The pretonic mid-vowels in the variety of the inland of São Paulo State

• Grant number: 09/09133-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2009
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Luciani Ester Tenani
• Grantee: Márcia Cristina do Carmo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to explain the phonological behaviour of the pretonic mid-vowels in the variety of São Paulo State, more specifically of the region of São José do Rio Preto (SP). These vowels are subject to vowel raising, a variable phenomenon in which the mid-vowels /e/ and /o/ are pronounced, respectively, as the high vowels [i] and [u], for instance in "p[i]queno" ("small"/"little") and "c[u]sturando" ("sewing"). Two processes are related to vowel raising: (i) vowel harmony, in which the high vowel in the following syllable triggers the phenomenon, for example in "an[i]mia" ("anemia") and "gas[u]lina" ("gasoline"); and (ii) vowel reduction, generally related to the place of articulation of adjacent consonant(s), for instance in "s[i]nhora" ("lady") and "c[u]meçamos" ("we start"/"started"). The corpus of this research consists of interviews with spontaneous speech samples taken from IBORUNA database (ALIP Project - UNESP/IBILCE - FAPESP - 03/08058-6). The phonological analysis of the data is based on the theoretical framework of Optimality Theory. This theory, developed in the 90's, conceives the existence of a set of violable constraints in the Universal Grammar. Therefore, with the analysis of the vowel raising of the pretonic mid-vowels in Paulista Portuguese, this PhD research aims to contribute to: (i) the theoretical discussion about the standard or non-standard approach of Optimality Theory which best explains data of intra-dialectal variation related to the pretonic mid-vowels; and (ii) the characterization of the vowels in Brazilian Portuguese, since this study is part of the National Project PROBRAVO.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CARMO, Márcia Cristina do. As vogais médias pretônicas na variedade do interior paulista. 2013. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas. São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto.