The accents of the capital cities of Brazil’s southeastern region: an evaluation study

Abstract

This study investigates the evaluation of accents from the capital cities of Brazil’s Southeast Region—Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Vitória—within the theoretical and methodological framework of Sociolinguistics, with an emphasis on studies of linguistic perception and evaluation. It is grounded in the assumption that accent is a socially constructed phenomenon, associated with identities, social representations, and symbolic values, and that listeners’ perceptions are systematic, variable, and ordered. To this end, an online questionnaire was developed and administered via Google Forms, in which Brazilian participants aged 18 or older, from different educational backgrounds and of both sexes, evaluated the speech of speakers from the Southeast capitals across four dimensions: prestige, beauty, correctness, and pleasantness, totaling 1,401 valid responses. The results indicate that the accents of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were most frequently associated with prestige; Belo Horizonte stood out in the dimensions of beauty and pleasantness; and Vitória was perceived as the most “correct” variety. These findings show that linguistic evaluations are not homogeneous and reflect historically constructed linguistic and social stereotypes, influenced by both linguistic factors and the listeners’ social profiles. By discussing these patterns, the study highlights the importance of linguistic respect, particularly with regard to the regional varieties typical of each area, recognizing them as legitimate forms of expression of Brazilian Portuguese. Thus, the research contributes to the debate on language attitudes, variation, and identity in the contemporary urban context.
Keywords: Sociolinguistics. Perception studies. Accent. Identity. Southeast region of Brazil.