Correction here: Southern accent would be "leite kente", as the "u" is not pronounced in this case.
We only pronounce the "u" in gue, gui, que, qui when the diacritical is there (I think it's called diacritical in English, no?), like in
agüenta
eqüestre
sagüi
eqüino
The gua, qua, guo, quo are always pronounced.
I have to tell my mother about that one. Unlike what Enrique suggested and if he would of read other post that I worte about my background. My mother's family is Brazilian. My mother's family are from two regions in Brazil; Belo Horizonte and Iguacu. What accent's and features are prevelent in those areas. Also, now most of her family lives in Rio de Janeiro and I went to visit them last Winter (I usually go during Carnaval) for some reason this is the first time I notice thse accent their has some elements of sh sounds. A lot of their final s's at the end of their words are promounced with an sh. Why is that diffrerent from otherareas of Brazil. My family who imigrated to Panama who can still speak Brazilian Portuguese do not really have that feature in there pronunciation though they were the ones out of all my famill who never lived in Rio but migrated straight from Belo Horizonte. I am happy that I a combination of two ethnicities (Brazilian and Panamanian) and when I go back to those countries when I visit from the U.S I feel at home their. Oh by the way, there are a lot of Brazilians living in Panama and the Brazilian team is always the one cheered for during the Copa Mundial in Panama.
"first time I notice thse accent their has elements"
should read
"first time I noticed the accent their has elements"
Sorry I had to correct that because it looked bad.
"their" should be "there"
I just woke up!!!
JGreco,
The 'sh' sound is strong in the Carioca accent because of the presence of the Portuguese royal family in Rio during the beginning of the 19th century. The 'sh' sound is very strong in the Portuguese accent from Portugal and the speech of the royals and their large court had an impact on the way the people came to speak.
''SH'' sound is seen as a strong regionalism in Brasil and national TV newscasters (born in Rio) are not allow to use it. The same is true of dubbing, where palatalization of S is not allowed since 90 % of Brazilians find it very unpleasent (to hear).
Rio-accent was considered ''standard'' back in the 50ies, but with Brasília being constructed, it has lost much of its prestige and it is now seen a very marked accent. The neutral accents (close to TV GLOBO NEWS pattern) would be BRASILIENSE (from Brasília), CAPIXABA (from Vitória), GOIANO (from Goiânia) and BELO-HORIZONTINO (from Belo Horizonte; do not mistake this urban accent for rural accents of Minas known as ''mineiro'' dialect). Some PAULISTANOS (people from S. Paulo city) and CARIOCAS who don't palatalize S's (10% of Rio-born population) also have this ''General Brazilian'' accent.
<<And we're DEFINITELY not part of a "latino culture" imposed by the media. Brazil is mostly on its own, in that particular aspect. >>
Return the Latin Grammies that were incorrectly bestowed on Brazilians then.
>>You have to realize that Castilian Spanish people usually look at American Spanish pronunciation as incorrect or wrong.<<
This happens in Latin America as well. Don't they crack up everytime they hear that effeminate lispy trait they have in their accent? And what about that disgusting guttural sound they make to pronounce the "g's"? Sounds like they're clearing their throats of phlegm or something.
