Carioca
Encyclopedia
Carioca is a Portuguese
adjective
or demonym
that is used to refer to the native inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro
- capital of the homonym state (RJ), in Brazil
. The original word, "Kara'i oca," comes from the indigenous Amerindian language of the Tupi people, meaning "White Man's House."
The demonym meaning for the state of Rio de Janeiro
is Fluminense, taken from the Latin
word "flumen", meaning "River". So for instance, someone from Niterói
is Fluminense and Niteroiense and someone from Rio is Fluminense and Carioca.
It is said that the first Portuguese
dwellings in Rio de Janeiro were placed along a limpid stream
, which soon got the Portuguese name "Carioca". The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census numbers for the Rio de Janeiro (state)
are: 8,576,000 white
people (53.6%), 5,376,000 Pardo
people (33.6%), 1,920,000 black
people (12%) and 128,000 Asian
or Amerindian
people (0.8%). The last PNAD census for Rio de Janeiro (city) is: 3,193,588 white
people (50.5%), 2,244,997 Pardo
people (35.5%), 809,463 black
people (12,8%) and 75,887 Asian
or Amerindian
people (1.2%).
Cariocas, like other Brazilians, speak Portuguese.
Cariocas love beach, sun, sea and parties. Carioca women are known for their tanned skin and body shapes. Rio bikinis are the best sellers in the whole world. Cariocas have a privileged view. Some of the turistic points they have are the Sugarloaf Mountain (Brazil), Christ the Redeemer (statue)
and Estádio do Maracanã
/Ginásio do Maracanãzinho
.
Carioca people invented some sports, but the most famous are footvolley
and beach tennis
.
Cariocas are credited with creating the bossa nova
, mpb
, samba
and funk carioca
, famous rhythms in Brazil
.
Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes
, João Gilberto
, Toquinho
, Elis Regina
, Gilberto Gil
, Caetano Veloso
, Chico Buarque
, Gal Costa
and Maria Bethânia
are some of the singers who are inspired by people from Rio to make their songs.
According to a survey published in American Scientist Magazine, the Cariocas of Rio de Janeiro exhibited great friendliness and offered to help in various situations. A quote from the article mentioned pointed to the following :
Language:
The Brazilian Portuguese variety spoken in the city of Rio de Janeiro (and metropolitan area) is called "Carioca". This speech has several distinctive traits, such as in the pronunciation of post-vocalic /s/: it becomes the postalveolar [ʃ
], a characteristic it shares with many other different variants, such as those from Northeast and post-vocalic /z/ becomes [ʒ]. Guttural R
can be a velar [x
], a uvular [χ], glottal [h
] or a pharyngeal [ħ
]. Voiced versions of at least some of these can be heard as well. This is also far from exclusive, and in fact can be found in most variants of Brazilian Portuguese, except those from the South, Minas Gerais, and the Center-West. Also, the consonants /t/ and /d/ before /i/ or unstressed /e/ ([ɪ]) become affricates t͡ʃ and d͡ʒ, respectively, as in practically all variants of Brazilian Portuguese.
There are some grammatical characteristics in speech, an important one is the mixing of the formal and informal second person pronouns você and tu, even in the same speech. For instance, while normative
Portuguese requires lhe as oblique for você, and te as oblique for tu, in Carioca Portuguese the formal você is used for all cases. In informal speech, the pronoun tu is retained, but with the verb forms belonging to the form você: Tu foi na festa? (Did you go to the party?); so the verbal forms are the same for both você and tu.
Many Cariocas, as well as many Paulistas, will shorten "você", using "cê" instead: "Cê vai pra casa agora?" (Are you going home now?), this practice, however, is only on the spoken language, it is usually not written this way.
The slightly different variety of Brazilian Portuguese language spoken in the remainder of the state of Rio de Janeiro is called "Fluminense". The so called chiado (pronouncing /ʃ/ instead of [s]), typical of the city of Rio, is absent in the Southwestern varieties of Fluminense (around Paraty
, Barra Mansa
and Volta Redonda
). In the Northern varieties of Fluminense (from the city of Niterói
northwards), usage similar to the Capixaba accent may be observed. For instance, the article is most likely dropped before personal names (using Maria where Cariocas would say a Maria) and with certain words such as papai, mamãe, fulano (de papai instead of do papai; por mamãe instead of pela mamãe; com fulano instead of com o fulano).
Slang words among youngsters from Rio de Janeiro include caraca! (gosh!) [now spread throughout Brazil], e aê? and qualé/quaé/coé? (whuzzup?), and maneiro (cool, fine, interesting, amusing) and sinistro (in Standard Portuguese, "sinister"; in slang, "awesome", "terrific", but also "terrible", "troublesome", "frightening", "weird"). Most of these slang words can be found in practically all of Brazil. Carioca accents are the most famous in Brazil, because Rede Globo
(the 3rd channel in the world) is there and a lot of programs have carioca artists.
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
or demonym
Demonym
A demonym , also referred to as a gentilic, is a name for a resident of a locality. A demonym is usually – though not always – derived from the name of the locality; thus, the demonym for the people of England is English, and the demonym for the people of Italy is Italian, yet, in english, the one...
that is used to refer to the native inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
- capital of the homonym state (RJ), in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. The original word, "Kara'i oca," comes from the indigenous Amerindian language of the Tupi people, meaning "White Man's House."
The demonym meaning for the state of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
is Fluminense, taken from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word "flumen", meaning "River". So for instance, someone from Niterói
Niterói
Niterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast region of Brazil. It has an estimated population of 487,327 inhabitants and an area of ², being the sixth most populous city in the state and the highest Human Development Index. Integrates the Metropolitan Region of Rio de...
is Fluminense and Niteroiense and someone from Rio is Fluminense and Carioca.
It is said that the first Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
dwellings in Rio de Janeiro were placed along a limpid stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
, which soon got the Portuguese name "Carioca". The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census numbers for the Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
are: 8,576,000 white
White Brazilian
White Brazilians make up 48.4% of Brazil's population, or around 92 million people, according to the IBGE's 2008 PNAD . Whites are present in the entire territory of Brazil, although the main concentrations are found in the South and Southeastern parts of the country...
people (53.6%), 5,376,000 Pardo
Pardo
In Brazil, Pardo is a race/colour category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in Brazilian censuses. It is a Portuguese word that encompasses various shades of brown, but is usually translated as "grayish-brown"...
people (33.6%), 1,920,000 black
Afro-Brazilian
In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
people (12%) and 128,000 Asian
Asian Brazilian
An Asian Brazilian is is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Asian ancestry, who remains culturally connected to Asia, or an Asian-born person permanently residing in Brazil. Brazil received many immigrants from Asia, both from Middle East and East Asia...
or Amerindian
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
people (0.8%). The last PNAD census for Rio de Janeiro (city) is: 3,193,588 white
White Brazilian
White Brazilians make up 48.4% of Brazil's population, or around 92 million people, according to the IBGE's 2008 PNAD . Whites are present in the entire territory of Brazil, although the main concentrations are found in the South and Southeastern parts of the country...
people (50.5%), 2,244,997 Pardo
Pardo
In Brazil, Pardo is a race/colour category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in Brazilian censuses. It is a Portuguese word that encompasses various shades of brown, but is usually translated as "grayish-brown"...
people (35.5%), 809,463 black
Afro-Brazilian
In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
people (12,8%) and 75,887 Asian
Asian Brazilian
An Asian Brazilian is is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Asian ancestry, who remains culturally connected to Asia, or an Asian-born person permanently residing in Brazil. Brazil received many immigrants from Asia, both from Middle East and East Asia...
or Amerindian
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
people (1.2%).
Cariocas, like other Brazilians, speak Portuguese.
Cariocas love beach, sun, sea and parties. Carioca women are known for their tanned skin and body shapes. Rio bikinis are the best sellers in the whole world. Cariocas have a privileged view. Some of the turistic points they have are the Sugarloaf Mountain (Brazil), Christ the Redeemer (statue)
Christ the Redeemer (statue)
Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is tall, including its pedestal, and wide. It weighs 635 tonnes , and is located at the peak of the Corcovado...
and Estádio do Maracanã
Estádio do Maracanã
The Estádio do Maracanã , officially Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, is an open-air stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, it is named after the Maracanã neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, and in the final...
/Ginásio do Maracanãzinho
Ginásio do Maracanãzinho
Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, sometimes called just Maracanãzinho , is a modern indoor arena located in Maracanã neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its formal name, Ginásio Gilberto Cardoso, honors a former Clube de Regatas do Flamengo president...
.
Carioca people invented some sports, but the most famous are footvolley
Footvolley
Footvolley is a sport which combines aspects of beach volleyball and football .-History:Footvolley was created in Brazil, by Octavio de Moraes, in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach as a means for football players to be able to touch the ball without violating the formal football ban at the...
and beach tennis
Beach tennis
For another sport called "beach paddleball", see Matkot. For other sports called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Beach Tennis USA takes the fun and fast-paced sport of tennis and combines it with the sun, sea and sand of the beach....
.
Cariocas are credited with creating the bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
, mpb
MPB
MPB can refer to:* Methane producing bacteria, another name for methanogen bacteria* Media Prima Berhad, a Malaysian media corporation* Música Popular Brasileira, Brazilian Popular Music* Male pattern baldness, a form of Androgenetic alopecia...
, samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and funk carioca
Funk carioca
Funk carioca , favela funk and, elsewhere in the world, baile funk, is a type of dance music from Rio de Janeiro, derived from Miami bass....
, famous rhythms in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinicius de Moraes , known as Vinicius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinho , was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, he was a seminal figure in contemporary Brazilian music...
, João Gilberto
João Gilberto
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.-Biography:From an early age, music...
, Toquinho
Toquinho
Antônio Pecci Filho , better known as Toquinho , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. He is well-known for his collaborations, as composer and performer, with Vinicius de Moraes.-Childhood and musical studies:...
, Elis Regina
Elis Regina
Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina was an important singer of Brazilian popular music. She became nationally renowned in 1965, after singing Arrastão in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest, and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record...
, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...
, Chico Buarque
Chico Buarque
Francisco Buarque de Hollanda , popularly known as Chico Buarque , is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet...
, Gal Costa
Gal Costa
Gal Costa is a Brazilian singer of popular music.-Early life:...
and Maria Bethânia
Maria Bethânia
Maria Bethânia Vianna Telles Veloso , better known as Maria Bethânia , is a singer and sister of Caetano Veloso. She started her career in Rio de Janeiro in 1964 with the show "Opinião"...
are some of the singers who are inspired by people from Rio to make their songs.
According to a survey published in American Scientist Magazine, the Cariocas of Rio de Janeiro exhibited great friendliness and offered to help in various situations. A quote from the article mentioned pointed to the following :
Accent/Dialect
Language:
The Brazilian Portuguese variety spoken in the city of Rio de Janeiro (and metropolitan area) is called "Carioca". This speech has several distinctive traits, such as in the pronunciation of post-vocalic /s/: it becomes the postalveolar [ʃ
Voiceless postalveolar fricative
The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages, including English...
], a characteristic it shares with many other different variants, such as those from Northeast and post-vocalic /z/ becomes [ʒ]. Guttural R
Guttural R
In linguistics, guttural R refers to pronunciation of a rhotic consonant as a guttural consonant. These consonants are usually uvular, but can also be realized as a velar, pharyngeal, or glottal rhotic...
can be a velar [x
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English....
], a uvular [χ], glottal [h
Voiceless glottal fricative
The voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a "fricative", is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant phonologically, but often lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant...
] or a pharyngeal [ħ
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is h-bar .-Features:Features of the voiceless pharyngeal fricative:...
]. Voiced versions of at least some of these can be heard as well. This is also far from exclusive, and in fact can be found in most variants of Brazilian Portuguese, except those from the South, Minas Gerais, and the Center-West. Also, the consonants /t/ and /d/ before /i/ or unstressed /e/ ([ɪ]) become affricates t͡ʃ and d͡ʒ, respectively, as in practically all variants of Brazilian Portuguese.
There are some grammatical characteristics in speech, an important one is the mixing of the formal and informal second person pronouns você and tu, even in the same speech. For instance, while normative
Normative
Normative has specialized contextual meanings in several academic disciplines. Generically, it means relating to an ideal standard or model. In practice, it has strong connotations of relating to a typical standard or model ....
Portuguese requires lhe as oblique for você, and te as oblique for tu, in Carioca Portuguese the formal você is used for all cases. In informal speech, the pronoun tu is retained, but with the verb forms belonging to the form você: Tu foi na festa? (Did you go to the party?); so the verbal forms are the same for both você and tu.
Many Cariocas, as well as many Paulistas, will shorten "você", using "cê" instead: "Cê vai pra casa agora?" (Are you going home now?), this practice, however, is only on the spoken language, it is usually not written this way.
The slightly different variety of Brazilian Portuguese language spoken in the remainder of the state of Rio de Janeiro is called "Fluminense". The so called chiado (pronouncing /ʃ/ instead of [s]), typical of the city of Rio, is absent in the Southwestern varieties of Fluminense (around Paraty
Paraty
Paraty [pronounced Par-a-CHEE] is a preserved Portuguese colonial and Brazilian Imperial town with a population of about 36,000. It is located on the Costa Verde , a lush, green corridor that runs along the coastline of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil...
, Barra Mansa
Barra Mansa
Barra Mansa is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 175,328 and its area is 547 km²....
and Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda is the name of a city in the Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with 182.81 km² of area, located from 350m to 707m from the sea level and with a population of 259,811 inhabitants . The area around the city has nearly 700,000...
). In the Northern varieties of Fluminense (from the city of Niterói
Niterói
Niterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast region of Brazil. It has an estimated population of 487,327 inhabitants and an area of ², being the sixth most populous city in the state and the highest Human Development Index. Integrates the Metropolitan Region of Rio de...
northwards), usage similar to the Capixaba accent may be observed. For instance, the article is most likely dropped before personal names (using Maria where Cariocas would say a Maria) and with certain words such as papai, mamãe, fulano (de papai instead of do papai; por mamãe instead of pela mamãe; com fulano instead of com o fulano).
Slang words among youngsters from Rio de Janeiro include caraca! (gosh!) [now spread throughout Brazil], e aê? and qualé/quaé/coé? (whuzzup?), and maneiro (cool, fine, interesting, amusing) and sinistro (in Standard Portuguese, "sinister"; in slang, "awesome", "terrific", but also "terrible", "troublesome", "frightening", "weird"). Most of these slang words can be found in practically all of Brazil. Carioca accents are the most famous in Brazil, because Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
(the 3rd channel in the world) is there and a lot of programs have carioca artists.