The acoustic behavior of pretonic mid vowels in complex words of BP

The present study aims to investigate one of the acoustic correlates of primary stress in Brazilian Portuguese – namely, vowel quality – in initial mid vowels of complex words formed by true and compositional suffixes. We start from the assumption that true affixes are prosodically integrated to the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Ulrich, Camila Witt
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Brasil
Institución:Associação Brasileira de Linguística (ABRALIN)
Repositorio:Cadernos de Linguística
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs3.cadernos.abralin.org:article/199
Acceso en línea:https://cadernos.abralin.org/index.php/cadernos/article/view/199
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Vogais pretônicas
Afixos composicionais
Centralização
Pretonic vowels
Compositional affixes
Centralization
Descripción
Sumario:The present study aims to investigate one of the acoustic correlates of primary stress in Brazilian Portuguese – namely, vowel quality – in initial mid vowels of complex words formed by true and compositional suffixes. We start from the assumption that true affixes are prosodically integrated to the base, while compositional affixes can be considered independent prosodic words. Since they are prosodic words and, consequently, bear primary stress, we hypothesize that vowels in the base are pronounced in their full forms, as stressed vowels; whereas vowels of words derived by true affixes, since they are unstressed, can present a more centralized realization in the vocalic chart. In order to verify if the classification of affixes in two different groups, based on morphophonological criteria, can be sustained by acoustic characteristics, we collected data from 5 male participants from the southern region of Brazil. The participants produced target words with mid vowels in the carrier sentence “Diga X pra mim – Say X to me” and we analyzed the acoustic parameters F1 (related to tongue height) and F2 (related to frontness/backness) of initial vowels.