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Welcome to the official homepage of the Brazilian Portuguese dialect known as "Kaipira". Kaipira is spoken in and around the "Interior" region of Southeastern Brazil, mainly in the state of São Paulo. Although other dialects closley resembling Kaipira are found in parts of Paraná, Mato Grosso, and Minas Gerais, this website will focus mainly on the São Paulo variety. Kaipira must not be confused with the dialect of São Paulo City, which is clearly distinct.
The Kaipira variety described here is mainly the one used in the region's urban areas, like Campinas, Bauru, and Ribeirão Preto. And I've focused on the variety spoken by the younger speakers, ages 14-30, which are less influenced by standard Portuguese than say, people aged 30-50. Rural varieties tend to be less conservative and more distinct, although they lack the uniformity of the urban varieties.
Sadly enough, Kaipira is not recognized as a true dialect in Brazil, and not even its speakers are aware that they use a different language. The usage of Kaipira is oppressed and often considered "incorrect" Portuguese, though one can never say this of any natural language or dialect. Since this is Brazil, a country that has yet to discover linguistics (99% of the population has never heard of "Indo-European"), hardly anybody has identified Kaipira as a distinct dialect, and I am probably the first person ever to describe it on the internet.
I hope that by putting Kaipira on the internet, it will gain the support of many people and hopefully these people will recognize it as another language.
The following is a quick description on the basic features of Kaipira, and was not intended to teach someone to learn it.
I have used the same orthographical conventions used by Portuguese, but with a few modifications:
'dj' represents 'j' as in English.
'tx' represents 'ch' as in English.
'h' represents 'h' as in English.
Final unstressed 'u' represents a very faint 'u', sort of like in Japanese. To some people this 'u' may seem totally unexistent, making 'sômu' sound like 'sôm'. Even so, the speaker will round his lips as if he were to pronounce the 'u'.
Final unstressed 'a' is also weakly pronounced, producing a vowel that resembles the 'u' in 'fun'.
Final unstressed 'i' is generally ommited, causing a slight palatization of the preceding consonant, as in Romanian.
Diacritics are used to indicate vowel quality, since there are two distinct 'e' and 'o' sounds. 'é' and 'ó' are open, while 'ê' and 'ô' are closed. Where 'o' and 'e' remain unmarked, they represent unstressed closed vowels.
'a' will be closed, resembling the unstressed form, whenever it is preceds a 'm' or an 'n'. Thus 'manu' does not rhyme with 'matu'. ('MUH-noo' and 'MAH-too')
'r' at the end of a syllable is heavily rhoticized, as an American English 'r'.
'nh' is not pronounced as Spanish 'ñ' or Italian 'gn'. 'Nh' stands for a nasal dipthong, which means 'banhu' could also be written as 'bãiu'.
'aum' stands for Portuguese 'ão'. It is actually a nasal dipthong produced by combining 'â' and 'u'. Remember, the 'â' is pronounced as the 'u' in 'fun'. So 'aum' is pronounced 'UH-oo' with a nasal tone to it, not 'AH-oo'.
An 'r' following a consonant usually will not be pronounced very clearly, so 'pra' can seem like 'pa' and 'kuatru' may sound like 'kuatu'.
Many Kaipira speakers drop some of their final 's' and 'z', as in 'maiz' and 'déiz', which become 'mai' and 'déi'. Although this never happens with articles and prounouns, which could generate ambiguity.
When a word ending in 'txi' or 'dji' is followed by a word that begins with an 's' or a 'z', 'txi' turns to 't' and 'dji' to 'd'. So: Êli é dji Kampinaz contrasts with Êli é d'Saum Paulu.
Stress is always on the penultimate syllable, except when a word ends in a dipthong or in 'aum'.
Exceptions to these rules are marked by diacritics: (´) & (^).
Nouns only vary in gender, which can either be masculine or feminine. Nouns do not vary in number, and plurality can only be indicated by use of articles.
There are four definite articles anf four indefinite ones. Articles vary according to gender and number:
u- definite, masculine, singular
us- definite, masculine, plural
a- definite, feminine, singular
as- definite, feminine, plural
um- indefinite, masculine, singular
uns- indefinite, masculine, plural
ma- indefinite, feminine, singular
mas- indefinite, feminine, plural
When 'us', 'as', 'uns', and 'mas' are followed by a word that starts with a voiced consonant or a vowel, they change to 'uz', 'az', 'unz', and 'maz'.
Adjectives only vary with gender, and usually, though not always, agree with the noun. If an adjective agrees with a noun or not depends on your own taste. Some Kaipira speakers use this adjective-noun concord, while many do not.
Subject pronouns:
eu- I
cê- you (sing.)
êli- he
éla- she
cêiz- you (pl.)
nói/nóiz/agentxi- we
êliz- they (masc.)
élaz- they (fem.)
Note- 'agentxi' comes from Portuguese 'A gente', which means 'the people'.
As for object pronouns, the only so-called 'weak' prounouns left in Kaipira are 'mi' and 'txi', as in 'Eu txi vi' ('I saw you'), and 'Cê mi viu' ('You saw me'). These weak pronouns are losing ground, however. The usage of the subject pronouns in all cases is growing, thus rendering 'Eu vi ucê' and 'Cê viu eu'.
(note- 'cê' and 'cêiz' become 'ucê' and 'ucêiz' after words that end in vowels.)
There are three types of infinitive verbs: the ones that end in 'á', the ones that end in 'ê' and the ones that end in 'í'.
Verb conjugation in Kaipira is very irregular, though extremely simplified in comparison with classical Portuguese.
The only moods that have been changed from Portuguese are the pluperfect and the two future tenses. One of the sunjunctive moods has been eliminated, along with the imperative.
Whereas Portuguese uses 'Eu tomara' ('I had taken), Kaipira combines 'txinha' ('had') with the past participle 'tomadu' ('taken'), resulting in a structure that resembles English.
For the future, Portuguese 'Eu comerei' (I will eat) becomes 'Eu vô komê' in Kaipira, literally 'I go eat'.
Present tense:
kantá- to sing
eu kantu
cê kanta
êli/éla kanta
cêiz kanta
nói/nóiz/agentxi kanta
êliz/élaz kantam
Generally, 'kanta' may be used for all persons and numbers, with the exception of 'eu'. 'Kantam' is a bit conservative, but may be used for 'cêiz' and 'êliz/élaz'. 'Kantamu' is a very conservative term for 'nói/nóiz' and should be avoided if you wish to be 'hip'. :-)
'Sê', 'to be', is irregular:
Eu sô
Cê é
êli/éla é
cêiz saum
nói/nóiz sômu/é
agentxi é
êliz/élaz saum
Past perfect:
eu kantei
cê kantô
êli/éla kantô
cêiz kantaru
nói/nóiz kantamu/kantô
agentxi kantô
êliz/élaz kantaru
The past imperfect tense has one form only, used for all persons and numbers, 'kantava', and is also used for the conditional future.
The rest of Kaipira is basically the same as standard Brazilian Portuguese, though with many small differences. To a person who already speaks Portuguese, Kaipira will seem very easy to learn, though one must keep an eye open for drastic differences in phonology, vocabulary, and verb conjugation.
one- um
two- dôiz
three- trêiz
four- kuatru
five- cinku
six- sêiz
seven- sétxi
eight- ôitu
nine- nóvi
ten- déiz
eleven- onzi
sixteen- dzesêiz
twenty- vintxi
red- vermêlhu/vermêiu
blue- azúu
green- verdji
black- prêtu
white- branku
man- kara/nêgu
woman- muié
friend- kamarada
love- amôr
sun- sóu
moon- lua
star- istrêla
sky- céu
cat- gatu
dog- kaxôhu
hair- kabêlu
head- kabêça
eye- ôlhu
eyes- zóiu
mouth- bôka
nose- nariz/napa
no- naum
hello- falaí/iaí
goodbye- falô/faloaí
good- bom
bad- huim/pôdri
big- grandji
small- pikênu
nice- daóra/bala/massa
round- hedônu
square- kuadradu
day- djia
night- nôitxi
tree- árvuri
bus- buzaum/buha
car- kahu
rat- hatu
girl- mina
boy- muléki
Ôji eu akordei i fui lá na iskóla pa vê si txinha txipu futxibóu ou ôtru ispórtxi lá. Só txinha uns trêi neguinhu, intaum eu xamei us kara i fui kum êliz lá pu parki. Daí lá nói inkontramu mai neguinhu pa jogá, i akabamu senu kampiaum dakêli djia. Foi muintu daóra! Mai agora eu tô aki dji vóuta nu iskritóriu, trampanu pakaraiu. É fóda u trampu aki, eu picizu fiká mexenu im papéu u djia intêru. Daóra mêmu é fiká zuanu kuz kamarada, txipu jogá bola, i í nu xópim dá uns holê.
Kata u seu própriu houmpêidji dji graça