| Uruguayan Portuguese | |
| Nativename: | Portuguese: português uruguaio |
| States: | North-eastern Uruguay, near Brazilian border |
| Date: | 2016 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Italic |
| Fam3: | Latin |
| Fam4: | Romance |
| Fam5: | Western |
| Fam6: | Ibero-Romance |
| Fam7: | West Iberian |
| Fam8: | Galician-Portuguese |
| Fam9: | Portuguese |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Script: |
|
| Glotto: | none |
| Lingua: | 51-AAA-am[1] |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Ietf: | pt-UY |
| Fam10: | Brazilian-Portuguese |
Uruguayan Portuguese (Portuguese: português uruguaio, pronounced as /poɾtuˈɣes uɾuˈɣwajo/), also known as Portuguese: fronteiriço (pronounced as /fɾõteˈɾiso/) and riverense, and referred to by its speakers as Portuguese: portunhol (pronounced as /poɾtuˈɲɔl/), is a variety of Portuguese in South America with heavy influence from Rioplatense Spanish. It is spoken in north-eastern Uruguay, near the Brazilian border, mainly in the region of the twin cities of Rivera (Uruguay) and Santana do Livramento (Brazil). This section of the frontier is called "Peace Border" (Portuguese: Fronteira da Paz; Spanish; Castilian: Frontera de la Paz), because there is no legal obstacle to crossing the border between the two countries.
The varieties of Uruguayan Portuguese share many similarities with the countryside dialects of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, such as the denasalization of final unstressed nasal vowels, replacement of lateral palatal pronounced as /link/ with semivowel pronounced as /link/, no raising of final unstressed pronounced as /link/, alveolar trill pronounced as /link/ instead of the guttural R, and lateral realization of coda pronounced as /link/ instead of L-vocalization. The first two features are rare among accents of Portuguese, whereas L-vocalization is the norm in Brazil but not in other countries.
Recent changes in Uruguayan Portuguese include the urbanization of this variety, acquiring characteristics from urban Brazilian Portuguese such as a distinction between pronounced as //ʎ// and pronounced as //j//, affrication of pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d// before pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //ĩ//, and other features of Brazilian broadcast media. Uruguayan Portuguese now exists on a spectrum, ranging from working-class rural varieties to middle class urban ones. Middle class Uruguayan Portuguese has undergone heavy convergence to the monolingual Brazilian Portuguese standard, and is perceived by middle class Brazilians to be similar to their own speech.
The origin of Portuguese in Uruguay can be traced back to the time of the dominion of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, and the Empire of Brazil. In those times, the ownership of those lands was not very well defined, passing back and forth from the hands of one crown to the other. Before its independence after the Cisplatine War in 1828, Uruguay was one of the provinces of the Empire of Brazil as Cisplatina.
Portuguese was the only language spoken throughout northern Uruguay until the end of the 19th century. To assure the homogeneity of the newly formed country, the government made an effort to impose the Spanish language into lusophone communities through educational policies and language planning, and bilingualism became widespread and diglossic.
| Uruguayan Portuguese (IPA) | Pronunciation (IPA) | Spanish (Rioplatense dialect) | Brazilian Portuguese | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /a/ | pronounced as /[ˈp'''a'''p'''a''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: papa | Portuguese: batata | potato | |
| pronounced as /[k'''a'''t'''a'''ˈɾ'''a'''t'''a''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: catarata | Portuguese: catarata / queda d'água | waterfall | ||
| pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /[ˈp'''e'''ʃ'''e''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: pez | Portuguese: peixe | fish | |
| pronounced as /[d'''e'''t'''e'''rˈχ'''e'''nt'''e''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: detergente | Portuguese: detergente | detergent | ||
| pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /[ˈs'''i'''sko]/ | basura | lixo | garbage | |
| pronounced as /[ˈn'''i'''ɲo]/ | Spanish; Castilian: nido | Portuguese: ninho | nest | ||
| pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /[s'''j'''a]/ | Spanish; Castilian: cenar | Portuguese: jantar/cear | to have dinner | |
| pronounced as /o/ | pronounced as /['''o'''nˈt'''o'''nte]/ | Spanish; Castilian: anteayer | Portuguese: anteontem | day before yesterday | |
| pronounced as /[ˈ'''o'''j'''o''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: ojo | Portuguese: olho | eye | ||
| pronounced as /[ˈp'''o'''s'''o''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: pozo | Portuguese: poço | well | ||
| pronounced as /u/ | pronounced as /[ʒ'''u'''ɾ'''u'''ˈɾ'''u''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: triste, melancólico | Portuguese: triste, melancólico/jururu | sad, melancholic | |
| pronounced as /[n'''u''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: en el | Portuguese: no/em | in the | ||
| pronounced as /w/ | pronounced as /[aˈk'''w'''a]/ | Spanish; Castilian: ladrar | Portuguese: latir/ladrar | to bark | |
| pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /[t'''ɛ''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: té | Portuguese: chá | tea | |
| pronounced as /[p'''ɛ'''l]/ | Spanish; Castilian: piel | Portuguese: pele | skin | ||
| pronounced as /[ˈv'''ɛ'''ja]/ | Spanish; Castilian: vieja | Portuguese: velha | old | ||
| pronounced as /ɔ/ | pronounced as /[f'''ɔ'''ˈf'''ɔ'''ka]/ | Spanish; Castilian: chisme | Portuguese: fofoca | gossip | |
| pronounced as /[ˈp'''ɔ'''so]/ | Spanish; Castilian: puedo | Portuguese: posso | (I) can | ||
| pronounced as /ã/ | pronounced as /[maˈs'''ã''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: manzana | Portuguese: maçã | apple | |
| pronounced as /[l'''ã''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: lana | Portuguese: lã | wool | ||
| pronounced as /[s'''ã''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: sana | Portuguese: sã | healthy | ||
| pronounced as /[ˈk'''ã'''ʃa]/ | Spanish; Castilian: cancha | Portuguese: campo desportivo | sports ground | ||
| pronounced as /ẽ/ | pronounced as /[ˈp'''ẽ'''saw̃]/ | Spanish; Castilian: piensan | Portuguese: pensam | (they) think | |
| pronounced as /ĩ/ | pronounced as /['''ĩ'''ˈtõse]/ | Spanish; Castilian: entonces | Portuguese: então | then | |
| pronounced as /õ/ | pronounced as /[ɡarˈs'''õ''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: mozo (de bar o restaurante) | Portuguese: garçom/empregado de mesa | waiter (bar, restaurant) | |
| pronounced as /[t'''õ''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: tono | Portuguese: tom | tone | ||
| pronounced as /[ĩˈt'''õ'''se]/ | Spanish; Castilian: entonces | Portuguese: então | then | ||
| pronounced as /ũ/ | pronounced as /['''ũ''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: uno | Portuguese: um | one | |
| pronounced as /[k'''ũ'''ˈtiɣo]/ | Spanish; Castilian: contigo | Portuguese: contigo | with you | ||
| pronounced as /[niˈɲ'''ũ'''a]/ | Spanish; Castilian: ninguna | Portuguese: nenhuma | no one | ||
| pronounced as /w̃/ | pronounced as /[ma'''w̃''']/ | Spanish; Castilian: mano | Portuguese: mão | hand |
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Alveo-palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Trill | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| pronounced as /link/ | |||||
The variant described above is known as "tacuaremboense" and is spoken in the interior of Rivera. Stops and tense fricatives can be voiced or voiceless, while the lax fricatives are always voiced. The implosive allophone of /s/ is sibilant, not aspirated.