Caraterísticas fonéticas do Português da Ilha Terceira

A historical and geographical context of a natural expansion of a language leads to a formation of dialects. The aim of this article is to present some examples of phonetic, distinctive characteristics of Portuguese spoken in Terceira Island (the Azores). The dialect reveals such phonetic properties as anti‑hiatic vowel release and diphthongization, of which the first is almost totally limited to Terceira Island. Whereas, other phonetic characteristics such as labialization of the vowel [u], commonly occurring in the western and eastern groups of the islands, does not apply to the dialect of Terceira. Therefore, it is anticipated that the features of the northern dialects of Portugal had more influence on the Portuguese of Terceira Island than the southern ones.