Mineiro

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Mineiro (feminine, Mineira) is the Portuguese term for the inhabitants of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and also the characteristic dialect spoken in the heart of that state.

[edit] History

Main article: Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais was settled during the late 17th and early 18th century by a mix of recent Portuguese immigrants (reinóis) and earlier colonists that had settled since the 16th century in present-day 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 meaning "General Mines") but neither was successful in displacing the other. Portuguese settlers were usually better armed, but paulistas spoke the língua geral (therefore being able to communicate with the natives) and had better knowledge of the land.

The distinctive character of the Mineiro dialect appeared during the 19th century, after the decadence of gold mining. And recently, the influence of mineiro has been spreading, due to local pride and rejection of other dialects.

[edit] Characteristics

Mineiro may be the most difficult Brazilian Portuguese dialect for a foreigner to understand, due to a series of particular features:

The word "trem" (lit. train) which is very likely to be misunderstood by non-Portuguese speakers, as it may mean pretty much anything in a conversation. E.g.:

Eu compro uma bala (I'll buy candy) may become Eu compro um trem, which means "I'll buy a train". In this case, trem would refer to the word candy, having nothing to do with a train whatsoever.

The very typical interjection "Uai" (pronounced exactly like "why"), which conveys the idea of surprise, inquiriment, curiosity, lack of knowledge about something, and much more. E.g.:
- Você não veio, porquê? (You haven't come, why?), becomes Voce não veio, uai.
- Q: Do you know who was the President of Brazil in 1991?
- A: Uai..., in this case meaning "I do not know".

Defining the true meaning to the word uai is a challenge even to mineiros themselves, who humorously decided, as in a popular anecdote, that "uai is uai, uai!"

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 meus filho.

Intense liaison: abra as asas ("spread your wings") becomes abrazaza. Para onde nós estamos indo? ("Where are we going?") becomes Pronoistamuíno?.

Reduction of the inventory of unstressed vowels to only /a/, /i/ and /u/ (/e/ becomes /i/ and /o/ becomes /u/, while /a/ changes height).

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.

Diphtongation of some stressed vowels: paz ("peace") becomes paiz.

Labiodental pronunciation of /f/ and /v/ (touching the lower lip with the upper teeth).

Occasional affrication of "d" before "e" at the beginning of the word: deserto ("desert") is pronounced [dʒi'zɛɾtu] instead of [de'zɛɾtu].

Loss of initial "e" in words beginning with "es": esporte becomes [spɔrtʃi].

Another important trait of Mineiro is the absence of remarkable features of other dialects, like the retroflex R (caipira), the palatalization of S (carioca), the strong dental R (gaucho) or the "sing-song" nordestino intonation.

The simultaneous occurrence of all the above features can render the dialect mostly unintelligible for those not used to it. Some Brazilians do not like the way mineiro sounds or looks when written, mostly due to an aversion to neologisms in the Portuguese language. Nonetheless, many people from the state of Minas Gerais enjoy speaking in their own dialect, and disregard possible cultural conflicts posed by other regional dialects.