Gaúcho (, ), more rarely called , is the Brazilian Portuguese term for the characteristic accent spoken in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state, including its capital, Porto Alegre. It is heavily influenced by Spanish and somewhat influenced by Hunsrückisch, Venetian, Guarani and other native languages.
Phonology Its phonology is heavily similar to Rioplatense Spanish, including its characteristics of the speaking syllabic rhythm, use of L-vocalization in the syllable coda, and little use of nasal vowels, basically restricted to the monophthong and the diphthongs .
In the western and some central varieties there is the absence of vowel reduction with word-final and (for example, is instead of and is instead of ). In some other cities of the region, the nasal monophthong is heightened to , and in the metropolitan region final may be realised as .
The "hard" rhotic usually registers in western varieties as [r] medially and [ʁ] initially or following . In eastern varieties /ʁ/ has lenitioned into and /r/ is not found.
The "soft" rhotic tends to register as either a short trill or [ɾ]. Although finally in eastern varieties, due to influence from Paulistano, it is sometimes realised as [ɹ].
Grammar Grammatically, one of its most notable features is the use of , instead of , with the verb conjugating differently: e.g. and instead of and . However, use of the standard você is also not rare. The same feature also occurs in other dialects of Brazilian Portuguese.
Vocabulary Gaúcho Standard Brazilian Portuguese Meaning horn lighter , exclamation of surprise , excellent, very good , tangerine slingshot drunk French bread to look for to lock jam girl , dog suit (noun) to provoke restaurant/eating place straight, equal toilet fight beetroot , sentence intensifieror you (i.e. "Hey, you *name*") calf , nice, cool , living being praises what was heard fatherland, homeland hamburger
Regional differences The Gaúcho dialect ranges in features as the western variations have stronger influence from Rioplatense Spanish and the eastern, especially the ones spoken in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, stronger influence of the Paulistano dialect, resulting in differing features depending on the region the dialect is spoken.
See also Gaucho Portuguese dialects Portuguese phonology
References