Riverense Portuñol language

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Riverense Portuñol Portuñol
Pronunciation:	IPA: [portu'ɲol]
Spoken in:	Northern Uruguay, near Brazilian border
Total speakers:	approximately 100,000 people
Language family:	Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Western Gallo-Iberian Ibero-Romance West-Iberian Riverense Portuñol
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`none`
ISO 639-2:	`none`
ISO 639-3:	none
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The Riverense Portuñol or Riverense Portunhol, also known as Fronterizo or Fronteiriço is a mixed language (linguasphere language code 51-AAA-am [1]) formed from Portuguese and Spanish. It is spoken on the border between Uruguay and Brazil, and more specifically in the region of the twin cities of Rivera (Uruguay) and Santana do Livramento (Brazil). This section of the frontier is called "Frontera de la Paz" (Border of Peace).

1 General characteristics
2 Origins
3 Phonology and orthography
- 3.1 Spanish vowels
- 3.2 Portuguese vowels
4 Bibliography
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] General characteristics

As any other language, the Uruguayan-Brazilian Portuñol is very dynamic and heterogeneous, and there is a continuum of dialects which range from Rioplatense Spanish (castiiano, in portuñol) to the standard Brazilian Portuguese (brazilero, in Portuñol). Nevertheless, it has one variant which is the most used, and could be taken as a case study: this variant is geographically located on the area having the cities of Rivera and Sant'Ana do Livramento as its center, and expanding over a strip of several kilometers parallel to the border, including territory of both nations. This article refers to this variant, but from now on it will be simply called Portuñol or Riverense, names by which it is identified by the people who speak the language.

The majority of linguists classify portuñol as a variety of Portuguese (for instance Alberto Elizaincín [2], who technically called it "DPU - dialecto portugués del Uruguay"), but there is no consensus. On the other hand, it can be safely said that by receiving the contribution of both Portuguese and Spanish, Portuñol is a very rich language, in the sense that it has a great amount of synonyms and more precise words to express specific meanings, besides of having a larger phonetic richness. However, it is not true to say that Riverense is merely a mix between two languages which doesn't follow strict grammatical rules.

[edit] Origins

The origins of Portuñol can be traced back to the time of the dominion of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. In those times, the ownerships of that lands were not very well defined, passing back and forth from the hands of one crown to the other. Portuñol was not only influenced by Portuguese and Spanish, but also, in a few cases, the native languages as well; e.g.: gurí (boy), mamboretá (praying mantis), caracú (bovine bone).

[edit] Phonology and orthography

The Riverense language doesn't possess a formally defined orthography, but in this article an orthography of Portuñol will be presented in order to enable its phonemes to be represented in the most accurate and consistent possible way, highlighting the phonologic features of this language variety. It should be noted that not all Portuñol-speaking persons use the same pronunciation for the same words (as is the case with most languages). Nevertheless, the script that is chosen is very representative of the most frequent and distinctive features.

The chosen representation is the closest to the one that would be used if we tried to transcribe the phonemes to the Spanish language (because this is the language taught to Uruguayans, which is the nationality of the majority of speakers of this dialect), except for the phonemes that can't be represented through the Spanish alphabet, like, for example the nasal vowels.

[edit] Spanish vowels

The Spanish vowels are the ones which are pronounced like the five vowels of the Spanish language (they also exist in Portuguese):

letter	IPA	Portuñol	Pronunciation (IPA)	Spanish	Portuguese	English
a	a	papa	['papa]	papa	batata	potato
a	a	catarata	[kata'ɾata]	catarata	cachoeira	waterfall
e	e	peshe	['peʃe]	pez	peixe	fish
e	e	detergente	[deter'χente]	detergente	detergente	detergent
i	i, j	cisco	['sisko]	basura	lixo	garbage
		niño	['niɲo]	nido	ninho	nest
		ciá	[sja]	cenar	jantar	to have dinner
o	o	ontonte	[on'tonte]	anteayer	anteontem	day before yesterday
		oio	['ojo]	ojo	olho	eye
		poso	['poso]	pozo	poço	well
u	u, w	yururú	[ʒuɾu'ɾu]	triste, melancólico	jururu	sad, melancholic
		nu	[nu]	en el	no	in the (m.)
		acuá	[a'kwa]	ladrar	latir	to bark

[edit] Portuguese vowels

These vowels are found in Portuguese, but not in Spanish.

[edit] Semiopen vowels

They are like the vowels e and o, but pronounced in a more open way, closer to an a.

letter	IPA	Portuñol	Pronunciation (IPA)	Spanish	Portuguese	English
é	ɛ	té	[tɛ]	té	chá	tea
		pél	[pɛl]	piel	pele	skin
		véia	['vɛja]	vieja	velha	old (f.)
ó	ɔ	fófóca	[fɔ'fɔka]	chisme	fofoca	gossip
ó	ɔ	póso	['pɔso]	puedo	posso	(I) can

Distinguishing the semiopen vowels is very important (é, ó) because they could completely change the sense of a word, like in the following examples:

avó [a'vɔ] (grandmother) and avô [a'vo] (grandfather)
véio ['vɛjo] (old (m.)) and veio ['vejo] (he came - from the verb ví [to come])
véia ['vɛja] (old (f.)) and veia ['veja] (vein)
póso ['pɔso] ((I) can) and poso ['poso] (well)

[edit] Nasal vowels

The nasal vowels are the vowels which are produced by expiring the air partly through the nose and partly through the mouth. They don't exist in Spanish and therefore are generally derived from Portuguese words.

IPA	letters	Portuñol	Pronunciation (IPA)	Spanish	Portuguese	English
ã	ã	masã	[ma'sã]	manzana	maçã	apple
		lã	[lã]	lana	lã	wool
		sã	[sã]	sana (adj.)	sã	healthy (f.)
	an (*)	cansha	['kãʃa]	cancha	campo esportivo	sports ground
ẽ	en (*)	pênsaũ	['pẽsaw̃]	piensan	pensam	(they) think
ĩ	in (**)	intonce	[ĩ'tõse]	entonces	então	then
õ	õ	garsõ	[gar'sõ]	mozo (de bar o restaurante)	garçom	waiter (bar, restaurant)
	õ	tõ	[tõ]	tono	tom	tone
	on (*)	intonce	[ĩ'tõse]	entonces	então	then
ũ, w̃	ũ	ũ	[ũ]	uno	um	one (m.)
		cũtigo	[kũ'tiɣo]	contigo	contigo	with you
		niñũa	[ni'ɲũa]	ninguna	nenhuma	no one (f.)
		maũ	[maw̃]	mano	mão	hand
() before s, sh, y, z, ce, ci. (*) before s, sh, y, z, ce, ci, or when it is the first syllable and is not followed by ga, gue, gui, go, gu, ca, que, qui, co, cu o k.

Distinguishing nasal vowels is very important, because they can completely change the meaning of the word, like in the following examples:

paũ [paw̃ (bread) and pau [paw] (stick)
nũ [nũ] (in a (m.)) and nu [nu] (in the (m.))
nũa ['nũa] (in a (f.)) and núa ['nua] (naked (f.))
ũ [ũ] (one, a (m.)) y u [u] (the (m.))
cũ [kũ] (with) y cu [ku] (anus - vulgar term)
ũs [ũs] (some (m.)) y us [us] (the (m.pl.))

[edit] Consonants

On the next table, when there is a reference to Spanish, it is actually referred to the Rioplatense Spanish dialect, and where there is a reference to Portuguese, it is actually referred to Brazilian Portuguese and more specifically the Gaúcho dialect (from the Brazilian Southern state of Rio Grande do Sul).

letter	IPA	name	description	examples and counter-examples (eng=English, esp=Spanish, port=Portuguese)
b	b, β	be	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish and Portuguese. It is always a bilabial.	brabo ['bɾaβo] (eng. angry, esp. enojado, port. zangado).
c	k, s	ce	It is used the same as in Spanish and Portuguese when before a vowel or a consonant different from h,. That is, it represents the phoneme [k] when it is followed by the vowels a, o, u, ã, õ, ũ, ó, another consonant than h; and it represents the phoneme [s] when it is located before the vowels e, i, é.	cacimba [ka'simba] (eng. hole with drinkable water, esp. cachimba, port. cacimba).
ch	ʧ	ce hache, che	It is always used as in Spanish and is equivalent to the phoneme represented by tch in Portuguese.	che [ʧe] (esp. che, port. tchê), bombacha [bom'baʧa] (underpants), bombasha [bom'baʃa] (gaucho's trousers).
d	d, ð	de	Used the same as in Spanish. It never represents, as in some regions of Brazil, the affricate ([dʒ]).	diploide [di'plojðe] (eng. diploid, esp. diploide, port. diplóide [dʒi'plɔjdʒi]).
f	f	efe	The same phoneme as in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
g	g, ɣ, χ	ge	It represents the same sound as in Spanish and Portuguese when lacated before a consonant or the vowels a, o, u, ã, õ, ũ, ó. It represents the same sound as the Spanish j (similar to English h) when located before the vowels e, i, é.	gagueyá [gaɣe'ʒa] (eng. to stammer, esp. tartamudear, port. gaguejar), geología [χeolo'χia] (eng, geology, esp. geología, port. geologia).
h		hache	Is mute, except when it follows a c or an s. In Portuñol, it is preferred not to use h when it is not present in the original word in Spanish or Portuguese.	hoye ['oʒe] (eng. today, esp. hoy, port. hoje), oso ['oso] (eng. bone, esp. hueso, port. osso)
j	χ	jota	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish (similar to English h).	jirafa [χi'ɾɑfɑ] sounds like Spanish and yirafa [ʒi'ɾafa] sounds like Portuguese (eng. giraffe, esp. jirafa, port. girafa)
k	k	ka	Represents the same phoneme as in Spanish and Portuguese (and English).
l	l	ele	Represents the same phoneme as in Spanish. In Portuguese, an l at the end of a word sounds like an [u] or [w]; in Fronterizo this never happens.	Brazil [bɾa'zil] (eng. Brazil, esp. and port. Brasil)
m	m	eme	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish (voiced bilabial nasal). In Portuguese, an m denotes many different sounds, depending on the preceding vowels.
n	n, ŋ	ene	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish, except the cases exposed in the nasal vowels section.	amên a'men] (eng. amen, esp. amén), amêñ [a'meɲ] (eng. amen, port. amém), inté [ĩ'tɛ] (eng. see you later, esp. hasta luego, port. até mais), sanga ['saŋga] (eng. ditch, esp. zanja, port. valeta)
ñ	ɲ	eñe	Is the same phoneme as in Spanish (and which in Portuguese is represented by the digraph nh).	niño ['niɲo] (eng. nest, esp. nido, port. ninho), carpiñ [kaɾ'piɲ] (eng. sock, esp. calcetín, port. meia), muñto ['muɲto] (eng. a lot of, esp. mucho, port. muito), ruñ [ruɲ] (eng. wicked, bad or rotten, esp. malo, port. ruim)
p	p	pe	Represents the same phoneme as in Spanish and Portuguese (and English).
q	k	cu	Represents the same phoneme as in Spanish and Portuguese (and English). It is always followed by a mute u.
r	r, ɾ	erre, ere	It represents the same pair of phonemes as in Spanish.
s	s, z	ese	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish; except when at the end of a word and the following word begins with a vowel, or when located before a voiced consonant. In these cases it is phonetically equivalent to the Portuguese z [z].	asesino [ase'sino] (eng. murderer, esp. asesino, port. assassino), read like in Portuguese it would be azezino [aze'zino], a non-existent word in Portuñol; más flaco [mas'flako] (eng. skinnier, esp. más flaco, port. mais magro), más gordo [maz'ɣordo] (eng. fatter, esp. más gordo, port. mais gordo)
sh	ʃ	ese hache, she	It represents the same phoneme that is represented by the digraph ch in Portuguese (that is, the English sh)	shuva ['ʃuva] (eng. rain, esp. lluvia, port. chuva); aflósha [a'flɔʃa] (eng. don't disturb, esp. no molestes, port. não perturbe)
t	t	te	It represents the same phoneme as in Spanish and is never affricate.	tímidamente ['timiða'mente] (eng. shyly, esp, tímidamente, port. timidamente ['ʧimida'menʧi]).
v	v	ve	It represents the same phoneme as in Portuguese and English, that is, a voiced labiodental fricative or more rarely a voiced bilabial fricative.	vaso ['vaso] (eng. glass, esp. vaso, port. copo). When used as in Spanish, it becomes baso ['baso] (eng. spleen, esp. bazo)
w	w	doblevê	It is used in the words derived from English, but it is convenient to follow the ortographic rules of Portuñol, for the words that are already part of this language.	whisky or uísqui ['wiski], show or shou [ʃow]
x	ks	equis, shis	It represents the phoneme pair [ks].	exelente [ekse'lente] (eng. excellent, esp. and port. excelente)
y	ʒ, j	ye, í griega	As in Rioplatense Spanish, it is a consonant (as the s in measure); except when at the end of a world which finishes with a diphthong or a triphthong, in which case the sound is the same of Spanish or Portuguese i.	yurá [ʒu'ɾa] (eng. to swear, esp. jurar; port. jurar); Uruguay [uɾu'ɣwaj] (port. Uruguai); yacaré [ʒaka'ɾɛ] (eng. southamerican alligator, esp. yacaré, port. jacaré)
z	z	ceta	It represents the same phoneme as in Portuguese and English.	caza ['kaza] (eng. house, esp. casa, port. casa); casa ['kasa] (eng. hunting, esp. caza, port. caça)
zy	z, zʒ, ʒ	ceta ye	It is used in some words that have a phoneme which varies continuously between z and y (depending on the speaker).	cuazye ['kwazʒe] (eng. almost, esp. casi, port. quase); ezyemplo [e'zʒemplo] (eng. example, esp. ejemplo, port. exemplo).

[edit] Bibliography

Lipski, John M. (2006). "Too close for comfort? the genesis of “portuñol/portunhol”". Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. ed. Timothy L. Face and Carol A. Klee, 1-22. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. (PDF)