Yes I heard from a Brazilian friend that is only a Brazilian Portuguese thing. "T" in the word "noite" is pronounced as "ch" in the English word "Cheese". _________________ Jag tänker alltså finns jag
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 11:27 am Post subject: Re: A few questions regarding portuguese phonology
David wrote:
Is di always pronounced as the English "j"? Is this only a Brazilian Portuguese thing?
It's a BP thing, but not all BP dialects pronounce it this way. The palatalization of 'd' and 't' before 'e' and 'i' was once commonly association with the Carioca dialect, but has pretty much become standard throughout Brazil, particularly the urban areas.
Quote:
Is every letter pronounced? Why is it that some words are like this whereas others, such as bons noite, aren't?
I'm not at all fluent in Portuguese but I'm pretty sure it's "boa noite" or, plural "boas noites". But no, not all letters are pronounced in Portuguese, particularly in -cc-, -cç-, -ct-, -pc-, -pç-, and -pt- consonant clusters for example, where the 'c' and 'p' are reduced. But this type of thing occurs in many languages.
Here are some sound files of common phrases in Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese (click on "Useful Phrases" at the top right, just below "LANGUAGES".) Compare the BP and EP pronunciations of "bom dia" and "boa noite".
Quote:
That makes sense, it's obviously borrowed from Spanish phonology, e.g "noche."
That's a big assumption. As I mentioned above, the 't' before 'i' and 'e' is palatalized (affricate) in BP. This doesn't just occur in "noite" but in all or most 'ti'/'te' combinations. I don't think we can fairly say that this is borrowed from Spanish.
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As I mentioned above, the 't' before 'i' and 'e' is palatalized (affricate) in BP. This doesn't just occur in "noite" but in all or most 'ti'/'te' combinations. I don't think we can fairly say that this is borrowed from Spanish.