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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.

History

(Main article: Minas Gerais)

Minas Gerais was settled during the late XVII and early XVIII century by a mix of recent Portuguese immigrants (reinóis) and colonists that had settled since the XVI 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 "Mines of the Realm") but neither was successful in displacing the other. Portuguese settlers were usually better armed, but paulistas spoke Lingua Geral (therefore being able to communicate with the natives) and had better knowledge of the land.

The distinctive character of Mineiro dialect appeared during the XIX 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.

Characteristics

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

• Used Word: "trem" (lit. train). This word can complicate the foreigner's life too much. It can mean everything, said or not on the conversation. For example:

Eu compro uma bala. (I buy a candy) = Becomes: Eu compro um trem. (You can maybe think: "Did he bought a train?", but is actually refering to the candy). It is like an Indefinite Pronoum, but it may replaces things that were not mentioned before.

• "Normal" Expression: "uai" (you read exactly like "why"). It is an Interjection, that express surprise, or substitute the "Por que?" (the "real" why).

Por quê você não veio? (Why did you not come?) Você não veio, uai... (You did not come... why?) Or it can express unknoweldge. Question: Você sabe quem foi o presidente do Brasil em 1991? (Do you know who was the Brazilian President on 1991?) Answer (in Mineiro): uai... (means: "I don't know")

• Reduction (and often loss) of final and initial short 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") becomes cantá and os livros ("the books") becomes us livru.
• Reduction of the inventory of short vowels to only /a/, /i/ and /u/ (/e/ becomes /i/ and /o/ becomes /u/, while /a/ changes pitch).
• Intense liaison: abra as asas ("spread your wings") becomes abrazaza.
• Loss of plural ending /S/ in adjectives and nouns, retained only in articles and verbs: meus filhos ("my children") becomes meus filho.
• Some diphthongs are changed to long vowels: fio (thread) becomes fii, pouco (few) becomes poco.
• Some syllables are characteristically shifted into others. -lho becomes i (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 long vowels: paz ("peace") becomes paiz
• Labiodental pronunciation of /f/ and /v/ (touching the lower lip with the upper teeth).
• Change of most '/λ/' into '/j/: alho ("garlic") becomes áio.
• Occasional affrication of D before E in the beginning of the word as well: deserto ("desert") is pronounced d3izértu instead of dêzértu.
• Loss of initial E in words beginning with ES: esporte becomes sport§i.
• Another important trait of Mineiro is its absence of remarkable features of other dialects, like the retroflex R (caipira), the palatalization of S (carioca), the strong dental R (gaucho) or "sing-song" nordestino intonation.

The simultaneous occurrence of all the above features can render the dialect mostly unintelligible for those not used to it, but it rarely occurs --- as mineiro is regarded by some of its own speakers, specially the urban ones, as a "lower" dialect, a pattern to be avoided. For this same reason, Mineiro is never written, except for humoristic purposes, and usually looks "ugly" in the eyes of the Brazilians when it is done. This happens mainly due to the fact that, probably thanks to historical reasons, Brazilians seem to think that the language shouldn't evolve any further (besides the addition of words that represent new concepts) and stay "pure". Nonetheless, there are some people, even in the capital city of Minas Gerais, that speak such dialect with pride (mostly when speaking to Brazilians from other States). Since this is a discipline followed most grammar authors and linguists in general a drastic change in order to incorporate the spoken dialects into Brazilian Portuguese will probably never happen.

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