The language of Brazil, then, is not the Portuguese of Lisbon. From the phonological viewpoint there is less palatalization of the final _s_ and _z_ than is customary in Portugal; Brazil has a real diphthong _ou_, which in Lisbonese has become a close _o_ or the diphthong _oi_. Its pronunciation of the diphthong _ei_ is true, whereas in Lisbon this approximates to _ai_ (with _a_ as in English _above_, or like the _u_ of _cut_). Neither is the grammar identical with that of Portugal. “The truth is, that by correcting ourselves we run the danger of mutilating ideas and sentiments that are not merely personal. It is no longer the language that we are purifying; it is our spirit that we are subjecting to inexplicable servility. To speak differently is not to speak incorrectly.… To change a word or an inflexion of ours for a different one of Coimbra[16] is to alter the value of both in favor of artificial and deceptive uniformity.”[17] Brazilianisms, so-called, make their appearance very early; they are already present in the letters sent by the Jesuits, as well as in the old chronicles. New plants, new fruits, new animals compelled new words. Native terms enriched the vocabulary. Of course, as has happened with us, often a word for which the new nation is reproached turns out to be an original importation from the motherland. One of the oldest documents in the history of Brazilianisms appeared in Paris during the first quarter of the XIXth century and is reprinted by João Ribeiro as a rarity little known to his countrymen; it formed part of the _Introduction à l’Atlas ethnographique du globe_, prepared by Adrien Balbi and covering the races and languages of the world. The Portuguese section was entrusted to Domingos Borges de Barros, baron and later viscount de Pedra Branca, a warm advocate of Brazilian independence, then recently achieved. This, according to Ribeiro, is supposed to constitute the “first theoretical contribution” to the study of Brazilianisms. It is written in French, and because of its documentary importance I translate it in good measure: “Languages reveal the manners and the character of peoples. That of the Portuguese has the savor of their religious, martial traits; thus the words _honnête_, _galant_, _éate_, _bizarre_, etc., possess a meaning quite different from that they have in French. The Portuguese tongue abounds in terms and phrases for the expression of impulsive movements and strong actions. In Portuguese one strikes with everything; and when the Frenchman, for example, feels the need of adding the word _coup_ to the thing with which he does the striking, the Portuguese expresses it with the word of the instrument alone. One says, in French, _un coup de pierre_; in Portuguese, _pedrada_ (a blow with a stone); _un coup de couteau_ is expressed in Portuguese by _facada_ (a knife thrust) and so on.…