Dialects of Brazilian Portuguese

Despite the size of Brazil, Brazilian Portuguese is relatively uniform. Brazilian Portuguese can be divided into six main dialects. They are the Northeastern, Northern, Central, Rio, Sao Paulo and Southern.

Many speakers of the northeast dialect do not palatalize the /d/ and /t/ in words such as dia (day) and tio (uncle). The pronunciation of the /d/ and /t/ is the same as in European Portuguese. Pretonic vowels are more open than in southern Brazil. For example, the word menino (boy) has an open vowel in the first vowel, but in the south it is closed.

In the northern dialect, the dental consonants /d/, /t/, /l/ and /n/ are palatalized before /i/. For example, the /n/ in bonito (nice) is palatalized. 

Many speakers of the central dialect have an alveolar approximant. It occurs in the syllable coda. For example, the word carta (letter) can be pronounced with the approximant. 

The Rio dialect is known for the use of the alveopalatal fricative in words such as três (three). This pronunciation is also common in European Portuguese. In most parts of Brazil, the /s/ in the syllable coda is always a dental or alveolar fricative. 

In the Sao Paulo dialect, the /d/ and /t/ are palatalized before /i/. This is also the case in many other parts of the country. In words such as carta (letter), many speakers have an alveolar tap or trill.

The southern dialect has an alveolar tap or trill in words such as carta (letter). Many speakers do not raise the word-final e or o in words such as leite (milk) and mundo (world). In most of Brazil, vowel raising of unstressed word-final vowels is common.

The dialects of Sao Paulo and Rio are probably the best known dialects of Brazilian Portuguese. However, other dialects also have many speakers. The Portuguese of the capital city, Brasilia, forms part of the Central dialect.