No abstract

The Brazilian "'Caipira" dialect, described by Amadeu Amaral in 1920, was spoken in what used to be the province of São Paulo until around the end of the XIX century.Accordíng to Amaral, this dialect, which was once quite wide-spread, started loosíng ground in the final decades of the XIX century, due to the profound changes that occurred in the social milieu, and was "condemned to disappear in a relatively short time" (Amaral 1920 11982: 42).Amaral's predíction, however, does not seem to have been fulfilled. In 1974, Rodrigues (1974) verified the vitality of the dialect in the area of Piracicaba (SP).