Baiano Portuguese, also known as Baianês, is a dialect of the Portuguese language spoken in most of the Brazilian state of Bahia, the south of Sergipe and the north of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.
The Baiano dialect is classified as a meridional Brazilian dialect, belonging to the same group as the Fluminense and Mineiro dialects, but with the presence of intermediary characteristics found in the septentrional Central Northeastern, Recifense, North Coast and Nortista dialects.
It was one of the first dialects of Portuguese to form in the Brazilian territory, being influenced by the languages of the Tupinambá, Yoruba and Bantu peoples. It formed in the city of Salvador, then capital of colonial Brazil.
The Baiano dialect is academically regarded as culturally rich, despite this, it suffers a certain degree of discrimination from Brazilian media, part of the general historical sentiment of xenophobia towards Northeastern Brazilians. The dialect is an important part of Baiano cultural identity.
Vocabulary List of words from the Baiano dialect: Baiano PortugueseStandard Portuguese equivalentMeaningBuzuÔnibusBusMainhaMãeMomPainhoPaiDadAondeInterjeição/ondeInterjection/wherePão de SalPão francêsPão Francês breadComer águaIngerir bebida alcoólicaDrink alcoholGrafiteLapiseiraPencil caseAzeite doceAzeite de olivaOlive oilPonta de grafiteGrafitePencil LapiseiraApontador de lápisPencil sharpenerColéE ai? Como vai?How are you?AipimMandioca, macaxeiraCassavaPasseioCalçadaSidewalkPorretaBom, excelenteGoodBeijuTapiocaTapiocaRetadoBravo/muito bomAngry/very good
Phonology
Consonants LabialCoronalDorsalGlottal Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Nasal Plosive () Fricative Approximant Tap or flap Lateral
/ʔ/ only occurs in word-initial position, before vowels. The Portuguese phoneme /r/ is realized glottally, as [h] or [ɦ].
Allophones The allophones are phonemes that vary between dialects and can be perceived as so by speakers of the language. Examples of Baiano allophones include:
/t͡ʃ / and /c/ before /i/, as in "antigamente"; /d͡ʒ/ and /ɟ/ before /i/, as in "dígito"; /s/, /z/, and /ʃ/ in the end of words, as in "dias"; /s/ and /ʃ/ before voiceless consonants (c, f, k, p, q, s, t), as in "sexta"; /l/ and /ʎ/ before /i/, as in "limão"; /n/ and /ɲ/ before /i/, as in "animal"; in some subdialects, such as Catingueiro (spoken by Sertanejos), /t/ and /d/ palatalize to /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ in certain environments, as in muito and doido .
Vowels List of vowels: /a/ (a); /e/ (e); /ɛ/ (e); /i/ (e, i); /o/ (o); /ɔ/ (o); /ʊ/ (o); /u/ (o, u).
Grammar Baiano Portuguese omits defined articles before personal names, this allows for the differentiation between people and objects/animals, as adding articles to personal names sounds unnatural and dehumanizing to Baiano speakers (e.g. "Maria foi à/na/pra feira" instead of "A Maria foi à/na/pra feira"). Baiano inverts the negative particle in phrases (e.g. "Sei não" instead of "Não sei"), this characteristic is also found in the Central Northeastern and North Coast dialects.
Subdialects Baiano has 3 subdialects.
Soteropolitano, spoken by Baianos in the Recôncavo Baiano region, including the Salvador metropolitan zone. Catingueiro, spoken by the Sertanejos of the Sertão of Bahia (with exception of the north of the state). This subdialect has many characteristics present in the Central Northeastern dialect, such as the use of /tʃ/ and /c/ instead of /t/ in some words, such as "muito", "respeito" and "oito", which become "muntcho", "respetcho" and "otcho", while the letter "d" in words such as "NecessidaDe" and "IdaDe" becomes a /d/, as opposite to the palatalized /dʒ/ of the coastal subdialects. Southern Coast, spoken in the coastal areas of Bahia (south of Salvador) and the north of Espírito Santo. It is similar to Soteropolitano.
References