Harmonia vocálica variável no sistema verbal do português do sul do Brasil

Abstract

This study searches for subsidiary information about the neogrammarian or diffusionist features of Brazilian Portuguese variable vowel raising. This raising, known as vowel harmony, has received neogrammarian (Bisol, 1981) and diffusionist interpretation (Oliveira, 1992). Focalizing on verbs, we reanalize data from Schwindt (1995), a quantitave analyzis of the raising of the pretonic vowels /e/ and /o/ in the samples of Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Curitiba of the Projeto VARSUL corpus. We restricted investigation to variable /e/ raising in verbs. Data were classified according factor groups referring to verbal classes and morphological boundaries intervening between trigger and target of raising. The VARBRUL program analysis has shown that both verbal classes and morphological boundaries play a role in raising application. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the two types of phonological rules.