A redução segmental da sequência iŊo? em diminutivos e não diminutivos no português brasileiro

Abstract

This study investigates the segmental reduction of the sound sequence /iɲo/ in diminutives and non-diminutives in Belo Horizonte Portuguese. In these words, reduction, and, eventually, deletion of the final unstressed back high vowel [ʊ] may occur: [te᷈ˈpĩɲʊ] ~ [te᷈ˈpĩ] tempinho (little time) and [viˈzĩɲʊ] ~ [viˈzĩ] vizinho (neighbour) (SANTIAGO (2005)). We investigated whether diminutive and non-diminutive nominal forms present similar or different rates in the evolution of the phenomenon of deletion of the final unstressed vowel [ʊ]. Additionally, this study analyzed noun forms ending with a high front nasal vowel [ĩ] as in [kaˈpĩ] capim. We evaluated the acoustic characteristics of the final segment of the diminutive and non-diminutive forms that had segmental reduction as in [te᷈ˈpĩ] tempinho (little time) and [viˈzĩ] vizinho (neighbour) and the nasal front high vowels [ĩ] at the end of the word as in [kaˈpĩ] capim (grass). The hypotheses of this work are that (a) the deletion index of the final unstressed vowel [ʊ] in diminutive and non-diminutive words would be significantly different. (b) the stressed vowel [ĩ] of diminutive and non-diminutive words (which had the final unstressed [ʊ] deleted), would present significant differences in relation to the duration of the stressed vowel [ĩ] of words ending in [ĩ] as [kaˈpĩ] capim (grass). From a theoretical point of view, this study focused on the perspective that phonological representations are complex and multiple and accommodate the phonetic gradient. This perspective fits into multirepresentational models such as Exemplar Theory (BYBEE (1985), (1995)). In order to analyze the phenomenon in question, methodological principles of Laboratory Phonology were used (PIERREHUMBERT; BECKMAN; LADD (2000); ALBANO (2017)). This study advanced in relation to previous works by evaluating the segmental reduction of /iɲo/ at the end of words acoustically and by analyzing, in contrast, the nominal forms that phonemically end with a nasal vowel [ĩ]. The result showed that there are no significant differences in performing the reduction of the sequence /iɲo/ in diminutives and non-diminutives. In addition, statistical analysis using mixed linear models revealed significant durational differences between the stressed vowel [ĩ] of words that had final unstressed reduction and those that did not. However, no significant difference was found in the duration of the stressed vowel [ĩ] in the test words that underwent reduction and the stressed vowel [ĩ] in the control words. The result offers a contribution to think about the nature of the nasality of the vowel [ĩ] and provides evidence for the presence of phonetic detail in the duration of the stressed vowel [ĩ] of words that underwent reduction of the final unstressed [ʊ].