Effects of Hiatus Resolution on the verbal paradigm in Portuguese spoken in São Paulo

• Grant number: 21/12853-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: April 01, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Filomena Spatti Sandalo
• Grantee: Lucas Pereira Eberle
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/11903-3 - Learning verbal alternation from surface forms in Brazilian Portuguese, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the motivation of the hiatus resolution phenomenon through epenthesis or V1 raising in the dialects of the State of São Paulo (Brazil) and its effects on the verbal paradigms of the language, in this case, the possible neutralization between verbs ending in "ear" and "iar" caused by the V1 raising from [e] to [i]. An indication of this neutralization is the emergence of forms such as "vareio" ("to vary" 1p.sg.) and "maqueio" ("to make up" 1.p.sg.), whose expected forms would be "vario" and "maquio" due to these verbs ending in "iar". The methodology will be experimental and will consist of three experiments: To investigate the motivation, (i) a click monitoring test will be carried out to monitor syllabic boundaries and also (ii) an acoustic experiment with real BP words to investigate the durational difference between hiatus and their respective resolutions. To investigate the neutralization, an acceptability judgment test with wugs will be carried out. The results obtained in the judgment test will undergo an analysis to model the grammar of speakers relating to neutralization, if attested. The modeling will be based on Maximum Entropy Grammar.