Mineiro, or the Brazilian mountain dialect, is the Brazilian Portuguese term the characteristic accent spoken in the heart of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and also in its capital, Belo Horizonte. This dialect is often hard to understand for people outside the region where it is spoken due to heavy assimilation and elision. The term also refers to the inhabitants of Minas Gerais.
History
Minas Gerais was settled during the late 17th and early 18th centuries by a mix of recent Portuguese immigrants 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 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 southest 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.
Accent characteristics
Reduction of final and initial unstressed vowels, especially with e, i and u: parte becomes *partch . Common to most of Brazil.
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.
