The German Element in Brazil / Colonies and Dialect

by Benjamin Franklin Schappelle

The following general principles are observed in connection with the dialect which has been developed by the German element in Brazil.

Nouns form by far the greatest number of words taken over, followed next in order by verbs, exclamatory words and phrases, adjectives and adverbs. The last two appear relatively rarely.

OBSERVATIONS ON WORDS FROM THE BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE.

I. Nouns.

A. Masculines.

1) In the case of masculines the vowel ending is as a rule dropped, e.g.,

Brazilian Portuguese.		Brazilian German.		English.
abatimento		abatiment		discount.
campo		camp		field, plain.
facã		fac		hunting-knife.
intendente		intendent		administrator.
pasto		past		pasture.

2) The same holds for words of the following type where there have been further orthographical changes with preserve, however, the same phonetic values.

Brazilian Portuguese.		Brazilian German.		English.
macaco		makak		monkey.
trapiche		trapisch		warehouse (on the wharf).