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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, when the state was largely forgotten, with its access to sea hardened by thick forest and high mountains. Because of this isolation and the relative unimportance of the state ever since the early 1800s it was under the influence of its neighbours, this being the reason why most of its South-East part speaks a dialect that is much closer to carioca, while the far west and the south is closely related to paulista.
However, in recent times, the influence of mineiro has been spreading, due to local pride, rejection to the influence of Rio de Janeiro and the power of radio and TV.
Characteristics
Mineiro maybe the most difficult Brazilian Portuguese dialect for the foreigner to understand, due to a series of particular phonetic features:
- 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 oz 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 diphtongs 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 its own speakers 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.
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