Word-Final Affricates of Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese

Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese is a major dialect of Brazilian Portuguese. It is known for the use of plosives in words such as dia (day) and tia (aunt) rather than alveopalatal affricates. Another difference is that many plurals are pronounced with word-final affricates.

The word corte (court) has a word-final vowel. However, in the plural form cortes (courts), the final -e is not pronounced in Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese. The result is [kohts] rather than pronunciations such as [kohtʃis] or [kortʃis] which are common in the rest of Brazil. In Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese, cortes is pronounced with a word-final affricate.

The following words are pronounced with a word-final affricate in Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese:

chocolates (chocolates)

cidades (cities)

dentes (teeth)

dificuldades (difficulties)

noites (nights)

partes (partes)

sociedades (societies)

tomates (tomatoes)

universidades (universities)

variedades (varieties)

In most Brazilian dialects, plurals which end with -des and -tes are pronounced with a word-final vowel and consonant sequence. In Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese, however, they are pronounced with voiced and voiceless alveolar affricates. This is one feature which distinguishes Central Northeastern Brazilian Portuguese from the other dialects of Brazil.