Algumas observações sobre a concorrência dos adjetivos “preto” e “negro” na língua portuguesa

Portuguese, as opposed to other Romance languages, features two etymologically different expressions signifying the color black (in the form of substantive as well as adjective). The semantic fields of the adjectives preto and negro overlap to a certain extent, but thorough research based on an analysis of the Portuguese language corpora (Linguateca Corpo CETEM Público) proved that the choice between the two is not arbitrary. For some semantic fields (sorrow, negative feelings or thoughts, lack of light) only the adjective negro can be used. Equally, the expressions negro and preto cannot be interchanged in some phraseological units (with the nouns buraco – hole, humor – humour, mercado – market, morte – death, lista – document, paper, magia – magic, peste – plague). In such cases, not a single occurrence in connection with the adjective preto was recorded. In contrast to that, in selected items of the semantic field of wardrobe the choice between the mentioned adjectives seems to be arbitrary.