petre»; and jel < gelo «ice». According to one linguist-informant, medical terms from Portuguese are still used although at times in a more limited sense. For example, when referring to medical problems the Portuguese loanword curacamv < coração «heart» is used, whereas when talking about feelings the Konkani word kariz is used. Another informant commented that jel «ice» today refers specifically to «fish in the market that is frozen on ice»:

In the category of plants and animals 28 words (1.7%) are in the list, including animals and plants, introduced by the Portuguese, as well as animals and plants of Goa. Examples include: kachor < cachorro «dog», elephant < elefante «elephant», roz, < rosa «rose»; and jiresal < gira-sol «sunflower». Several informants, including the four college-aged students did not recognize these words as part of present-day Konkani.

Other examples of words borrowed through the dominance of the conquerors include calendar, time, seasons, shapes, colors, and numbers. Although low in number relative to the total, these terms are high frequency items and show the extent of dominance of the colonizers in everyday affairs: janer < Janeiro «January», tard < tarde «aftenoon», and monsamv < monção «monsoon»: Some of these terms such as fest < festa «holiday» are still used, for example, in Goa fest and Mapusá fest, while others, such as the year in Portuguese are only used by older Konkani speakers.

Household, garden, and architectural terms, make up almost 10% of the Portuguese

Foods account for more than 7% of the total loanwords, for example, anijet < anisete «anise seed liqueur», azeton < azeitona «olive»; bolinh < bolinho «small cake» (used among Catholics), and karel < carreira «a species of mango». One Catholic informant stated that many of these items were made at home by her grandmother and aunts, but now people purchase manufactured food products instead. As these specialized foods become obsolete, Portuguese loanwords will increasingly be used only by the older generation.

Clothing, fabric and jewelry account for 111 (6.6%) of the total: chepem < chapéu «hat», chit < chita «cotton fabric», and phivel < fivela «shoe buckle». Loanwords for clothing are still used today more than other categories, but they too are rapidly being replaced by English loanwords: for example, schoolaged children use «tie» and «coat», rather than gravat < gravata and faat < fato.

In the realm of cultural learning, the Portuguese contributed much to the arts in Goa. Words pertaining to music, dance, literature, art, drama, and communications form almost six percent of the total loanwords. Entertainment and games add another two percent. These terms include tekl < tecla «organ key», kuadril < quadrilha «a dance», autor < autor «author», and retrat < retrato «portrait». Younger informants generally did not recognize many of these words. They have been replaced by English loan words since cultural influence from Portugal stopped abruptly in 1961.

Social customs including racial and national identities and patriotic terms also show acculturation accounting for 2.5% of the total in Table 2. Examples include: inglez < inglês «English», kampamv-karunk < capar «to castrate»; mulat < mulato «mulatto», and pasey-karunk < passeio «to go for a walk». Terms used today referring to customs brought to Goa by the Portuguese are often Portuguese loanwords. For example, the Portuguese set up an elaborate lottery in Goa during colonial times and the same system is stiff used today as well as the loanwords associated with the activity Therefore, informants readily recogized: sort < sorte «lottery» (literally «luck»), abert < aberto «numbers still open in the lottery» (literally «open»), abeltula < abertura «declaration of numbers still available in the lottery» (literally «opening»), tabel < tabela «a chart with successful lottery numbers» (literally «chart»), and pulo prem < primeiro prêmio «first prize».

In the case of the family, although similar words existed in Konkani, the Catholic view of the family was distinct enough for such words to be taken into Konkani. Konkani words are much more specific. For example, there are five different kinds of cousins and 11 terms for sister- and brother-in-law. The category of family, kinship, and relationships comprises 2.2% of the total loanwords. These words appear to have been incorporated by Catholics but not by Hindus, such as, mamam < mamãe «mother», prim < primo «cousin», and amig < amigo «friend». Others incorporate extension of original meaning kumar, kumarki from the Portuguese comadre to mean godmother and also mistress or concubine, and kumpar, kumparki from the Portuguese compadre to mean godfather, and also to mean secret lover. Catholics today, especially the elderly, are the only group that continues to use these words in Konkani.

Some borrowings may be a result of the habit of borrowing words. These terms were already available in Konkani, but it is possible that in order to progress in society, the local population began to use Portuguese loanwords to attain status or to show compliance in accepting the culture and language of the conquerors. One such category constitutes lexical items pertaining to emotions, personality, conditions, and descriptive words. This semantic category, comprising almost 9% of the total loanwords, contains everyday words, as opposed to the more technical vocabulary described above. Examples still used today include: absuar-karunk < abusar «to abuse», fort < forte «strong, well», capaj < capaz «capable, cunning», and cert < certo «certain».

Similarly, greetings and interjections, a small number of loanwords, represent a category of frequently employed items: vasimbir < vá-se-embora «to get out», kachor < cachorro «dog» used as an interjection, ades < adéus «goodbye», and bom di < bom dia «good day». The only words recognized by informants

For a more quantifiable measure of the present-day currency of Dalgado's list, 88 school-aged children were asked to identify 40 objects in pictures. Showing pictures to school-aged children was selected as the appropriate strategy to elicit current usage for three reasons. First, the school-aged group represents the generation of Konkani speakers who have grown up in an environment relatively free from direct influence of Portuguese. Additionally, since Hindus have rarely spoken Portuguese at home (see Wherritt 1985a: 65-67), a predominantly Hindu school was chosen to further assure that the majority of informants had had little exposure to Portuguese in their families. Their use of loanwords would not be influenced by personal knowledge of Portuguese. Second, using pictures allows for a quick comparison of various speakers' reactions to the same item. And third, use of pictures could be directed to representation of specific words from Dalgado's list.

All items selected appeared in Dalgado's list as deriving from Portuguese. To avoid ambiguity, simple pictures of concrete objects and individuals performing in their profession were employed. Domains chosen were furniture (8 pictures), household (14 pictures), professions (9 pictures), clothing (5 pictures), food (2 pictures), and transportation (2 pictures). The children were asked to write a word in Konkani that described what they saw in the picture. All children used Devanagari script. A local Konkani specialist transcribed the words into Roman script.

Of the forty pictures presented to the children four produced results too divergent to quantify. In these four cases the item either was not common (a veterinarian and musicians playing Western instruments) or it was ambiguous (a glass bowl and a dresser). The data from the showing of the other 36 pictures are summarized in three tables. Table 3 reports the responses to pictures which were interpreted exclusively or primarily as Portuguese loanwords; Table 4 reviews pictures which manifest moderate retention of Portuguese loanwords by informants; and Table 5 demonstrates pictures which rendered few or no Portuguese loanwords in their interpretation.

The pictures of furniture demonstrated the largest proportion of retention of Portuguese loanwords including mej (99%) < mesa «table», sofá (98%) > sofá «sofa»; and almár (82%) < armário «shelf». These items were introduced by the Portuguese and have had little competition for replacement by English or Konkani words. Other words for furniture are in a state of transition from Portuguese loanwords to English loanwords or Konkani

Pictures of household items showed varied responses. Some pictures were rendered all or primarily in Portuguese: sabu (100%) < sabão «soap», fer (94%) < ferro «iron», tuwalo (93%) < toalho «towel», cop (66%) / chikr (13%) < copo/chícara «teacup», and rebeck (50%) < rabeca «violin». Others are evolving towards greater use of English loanwords (pencil [49%]) or towards greater use of Konkani (kato [70%] «fork» and chamcho [44%] «spoon»). Silverware is little used in Hindu households and several informants substituted spoon for fork in both Portuguese (kulher < culher «spoon» for garf < garfo) and Konkani (chamcho «spoon» for kato «fork»). Toothbrush, plate, and glass were mostly English, whereas suri «knife» was exclusively described in Konkani. The everyday basic foods of pau (97%) < pão «bread» and batat (98%) < batat «potatoes» rendered high percentage of Portuguese. These items seem well ingrained into the community and are used in other parts of India.

Vocabulary for clothing as demonstrated by the response to the pictures seems to be influenced by both Portuguese and English -note the ambivalence for pants as kalsav < calção (51%) and pant (49%); coat as faant < fato (24%) and coat (75%); and shirt as bushcoat (72%), shirt (13%), and khomis < camisa (15%). Chepem < chapeu «hat» maintained 96% Portuguese usage while the picture of a tie produced 100% English.

The professions of carpenter and doctor are Portuguese dominant. Tailor, pilot, barber, and teacher are English dominant with some influence from Portuguese and Konkani.

From the data as presented in the tables some tentative conclusions can be reached as a basis for further investigation. The children were requested to give all their words in Konkani. Each picture was selected for a word it represented in Dalgado's list. From the results it is evident that the local dialect of Konkani which once underwent great influence from Portuguese has shifted that influence to English. Words which formerly were expressed as Portuguese loanwords are now tending to shift to English loanwords -representing the current dominant foreign culture. Words relating to contemporary technology such as transportation and professions tend to rely heavily on English for replenishment whereas words for objects inside the home are somewhat resistant to change.

Informants readily derived compound phrases from different languages, suggesting that linguistic purism has given way to ease of expression. Note the varieties for pilot: aviyan pilot, veeman pilot, veeman driver, veeman tsolowpi, and driver. Another profession, dentist, yielded mostly datancho dotor «tooth doctor» and dotor datancho «doctor of teeth», utilizing the Portuguese dotor and the Konkani word for «of the teeth». Similarly, the more common interpretation of the picture of a veterinarian was «doctor of dogs» or «dogs' doctor» using the Portuguese word dotor for «doctor and a Konkani word for dog». Napkin, for one informant, was a table tuwalo (tuwalo < toalho «towel»); a table was jevache mej (jevache from Konkani «lunch» and mej from Portuguese mesa); and table and chair was mej ani kurchi (mej from Portuguese and kurchi from Konkani).

Goans integrated Portuguese lexicon into Konkani following predictable phonological rules. Loanwords from Portuguese, as in similar cases of borrowings in other cultures, were mostly nouns to designate concepts and objects. Portuguese loanwords in Konkani at the turn of the century as identified by Dalgado show the official dominance of the colonialists, hence the high percentage of lexicon for religious, legal, professional, business, and military terms. Examination of the semantic categories also demonstrates Indians' ability to acculturate, which explains the high frequency of terms for emotions, personality traits, household, family, calendar time, colors, greetings, and numbers. These items may have been borrowed to gain social prestige or for the local population to demonstrate their degree of acculturation.

Since the departure of the Portuguese from Goa in 1961, many of the Portuguese loanwords in Konkani are no longer used, especially by younger generations. Factors

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