“ANALISEMO” E “DESCREVIMO”

UM CASO NÃO PROTOTÍPICO DE ALÇAMENTO VOCÁLICO DE CARÁTER MORFOFONOLÓGICO

Abstract

Abstract

This research addresses the linguistic phenomenon of vowel alternation in {amos} and {emos}, which vary respectively to {emo} and {imo}, as in "cantemo" (we sing) and "comimo" (we eat). This phenomenon has been referred to as "vowel raising" by some linguists, such as Castilho (1992, 2006), Bortoni-Ricardo (2005, 2011), and Foeger, Scherre, and Yacovenco (2017). We argue, however, that this is not a simple case of vowel raising, which is purely a phonetic-phonological phenomenon, but rather a morphophonological phenomenon. To support our argument, we outline the basic criteria for the description of standard vowel raising and compare them with the characteristics of vowel alternation preceding {mos}, based on Bisol (1981, 2003, 2010), Wetzels (1991, 1994), Cagliari (2002), Silva (2011), among others. The data were collected from 168 oral interviews (each approximately 1 hour long) that make up the VARLINFE database (NEES/UNICENTRO, Irati campus), related to seven cities in the southeastern region of Paraná (Irati, Mallet, Prudentópolis, Rio Azul, Ivaí, Rebouças, and Cruz Machado). We rely on the research of Loregian-Penkal and Costa (2014, 2016), Costa and Loregian-Penkal (2015, 2016), and Loregian-Penkal, Costa, and Franceschini (2019), conducted using the same interview database, as well as Menon (2015), to demonstrate that the occurrence of prototypical vowel raising (in post-tonic and pre-tonic syllables) is much lower in the linguistic communities of the VARLINFE database (around 20%, depending on the municipality), compared to other communities in Brazil where raising is quite common. Therefore, if vowel raising in post-tonic and pre-tonic syllables is relatively low in this region, why would it occur so significantly in the tonic syllable, as in the case of {emo} and {imo}? Furthermore, in addition to occurring in the tonic syllable, the vowel alternation in focus in this research shows distinctive meaning opposition, as our data revealed that the non-standard vowel usage of [e] and [i] is more recurrent in past contexts (as opposed to the standard vowel, which is more frequently used in the present), indicating that this is not a case simple vowel raising form. Based on these and other questions, we present scientific evidence from our sample data to support our hypothesis that this is a case of morphophonological vowel alternation.

Keywords: Vowel Raising. Vowel Alternation. Morphophonology. Variation.