Increased personal contact among people of all parts of the world has underscored the inadequacy of traditional language study to meet contemporary communications needs. Linguistic science, in recent years, has responded to this breakdown of communications by emphasizing spoken, versus literary, language in the teaching of foreign languages.

Very real differences do exist between what is spoken and what is written in virtually every language. In Brazilian Portuguese, especially, the gulf between the two is wide: In many cases, the most cultured Brazilian is unable to comprehend with ease Brazilian literature written only fifty years ago.

The Syntax Of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese is the first thorough analysis of the spoken language of contemporary Brazil, in English, for students and teachers of the language. Useful as a text in advanced language courses, the work is intended primarily for reference and as a research aid to future authors of Portuguese language textbooks.