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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:

• 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 buy a candy) may become Eu compro um trem, which means "I 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" (spelled 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 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", with the final /r/ sounding like r in the french name Pierre) 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.

• Replacement of some diphtongs with long vowels: fio (thread) becomes fii, pouco (few) becomes poco.

• Shifting of syllables. -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 occurring of all the above features can render the dialect mostly unintelligible for those not used to it. Some Brazilians do not enjoy the way mineiro sounds or looks when written, mostly due to aversion to neologisms in the Portuguese language. Nonetheless, many people from the state of Minas Gerais enjoy speaking in their own dialect, disregarding possible cultural conflict posed by other regional dialects.

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