Mineiro
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2008-07-01T12:01:10Z
TubularWorld
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{{Expand|date=August 2007}}
{{Disputed|date=October 2007}}
{{Merge|Caipira|date=October 2007}}
'''Mineiro''' ({{Audio|Br-Mineiro.ogg|pronunciation}}) feminine, ''Mineira'') is the [[Portuguese language|Brazilian Portuguese]] term for the inhabitants of the Brazilian state of [[Minas Gerais]] and also the characteristic dialect spoken in the heart of that state.
==History==
{{Further|[[Minas Gerais]]}}
Minas Gerais was settled during the late 17th and early 18th centuries by a mix of recent Portuguese immigrants (''reinóis'' or "emboabas") and earlier colonists that came from São Paulo (''paulistas''). There was an intense rivalry between the two groups, fighting over the gold mines (from which the name of the province was taken, ''Minas Gerais'' means "General Mines"). These conflicts required the intervention of the Portuguese Crown after a serious uprisal developed into civil war (Guerra dos Emboabas) with the final defeat of the "paulistas" in 1708. See the article [http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerra_Dos_Emboabas "Guerra dos Emboabas" in the Portuguese language Wikipedia].
The distinctive character of the ''mineiro'' dialect is derived from the Portuguese then spoken in the region of [[Minho (province)|Minho, northern Portugal]], where most migrants came from.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}. Recently, the influence of ''mineiro'' has been increasing and spreading, due to local pride and rejection of other dialects.
==Dialect characteristics==
* '''Reduction (and often loss) of final and initial unstressed vowels, especially ''e'', ''i'', and ''u''''': ''parte'' ("part") becomes ''part''' (with soft affricate T).
* '''Assimilation of consecutive vowels''': ''o urubu'' ("the vulture") becomes ''u rubu''.
* '''Weakening (and usual loss) of final /r/ and /s/''': ''cantar'' ("to sing", with the final /r/ sounding like the "r" in the French name ''Pierre'') becomes ''cantá'' and ''os livros'' ("the books") becomes ''us livru''.
* '''Loss of the plural ending /s/ in adjectives and nouns''', retained only in articles and verbs: ''meus filhos'' ("my children") becomes (sometimes)''meus filho'', (most of the time) ''meus fii OR ''meus fiu''.
* '''Intense ''liaison''''': ''abra as asas'' ("spread your wings") becomes ''abrazaza''. ''Para onde nós estamos indo?'' ("Where are we going?") becomes ''Pronoistamuíno?''.
* '''Realization of most /ʎ/ as [j]''': ''alho'' ("garlic") becomes homophonous with ''aio''.
* '''Replacement of some diphthongs with long vowels''': ''fio'' (thread) becomes ''fii'', ''pouco'' (few) becomes ''poco''.
* '''[[Apocope]] of final syllables'''. ''-lho'' becomes [ij] (''filho'' → ''fii' ''), ''-inho'' becomes ''-inh' '' (''pinho'' → ''pinh' '').
* '''Soft pronunciation of "r"''': ''rato'' ("mouse") is pronounced [hatu].
* '''Sonorization of final "s" before a vowel'''.
* '''Diphthongization of stressed vowels in two words''': ''mas'' ("but") becomes ''mais'' and ''três'' ("three") becomes ''treis''.
* '''Occasional affrication of "d" before "e" at the beginning of the word''': ''deserto'' ("desert") is pronounced [dʒi'zɛhtu] instead of [de'zɛɾtu].
* '''Loss of initial "e" in words beginning with "es"''': ''esporte'' becomes [spɔhtʃi].
* Another important trait of ''Mineiro'' is the '''absence of remarkable features of other dialects''', like the retroflex R ([[caipira]]), palatalization of S ([[carioca]]), strong dental R ([[gaucho]]), or "singsong" ''[[Northeast Region, Brazil|nordestino]]'' intonation.
==See also==
* [[Brazilian Portuguese]]
* [[Portuguese dialects]]
* [[Portuguese phonology]]
* [[Caipira]]
{{Portuguese dialects}}
[[Category:Portuguese dialects]]
{{ie-lang-stub}}
[[it:Dialetto mineiro]]
[[pt:Dialeto mineiro]]