Uruguayan Portuguese
Uruguayan Portuguese (português uruguaio, [poɾtuˈɣes uɾuˈɣwajo]), also known as fronteiriço[2] ( [fɾõteˈɾiso]) and riverense, and referred to by its speakers as portunhol[3] (local [poɾtuˈɲɔl]), is a variety of Portuguese in South America with heavy influence from Rioplatense Spanish.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.[5] Uruguayan Portuguese now exists on a spectrum, ranging from working-class rural varieties to middle class urban ones.[6] The origin of Portuguese in Uruguay can be traced back to the time of the dominion of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, and the Empire of Brazil.To assure the homogeneity of the newly formed country, the government made an effort to impose the Spanish language into lusophone communities through educational policies and language planning, and bilingualism became widespread and diglossic.