Vowel sounds comprise the basic structure of all languages, and the number of sounds, called phonemes, vary from language to language. Vowel sounds are produced from a continuous flow of air and vibration of the vocal cords. What follows involves the shaping of the mouth and the placement of tongue to produce a timbre, or tone quality. For instance, English, a very compact and economic language with many one syllable words, needs many phonemes (20) in order to account for all of its meanings. Portuguese in contrast has much less phonemes (7) and has very few one syllable words. In you stop to think about it, one syllable is much less taxing on the vocals then 3, and subsequently much easier to squeeze in your message in less space, whether it be on paper or in dialogue. Nasality plays a part of Portuguese, which can add to the difficulty for a foreigner to learn to speak and can tire out the vocal cords. With the larger number of phonemes, the subtle differences become a part of the distinction.  The wonder of verbal communication!

For an excellent analysis to the comparison of English and Portuguese> www.sk.com.br/sk-voga.html

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