The decreased diphthongization in popular speech of Salvador: variational analysis

Abstract

This work presents a variational analysis of the decreased diphthongization process in the popular speech of Salvador. The diphthongization can occur between words, between the final vowel of the first word and the initial vowel of the second word in the sequence, when one of the vowels is phonetically high and unstressed. In the case of decreased diphthongization, the second vowel becomes glide with the application of the process, as in the example minh[aj]scola (my school). The objective of this work was to contribute with a more detailed description of the decreased diphthongization that occurs in Brazilian Portuguese, considering the popular speech data of Salvador, taken from PEPP (Studies Program on the Spoken Popular Portuguese of Salvador), coordinated by Professor Norma Lopes (UNEB). We selected eight interviews classified by sex (male and female), education (primary and secondary education) and age (25-35 years and over 65 years), totaling 1.121 data for the statistical analysis. These data passed through a statistical analysis of Goldvarb X, taking into account some variables that have already been analysed in other studies. The main favorable factors to the application of the process were a combination of a stressed vowel plus an unstressed vowel, clitic group, combination of a not high vowel plus a high vowel, etc.

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DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2017.27157