Mineiro

Mineiro, Mineirês, or the Brazilian mountain dialect is the Brazilian Portuguese term for the dialect spoken in the center, East and Southeast regions of the state of Minas Gerais.

Etymology

The term is also the demonym of Minas Gerais.

Demography

It is notable for being spoken in its capital, Belo Horizonte, and its historical cities: Ouro Preto, Mariana, Santa Bárbara, Sabará, Diamantina, Tiradentes, São João del-Rei, Congonhas, Serro, Caeté, Itabira etc.
Ten million people, about half of the state's population, speak it.

Linguistic geography

The dialect is mainly spoken in four geographic regions of the state. The four regions have a great population density.

Intermediate Geographic Region of Belo Horizonte
Intermediate Geographic Region of Ipatinga
Intermediate Geographic Region of Juiz de Fora
Intermediate Geographic Region of Barbacena
Most populous cities which speak Mineiro (population>50 000)
Greater than 700 000: Belo Horizonte.
Between 600 000 and 700 000: Contagem.
Between 500 000 and 600 000: Juiz de Fora.
Between 400 000 and 500 000: Betim.
Between 300 000 and 400 000: Ribeirão das Neves.
Between 250 000 and 300 000: Governador Valadares, Ipatinga.
Between 200 000 and 250 000: Sete Lagoas, Santa Luzia.
Between 150 000 and 200 000: Ibirité.
Between 100 000 and 150 000: Barbacena, Sabará, Vespasiano, Conselheiro Lafaiete, Itabira, Ubá, Coronel Fabriciano, Muriaé.
Between 75 000 and 100 000: Nova Lima, Caratinga, Manhuaçu, Timóteo, São João del-Rei, Curvelo, João Monlevade, Viçosa, Cataguases,
Between 50 000 and 75 000: Ouro Preto, Esmeraldas, Lagoa Santa, Pedro Leopoldo, Mariana, Ponte Nova, Congonhas, Leopoldina, Itabirito.
Linguistic geography of other accents in Minas Gerais

Caipira dialect

The caipira dialect is spoken in the following regions of the state:

Cities where caipira is spoken are: Uberlândia, Uberaba, Araguari, Ituiutaba, Delta, Frutal, Iturama, Divinópolis, Nova Serrana, Itaúna, Pará de Minas, Luz, Bom Despacho, Abaeté, Bambuí, Formiga, Patos de Minas, Araxá, Patrocínio, Sacramento, São Gotardo, Poços de Caldas, Pouso Alegre, Varginha, Passos, Lavras, Campo Belo, Arcos, Três Pontas, Boa Esperança, Capitólio, Campanha, Elói Mendes, Alfenas, Três Corações, Itajubá, São Lourenço, Caxambu, Muzambinho, Extrema, Camanducaia.

Geraizeiro dialect

The geraizeiro dialect is spoken in the following regions of the state:

Cities where geraizeiro is spoken are: Montes Claros, Governador Valadares, Teófilo Otoni, Paracatu, Unaí, João Pinheiro, Pirapora, Buritizeiro, São Francisco, Januária, Janaúba, Bocaiúva, Várzea da Palma, Espinosa, Salinas, Nanuque, Almenara, Capelinha, Araçuaí, Jequitinhonha, Grão Mogol, Medina, Águas Vermelhas, Itacambira, Itamarandiba, Matias Cardoso, Manga, Malacacheta, Água Boa, Jacinto.

History

Minas Gerais was settled during the late 17th and early 18th centuries by a mix of recent Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Minho, and earlier colonists that came from São Paulo. There was an intense rivalry between the two groups, fighting over the gold mines. These conflicts required the intervention of the Portuguese Crown after a serious uprisal developed into civil war with the final defeat of the paulistas in 1708.
In the 19th century, the state was being forgotten due to the decline of gold mining. Due to this isolation, the state was influenced by the dialect of Rio de Janeiro in the southeast, while the south and the Triangulo Mineiro region, began to speak the rustic dialect of São Paulo. The central region of Minas Gerais, however, developed their own dialect, which is known as Mineiro or mountain dialect. This dialect is also present in cities of the center and southeast of the state, which is surrounded by mountains and mines.
Recently, the influence of mineiro has been increasing and spreading, due to local pride and rejection of other accents.

History of linguistic study

The first scientific study of the dialect was the Esboço de um Atlas Linguístico de Minas Gerais, "Draft of a Linguistic Atlas for Minas Gerais". The work was done in 1977 by the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Until today, it is the most important linguistic study about the state.

Dialect characteristics

Reduction of final and initial unstressed vowels, especially with e, i and u: parte becomes *partch . Common to most of Brazil.
Omission of reflexive pronouns becomes.
Assimilation of consecutive vowels: o urubu becomes *u rubu.
Debuccalization of final /r/ and /s/: cantar becomes *cantá and os livros becomes *us lívru. Common to most of Brazil.
Soft pronunciation of "r": rato is pronounced. Very common in other parts of Brazil.
Loss of the plural ending -s in adjectives and nouns, retained only in articles and verbs: meus filhos becomes *meus filho, *meus fii OR *meus fiu .
Realization of most as : alho becomes homophonous with aio ; see yeísmo in Spanish. Probably the most characteristic feature of the Mineiro accent, though it is less present in Belo Horizonte.
Replacement of some diphthongs with long vowels: fio becomes fii, pouco becomes poco.
Apocope of final syllables. -lho becomes , -inho becomes *-im' .
Diphthongization of stressed vowels: mas becomes *mais and três becomes *treis Common in other parts of Brazil, particularly Rio de Janeiro.
Intense elision: abra as asas becomes *abrazaza. Para onde nós estamos indo? becomes Pronoistamuíno?. However, see : this is far from being the most common usage.
Loss of initial "e" in words beginning with "es": esporte becomes.
Mineiro also lacks notable features of other accents, including the retroflex R, palatalization of S, strong dental R, or "singsong" nordestino intonation.

This dialect is often hard to understand for people outside the region where it is spoken due to heavy assimilation and elision.