Goans

Goans (Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (Estado Português da Índia). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, Austro-Asiatic ethnic and/or linguistic ancestries. They speak different dialects of the Konkani language, collectively known as Goan Konkani. A small minority speak Portuguese. "Goanese", although sometimes used, is an incorrect term for Goans.

Language

Goans are generally multilingual, but mainly speak the Konkani language, a Prakrit based language belonging to the Southern group of Indo-Aryan Languages. Various dialects of Konkani spoken by the Goans include Bardezkari, Saxtti, Pednekari and Antruz. The Konkani spoken by the Catholics is notably different from those of the Hindus, since it has a lot of Portuguese influence in its vocabulary. Konkani was suppressed for official documentation use only not for unofficial use under the Portuguese governance, playing a minor part in education of the past generations. All Goans were educated in Portuguese in the past when Goa was an overseas province of Portugal. A small minority of Goans are descendants of the Portuguese (Luso-Indian ethnicity) and speak Portuguese. However, a number of native Christians also used Portuguese as their first language prior to 1961. Goans use Devanagari (official) and Latin script (liturgical and historical) for education as well as communication (personal, formal and religious). However the entire liturgy of the Catholic church is solely in the Latin script, having been influenced by the Portuguese colonial rule. In the past other scripts such as Goykanadi, Modi, Kannada and Persian were also used, but later fell into disuse owing to many social, political and religious reasons. Portuguese is still spoken as a first language by a number of Goans, though it is mainly restricted to upper-class Catholic families and the older generation. However, the annual number of Goans learning Portuguese as a second language has been continuously increasing in the 21st century through introduction in schools and the opening of Instituto Camões. The Marathi language has played a significant role for Hindus near the northern borders of Goa close to Maharashtra and parts of Novas Conquistas (lit. new conquests). This is due to the influx of ethnic Marathi people since the 20th century.

Religion

As per the 1909 statistics, the Catholic population stood at 293,628 out of a total population 365,291 (80.33%). Within Goa, there has been a steady decline of Christianity as a percentage of the total population due to Goan emigration to other Indian cities (especially Mumbai) and foreign countries, and a rise of other religions due to non-Goan migration from the other states of India. According to the 2011 census, out of the Indian population residing in Goa (1,458,545 persons), 66.1% were Hindu, 25.1% were Christian, 8.32% were Muslim, and 0.1% were Sikh.

Geographical distribution

Many overseas Goans have settled in the erstwhile British Empire and the United Kingdom mainly in south-west town of Swindon, Leicester in the East Midlands and in London (especially Wembley and Southall). Many Goans have migrated to the UK on Portuguese passports due to the UK being an EU member country up until the Brexit. According to the Office for National Statistics, as of June 2020, the population of EU Nationals (Indian-born Portuguese citizens) in UK was about 35,000.

Notes

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377934016 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

Names in other languages