# Sulista / Gaúcho Portuguese (pt-BR-x-sul): Phonology Reference

**Code**: `pt-BR-x-sul` | **Family**: Indo-European > Romance > Ibero-Romance | **Script**: Latin (alphabet) **Parent**: `pt-BR` (Brazilian standard) | **Quality tier**: research **Sources**: Nascentes (1953, *O linguajar carioca*), Noll (2008), Cardoso et al. (2014, *ALiB*), Silva (2014, ALFAL XVII), Mateus & d'Andrade (2000), Callou & Leite (2001), Silva (2002)

`pt-BR-x-sul` models **Sulista / Gaúcho** Portuguese, the broader Southern Brazilian norm centred on Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre. It extends loosely across the RS/SC/PR "gauge", over heterogeneous Italian and German settler substrata. It is a **delta** spec inheriting the pt-BR base. Nascentes (1953:25) grounds the Brazil-wide North/South macro-division on pretonic-vowel openness, and places this area among the *falares do Sul*.

## Diagnostic features modelled

### 1. Conservative non-palatalisation of /t d/ before /i/

The encoded default keeps **dental** /t d/ before /i/: *tia* → [ˈtiɐ], *dia* → [ˈdiɐ] (no [t͡ʃ]/[d͡ʒ]), the opposite of the southeastern norm. Modelled via `positional_graphemes` `t`/`d` `before_i` → [t]/[d]. A generational shift toward palatalisation in urban Porto Alegre speech is documented but not the modelled default here.

### 2. Alveolar tap/trill /r/: NOT the posterior [h~x] of the Southeast

Onset /r/ surfaces as an alveolar trill/tap [r~ɾ], the most European-sounding Brazilian rhotic. It is never the glottal/dorsal [h~x] of the São Paulo/Carioca norm: *rato* → [ˈratʊ]. Coda /r/ is likewise a **tap**, not dropped or posteriorised: *mar* → [ˈmaɾ].

### 3. Reduced final-vowel raising

Word-final unstressed /e/ often stays [e] rather than raising to [i] in conservative Sulista speech: *verde* → [ˈveɾde] (not [ˈveɾdʒi]).

| Word | pt-BR-x-sp | pt-BR-x-sul |
|:---|:---|:---|
| tia | ˈt͡ʃiɐ | **ˈtiɐ** |
| rato | ʁˈatʊ | **rˈatʊ** |
| verde | ˈveɾdʒi | **ˈveɾde** |

## Coordination with pt-BR-x-pr

[pt-BR-x-pr](pt-BR-x-pr.md) already covers the Curitibano/Paranaense conservative-southern profile. It uses the same non-palatalisation and final-/e/-retention delta, plus a note on the Paraná-interior retroflex /r/. `pt-BR-x-sul` models the broader Gaúcho/RS norm that the `pr` spec is transitional from. The two specs intentionally share most deltas rather than duplicating divergent encodings.

## Inherited from pt-BR (unchanged)

Coda /l/ vocalisation to [w] (*sol* → [ˈsɔw]), final /a/ → [ɐ] reduction, and the grapheme inventory are inherited and not restated.

## Known limits (documented, not faked)

**Heterogeneity.** "Sulista" spans three states (RS/SC/PR), with real internal variation. For example, the Florianópolis coast leans toward Carioca-style chiado tendencies per VARSUL data in Silva (2014:5-6). This spec encodes the conservative Gaúcho/Porto Alegre-type default. It does not model Florianópolis or the Paraná interior separately. Lexical open-mid vowel quality is not derivable (a pt-BR-wide engine limit).

```python
from orthography2ipa import G2P
eng = G2P("pt-BR-x-sul")
eng.transcribe_word("tia")   # ˈtiɐ    — conservative, no affrication
eng.transcribe_word("rato")  # rˈatʊ   — alveolar trill onset, not [h~x]
eng.transcribe_word("verde") # ˈveɾde  — final /e/ retained
```

## Sources

- **Nascentes, Antenor (1953).** *O linguajar carioca* (2nd ed.). Organização Simões, Rio de Janeiro. (pp. 20, 23-25: North/South macro-division of Brazilian Portuguese on pretonic-vowel openness.)
- **Noll, Volker (2008).** *O português brasileiro: formação e contrastes.* Globo.
- **Cardoso, S. A. M. et al. (2014).** *Atlas Linguístico do Brasil (ALiB),* vols. 1–2. EDUEL. (Pretonic-vowel and palatalisation isoglosses.)
- **Silva, A. R. (2014).** "Variação fonética em capitais brasileiras: a ditongação diante de /S/ e as realizações fonéticas do /S/ em coda." *XVII Congreso Internacional ALFAL*, João Pessoa, #4813–4818. (pp. 6–7 / #4817–4818: secondary citation of Bisol 1994, 2012, whose impressionistic /S/-coda diphthongization data is drawn from Porto Alegre speech.)
- **Mateus, M. H. M. & d'Andrade, E. (2000).** *The Phonology of Portuguese.* Oxford University Press.
- **Callou, D. & Leite, Y. (2001).** *Iniciação à fonética e à fonologia* (8th ed.). Zahar.
- **Silva, T. C. (2002).** *Fonética e fonologia do português.* Contexto.

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