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Variation and Change in the Rhotics of Brazilian Portuguese

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Variation and Change in the Rhotics of Brazilian Portuguese Iiris Emilia Rennicke Variation and Change in the Rhotics of Brazilian Portuguese Tese apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos Linguísticos da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Doutor em Linguística Teórica e Descritiva Área de Concentração: Linguística Teórica e Descritiva Linha de Pesquisa: Fonologia Orientadora: Prof.a Dr.a Thaïs Cristófaro Alves da Silva Co-orientador: Prof. Dr. Timo Riiho Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras da UFMG 2015 Resumo Oobjetivodestateseédescreverostatus eclassefonológicosdosróticosnopor- tuguês brasileiro (PB) falado em Minas Gerais, explorar os fatores que causam mudança sonora, e discutir a direção da mudança. A hipótese adotada é a de que mudanças em vários sub-sistemas da língua contribuem para uma trajetória geral de mudança sonora que atua principalmente através da redução atriculatória e re- alinhamento articulatório em palavras e construções frequentes no uso (conforme previsto pelos Modelos de Exemplares). A premissa desta tese é que a língua é um Sistema Adaptativo Complexo que consiste em vários sub-sistemas em con- stante mudança, podendo contribuir simultaneamente para mudanças graduais no sistema como um todo. Entrevistas semi-estruturadas e uma tarefa de preenchimento de lacunas foram realizadas com 14 falantes do Sul e Centro-Oeste de Minas Gerais, gerando no total 7,765 contextos para róticos. Os róticos do PB incluem vibrantes, tepes, fricativas, aproximantes e aproximantes aspiradas em ponto de articulação alve- olar, palatal, retroflexo/arqueado, uvular, e glotal. O cancelamento dos róticos também é frequente. Os róticos do PB seguem duas trajetórias de lenição divergentes: uma an- terior (alveo-palatal) e uma posterior (uvular e glotal). Ambas as trajetórias podem resultar no cancelamento. Fatores que promovem a lenição incluem a posição postônica, adjacência à fricativa desvozeada [s] e/ou as vogais altas [i I uU],eaposiçãofinaldesílaba,queapresentamaisvariantesenfraquecidase cancelamentos de róticos do que qualquer outro contexto. Portanto, a mudança sonora tem começado a generalizar-se nestes atratores,epoderáavançarpara outros contextos róticos. Os róticos do PB são mais bem definidos como uma rede de relações fa- miliares específicas de uma língua,emquecadeiasdereduçõeserealinhamen- tos articulatórios estabelecem ligações históricas entre variantes sincronicamente distantes. Como uma classe, os róticos são articulatoriamente e foneticamente não-especificados quanto a traços distintivos, e a sobreposição fonética entre con- i textos fonológicos faz com que o contraste entre variantes seja incompleto. Por este motivo, a representação fonológica dos róticos baseia-se em categorias posi- cionais sem limites nítidos que abrangem formas fonéticas variadas, e que são constantemente atualizadas em uso. ii Abstract The main objective of this dissertation is to describe the current state and class- hood of rhotics in the Minas Gerais variety of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), explore the factors behind sound change, and discuss the direction of change. The hy- pothesis is that changes in various subsystems of the language contribute to a general sound change trajectory, which takes place mostly through articulatory reduction and retiming in frequently used words and constructions (as predicted by Exemplar Models). Language is seen as a Complex Adaptive System that consists of several subsystems, all of which undergo change and can contribute simultaneously to gradual changes in the overall system. Semi-structured interviews and a sentence completion task with 14 speakers from southwestern Minas Gerais yielded a total of 7,765 contexts for rhotics. The rhotics of BP were found to include trills, taps, fricatives, approximants and aspirated approximants in alveolar, palatal, retroflex/bunched, uvular, and glottal places of articulation. Deletions also form a considerable part of the data. BP rhotics have followed two diverging lenition trajectories: one anterior (alveo-palatal) and one posterior (uvular and glottal). Both trajectories can ultimately lead to deletion. Factors that promote lenition include post-tonic position, adjacency to the voiceless fricative [s] and/or the high vowels [i I u U], and coda position which involves more lenited r-variants and deletion than any other context. Once sound change begins to generalize in these attractors,itcan also spread to other r-contexts. BP rhotics are best modelled as a network of language-specific family rela- tionships, in which chains of articulatory reductions and retimings establish di- achronic connections between synchronically distant variants. As a class, rhotics are featurally, articulatorily, and phonetically unspecified, and phonetic overlap between contexts makes the contrast between r-variants incomplete. For this reason, the phonological representation of rhotics consists of fuzzy positional categories that encompass a variety of phonetic forms and that are constantly updated through language use. iii iv Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many people and institutions. First I would like to thank all members of the teaching staff in Spanish and Portuguese Philology at the University of Helsinki, including Timo Riiho, Professor of Iberian Romance languages and adviser of this dissertation. These people taught me how to think, speak and write in two foreign languages close to my heart. Extra thanks also go out to Johanna Ratia, secretary of Iberian Romance languages, who has helped me with various bureaucratic issues during the last few years. I would also like to thank everyone at the Postgraduate Student Services of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki and in the PosLin administration at UFMG who made my cotutelle degree possible. You would not be reading this dissertation had I not crossed paths with Thaïs Cristófaro Silva, Professor at the Faculdade de Letras of Universi- dade Federal de Minas Gerais, during my exchange year in Brazil. She later became the second adviser of my dissertation and introduced me to the linguistic theories that guided my whole research project. She has my deepest gratitude for receiving me with open arms, guiding my research, and keeping my spirits up during the process. She is a lady of countless scientific catch phrases who has taught me independence and perseverance. Data collection was made possible by Professor Raquel Fontes Martins and her students at Universidade Federal de Lavras. Thank you for making me feel welcome and giving me such excellent and representative material! I would also like to thank Distinguished Professor Emerita Joan Bybee (University of New Mexico) and Professor James M. Scobbie (Queen Mar- garet University) for acting as pre-examiners of this dissertation and for their valuable comments and suggestions, which I have incorporated into v my work to the best of my abilities. I also extend my gratitude to James M. Scobbie for accepting to act as opponent in my doctoral defence. I would like to thank the following institutions for providing research and travel grants during my PhD: University of Helsinki Funds, Alfred Kordelinin yleinen edistys- ja sivistysrahasto, Emil Aaltosen säätiö, Eino Jutikkalan rahasto, Langnet, CoCoLaC, and the Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto. Langnet, the Finnish doctoral programme of lin- guistics, provided not only financial means to pursue my degree, but also excellent courses and seminars. I would like to thank the coordinators of the Language Variation and Change subgroup, Riho Grünthal and Juhani Klemola, for organizing seminars where I received insightful comments on my work. I am especially grateful to my Langnet colleagues Linda Bäck- man, Sonja Dahlgren, Lotta Jalava, Max Wahlström and Ludvig Forsman for their comments, advice and company. Several people have contributed to my journey towards a doctoral de- fence. I would like to thank Professor João Veloso for first introducing me to the wonderful world of Portuguese phonetics and phonology during my exchange year at the Faculdade de Letras of the University of Porto. After his mind-blowing phonetics course I was even more convinced that articu- lation is at the core of human communication. He also commented early drafts of my dissertation and gave recommendations for my applications for research and travel grants. Through João I met Pedro Martins to whom I am grateful for our collaboration in an article on the rhotics of European Portuguese (which turned out to be one of the crucial “missing links” in the story of Brazilian r’s). During my Master’s degree, Professor Jânia Martins Ramos at UFMG encouraged me to investigate the sociolinguistic aspects of coda rhotics in Minas Gerais. I thank her for the dedication she showed when I was writing my MA thesis whose topic, spiced up with phonology and phonetics, later became also my PhD topic. Living between two countries means having two sets of colleagues, friends and family. The problem with this is always feeling the absence of one or the other. My studies and personal life in Brazil would not have been the same without my colleagues at the Phonology Lab: Nívia Oliveira, Victor Hugo Medina Soares, Maria Cantoni, Iara Rosa, Cecília Toledo, Fred Baumgratz, Ingrid Castro, Jamila Rodrigues, and by exten- sion, Gustavo Augusto Mendonça, Marco Fonseca and Ricardo Napoleão. vi I also thank Meghie Rodrigues for our philosophically hilarious conversa- tions, and my band mates Flávio
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