Caipira

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Caipira is a Brazilian Portuguese term used to designate inhabitants of rural, remote areas of some Brazilian states. It can be considered pejorative when used to describe others, but it can also be used as a self-identifier without negative connotations. It is similar in meaning and usage to the U.S. words hillbilly and redneck. It often carries the connotation of an uneducated (at times naïve or even stupid) person, and someone who can't speak proper Portuguese (see below). In festas juninas it is traditional in some areas for people who are not considered as such to dress up as stereotypical Caipiras.

By extension, it is also used as a name for a dialect or group of dialects of the Portuguese language spoken in the states of São Paulo and neighbouring areas in Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, south of Minas Gerais and part of Paraná, Brazil.

[edit] Characteristics

Although the Caipira dialect originated in São Paulo, the current language in São Paulo City, capital of the state of São Paulo, is a very different variety close to standard Portuguese, albeit with large Italian-influenced elements. Caipira is spoken mostly in the countryside.

Phonetically, the most important differences in comparison with standard Portuguese are the approximant "r", like in English, and the absence of the palatal "l", written "lh" in Portuguese, which in Caipira is pronounced like "i." The "l" is frequently modified into "r" (rhotacism). There are other important changes, as in the following examples:

Caipira	Portuguese	English
Frô	Flor	Flower
Farso	Falso	False
Mió	Melhor	Better
Avuá	Voar	To fly
Ocê	Você	You
Ganhemo	Ganhamos	We won
Vortêmu	Voltamos	We came back

Despite these differences, a speaker of standard Portuguese has no great difficulty understanding Caipira.

There are some significant differences in Caipira grammar. For example, in plural forms only the article or pronoun is inflected, and the adjective often remains uninflected, e. g.: Portuguese: "essas coisas bonitas" ↔ Caipira: "essas coisa bunita". There are also two negative adverbs: "não", in the short replies, and "num" for negative phrases. (In standard Portuguese only the adverb "não" is used.)

Like other Portuguese dialects in Brazil, Caipira was never considered a separate language. It has no significant tradition in literature, nor a definite standard for the spelling.