Uruguayan Portuguese

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Uruguayan Portuguese (português uruguaio, [poɾtuˈɣes uɾuˈɣwajo]), also known as fronteiriço^[2] ([fɾõteˈɾiso]) and riverense, and referred to by its speakers as portunhol^[3] (local pronunciation: [poɾtuˈɲɔl]), is a variety of Portuguese in South America with heavy influence from Rioplatense Spanish. It is spoken in north-eastern Uruguay, near the Brazilian border, mainly in the region of the twin cities of Rivera (Uruguay) and Santana do Livramento (Brazil). This section of the frontier is called "Peace Border" (Portuguese: Fronteira da Paz; Spanish: Frontera de la Paz), because there is no legal obstacle to crossing the border between the two countries.

The varieties of Uruguayan Portuguese share many similarities with the countryside dialects of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, such as the denasalization of final unstressed nasal vowels, replacement of lateral palatal /ʎ/ with semivowel /j/, no raising of final unstressed /e/, alveolar trill /r/ instead of the guttural R, and lateral realization of coda /l/ instead of L-vocalization. The first two features are rare among accents of Portuguese, whereas L-vocalization is the norm in Brazil but not in other countries.^[4]

Recent changes in Uruguayan Portuguese include the urbanization of this variety, acquiring characteristics from urban Brazilian Portuguese such as a distinction between /ʎ/ and /j/, affrication of /t/ and /d/ before /i/ and /ĩ/, and other features of Brazilian broadcast media.^[5]