A palatalização do /S/ em posição de coda no falar barrodurense

Abstract

This master's thesisis a study of the palatalization of /S/ in coda position, in which we propose to conduct a sociolinguistic analysis of this phenomenon. To this end, we base our work on the Theory of Variation, particularly the concepts of Labov (2008 [1972]), Tarallo (2007 [1985]), Alckmin (2021 [2017]), and Mollica (2021 [2003]). The phonological description of the variants involved is primarily carried out through Autosegmental Phonology, with a focus on Feature Geometry, by Clements and Hume (1995). The treatment of the palatalization of /S/ is based on the works of Brescancini (1996), Scherre and Macedo (2000), Macedo (2004), Monteiro (2009), Bassi (2011), Hora (2016), Lima (2017), Almeida (2019), and Cunha and Sales (2020). As a general objective, we propose to analyze the phonological process of the palatalization of /S/ in coda position in Barro Duro speech. The sample consists of 1118 occurrences of the variants collected through recorded individual interviews and the reading of a word list, conducted with 16 participants, stratified by gender, age group, and education level. As independent linguistic variables, we selected: preceding phonological context, following phonological context, position of the fricative in the word, morphological class, number of syllables, and position of the fricative in relation to the stressed syllable. The controlled extralinguistic variables were: gender, sex, age group, education level, and instrument. For the statistical analysis of the data, we used the Goldvarb X Program, in which the percentages and relative weights of each factor were calculated. The results revealed that the palatalization of /S/ is predominantly conditioned by linguistic factors, as the extralinguistic variables gender, age group, and education level were found to be irrelevant for the realization of this phenomenon. From this group, only the variable instrument was found to be relevant, with the factor "personal experience interview" emerging as favorable, demonstrating that the alveolopalatal variant has low prestige in this speech community, as its production is favored by the less monitored speech style that emerges during the interview and is disfavored by the more formal speech style that arises during the reading of the word list. Linguistically, this process is favored primarily by the following phonological context, constituted by the coronal /t/, and by the factors: medial coda, disyllabic words, pretonic position, labial vowels, and dorsal vowel. In the Barro Duro dialect, the alveolar variant [s] predominates; however, the alveolopalatal variant [ʃ] is categorical before the coronal /t/.