Cheri, your "cwah-fee" takes me back to 1947 when my family first moved to CA from MA. My dad was looking for a parking space and saw a guy sitting in his car in a parked space. My dad asked the guy if he was leaving and the guy said, "No, I'm par-r-r-r-r-king my car-r-r-r-r-r". My mom and dad thought that was funniest thing they every heard since they always "pa-a-a-a-ck thei-ah ca-a-a-ah" in Massachusetts. Back to the point, I've heard from various sources that the Sao Miguel pronunciations are the most distant from "textbook" pronunciations. I guess I'll have to find some local Sao Miguel folks (there are plenty around here (SF East Bay) to practice with. Thanks, David
On Friday, July 12, 2013 4:48:20 PM UTC-7, Cheri Mello wrote: > David P, > > I'm not a native speaker, nor did I grow up hearing the language, but I > did go through a few things learning about it. > > The continental Portuguese (Lisbon, as you call it) is closer to the > Azores Islands pronunciation than Brazilian Portuguese. But just as America > is diverse, so are the Azores. In America, New Yorkers drink their > "cwah-fee" and the south would like to know how "y'all doin'. " > > It is my understanding that Sao Miguel's regional accent is much different > than all the other islands. Currrently, my biggest exposure to the > Portuguese language is at the local Portuguese hall. They have many from > Terceira. After hearing their regional accent for a year or two, I went to > Sao Miguel. For about a day or a day and a half, I wondered if they were > speaking Portuguese or not on S. Miguel. I got used to it and then I went > back to the hall after 2 weeks on S. Miguel and wondered if those people > were speaking Portuguese! I can't tell you what it is that is different. > I only know it's a regional thing. Maybe one island is more nasal like the > the other. I don't know. > > The leading "r" in a word is pronounced more like an "h." Ribeira Quente > is more like "he-bay-rah." I know that the ending vowel used to be dropped > a lot, but someone told me that there has been more of an effort in the > schools to pronounce the ending vowel in an effort to sound more educated. > A word beginning with a "c" is a hard "c" as in cat. A "c" in the middle > is more softer if it's all like one word (casa). But if it begins a > syllable, then it's hard (casaco sounds like kah-SAW-co to me). The "s" are > more of of a "sh" sound. Como esta sounds like co-mow esh-tah to me. The > "j" is more zwow sounding to me. I can't explain it. And don't ask me to > explain the vowels. I really mess them up. > > Anyways, those are my experiences. > > Cheri Mello > Listowner, Azores-Gen > Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das > Tainhas, Achada > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
