O i-final no Português Brasileiro e Inglês (IL2)

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate and discuss the relationship between the emergence of final consonants in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) (ALBANO&MENEZES, 2015; DIAS E SEARA, 2012; e CRISTÓFARO-SILVA e VIEIRA, 2015; ASSIS, 2017) and the learning of English as a Second Language by Brazilian speakers. In order to assess whether an ongoing sound change in the L1 influences L2 productions, the emergence of final consonants is evaluated from two aspects: (1) alternation of word-final [C] ~ [Ci] sequences in BP (e.g. [e.g. cheque ˈʃɛ.kɪ] > [ˈʃɛk]) and in ESL for C-final spelling patterns (e.g. cake [keɪk] ~ *[keɪkɪ]) and Cy-final (e.g. monkey [ ˈmʌŋ.ki] ~ *[ˈmʌŋ.k]) and (2) duration of ifinal in C-final and Cy-final in ESL and i-final in BP. This study is mainly grounded on the assumptions of Exemplars Theory (JOHNSON, 1997; PIERREHUMBERT, 2001; BYBEE, 2001, 2008, 2016). Methodologically, this work is based on the premises of Laboratory Phonology (PIERREHUMBERT; BECKMAN; LADD, 2000). Data collection involved speech recordings of twenty-four Brazilian speakers of L2 English. A reading test was adopted for the investigations of both languages: Portuguese and English. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson's chi-square (χ²), Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Overall, results indicate that [Ci] sequences are robust in both BP and ESL for the Cyfinal spelling pattern, but not for the C-final pattern. Thus, our conclusion is that the phonology of English is being built in the expected direction, and the speaker makes an effort to produce the expected patterns for English: C-final and Cy-final. For Portuguese, the i-final pattern is recurrent. Thus, the ESL learner is seeking to build phonology through patterns that are recurrent in English. Additionally, it was found that the duration of the ifinal produced by BP speakers for the Cy-final pattern is longer than the i-final for the Cfinal pattern in English. It was also found that the BP i-final is different from the English ifinal. In terms of Exemplars Theory, we suggest that L2 Phonological Grammar is under development and learners know the tendency of each language from their experiences with them. Results are also in line with the assumptions of Exemplars Theory, which predicts that fine phonetic detail - be it associated with stable or emerging sound patterns - is used to build L2 phonological representations.