Methodology & sources

The Falando Atlas of Brazilian Portuguese is a free reference of regional vocabulary: words, slang and expressions that are more typical of one part of Brazil than another, plus “concept maps” that show the different names one thing has across the country. Each entry carries an English meaning, at least one example sentence, a register label, the regions it is associated with and how strongly, and the sources behind those claims.

It is not a dialect survey, a pronunciation atlas or a complete dictionary of any region. It currently documents 251 entries across 15 regions and 15 concept maps, and it grows as entries are verified. Brazil is linguistically diverse; no list this size can be exhaustive.

Regional words rarely stop at a state line. Instead of painting a word as “used in São Paulo and nowhere else”, every entry records, per region, how strongly it is tied to it:

• Strongly associated
• More common here
• Also used here
• Historical / dated

The coloured area is the administrative region(s) the sources name — a macro-region, a state or a city-led state — not a measured isogloss. Regional patterns, not hard borders. A word may be used outside the highlighted area, and multiple words can coexist in the same region. Falando highlights the strongest and most useful patterns from its sources. Vocabulary also varies with age, social group, urban versus rural speech and context.

Every published claim (meaning, region, register, etymology or example) is tied to at least one source. Sources are tiered:

1. Tier 1 — the Atlas Linguístico do Brasil (ALiB) and other published dialect atlases, peer-reviewed linguistics papers, university theses.
2. Tier 2 — major Brazilian dictionaries (Houaiss, Aurélio, Michaelis, Caldas Aulete), corpus evidence, regional dictionaries and glossaries by recognised authors or institutions.
3. Tier 3 — explainers and glossaries in credible press and established regional media, and well-maintained educational reference sites.
4. Tier 4 — native-speaker verification (named reviewer, region, age band) and moderated community contributions.

An entry is published only once its meaning and its regional association each have a source. The confidence shown with a regional claim follows the best source behind it (Tier 1 → high, Tier 2 → medium, Tier 3–4 → low). Tier 4 evidence on its own never publishes a regional claim — it can confirm a meaning or add an example, but a region needs at least a dictionary or documented glossary behind it. Sources are listed on every card; the compiled sources for a page are listed at its foot.

Every published regional claim must include a source locator and a checked excerpt from a Tier 1–3 source. Meaning, register and example claims retain their own claim labels and locators, so a citation does not imply that one source supports every statement on a card.

Cite the atlas as a web resource, naming the page you used and the date you accessed it.

Maps and concept-map images may be reused under a CC BY 4.0 licence with attribution to “Falando Atlas of Brazilian Portuguese” and a link to the page. The entry texts remain © Falando; quote them with attribution.

Suggestions are reviewed by an editor before anything changes — nothing is published automatically.