A emergência de consoantes finais no português brasileiro na microrregião de Araguaína/ Tocantins

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate the emergence of consonants in the end of words in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) spoken in the region of Araguaína, TO. Typically, BP presents restrictions concerning the consonants that can be in the end of words as Câmara Jr. (1970), Bisol (1999), Cristófaro-Silva (2010) and Battisti (2014) explain. These authors only consider the following consonants /N, R, S, l/ to be found in the end of words in BP. However, several works indicate that other consonants, beyond /N, R, S, l/ are being found in the end of words in BP. Therefore, the first research question this study aims to answer is: what motivates the emergence of final consonants in BP? Contexts preceding and following the consonants have been investigated. This study also aims to investigate how the segmental and prosodic levels are affected after the emergence of several consonants in the end of words in BP. The second research question is: how does the segmental and prosodic reorganization happen after the emergence of final consonants? The theory adopted in this study is Complex Adaptive Systems (LARSEN-FREEMAN 1997; LARSEN-FREEMAN and CAMERON 2008; BECKNER, BLYTHE, BYBEE, CHRISTIANSEN, CROFT, ELLIS, HOLLAND, LARSEN-FREEMAN, SCHOENEMANN 2009). The principal theoretical goal of this study is to discuss the several relations that act in the implementation of the emergence of final consonants in BP, the methodology is based on Laboratory Phonology (BROWMAN and GOLDSTEIN, 1990; BYBEE, CHAKRABORTI, JUNG and SCHEIBMAN, 1998) and it is experimental. Two experiments were conducted to verify the deletion of the final vowel and the emergence of consonants. In the First Experiment (Experimento 1) the words were isolated when analyzed and the Second Experiment (Experimento 2) analyzed the same words in alternative contexts followed by either a consonant or a vowel. The results suggest that the emergence of consonants in the end of the words in BP is implemented gradually based on specific routes or trajectories.