Front Rounded Vowels of Micaelense Portuguese

The Portuguese spoken in the Azores is quite different from that of other parts of Portugal. However, the Portuguese spoken in the Azores is not uniform. In fact, each island has its own accent. The Portuguese spoken on the island of Sao Miguel is known for its front rounded vowels.

In standard Portuguese the words azul (blue) and fruta (fruit) have a high back rounded vowel. In Micaelense Portuguese, however, they have a high front rounded vowel. They are pronounced [azyl] and [fryta]. This vowel does not exist in Standard Portuguese.

Other words which are pronounced differently are oito (eight) and pouco (little). The first word has a diphthong in standard Portuguese. The second one has a diphthong in northern Portugal and a monophthong in central and southern Portugual. In Micaelense Portuguese, both words have a mid front rounded vowel and the word-final vowel is not pronounced. The two words are pronounced [øt] and [pøk].

Of the accents spoken in the Azores, the one spoken on the island of Sao Miguel is particularly distinctive. It is known for front rounded vowels. They occur in languages such as French and German but are not part of the phoneme inventory of standard Portuguese.