Falling diphthongs pathways in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper analyses some synchronic pathways associated with rising diphthongs in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) from Belo Horizonte. These pathways reflect dynamic and gradual instances of articulatory parameters involved in the production of rising diphthongs as found in words like cárie ‘tooth decay’...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cristófaro Silva, Thaïs, Faria, Ingrid
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2014
Country:Brasil
Institution:Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
Repository:Letras de Hoje (Online)
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br:article/14650
Online Access:https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/fale/article/view/14650
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Phonology
Diphthong
Vowel reduction
Vowel deletion
Dynamic models.
onologia
Ditongo
Redução vocálica
Cancelamento vocálico
Modelos dinâmicos.
Fonologia
Description
Summary:This paper analyses some synchronic pathways associated with rising diphthongs in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) from Belo Horizonte. These pathways reflect dynamic and gradual instances of articulatory parameters involved in the production of rising diphthongs as found in words like cárie ‘tooth decay’ e árduo ‘arduous’. The theoretical perspective adopted incorporates the principles of Multirepresentational models, Dynamical models as well as theoretical perspectives that analyze linguistic phenomena within a Complex Adaptive Systems paradigm. We suggest that the various pathways which were analyzed for rising diphthongs, namely hiatus, diphthong, monophthong, cancellation vowel, lead to the emergence of a new phonological pattern in BP: the occurrence of several consonants in word-final position. We argue that the emergence of a new phonological pattern – various final consonants in the end of words – reflects the current stage of self-organization in the BP phonological.