Gragoatá (Jul 2016)
VOCALIZATION OF THE LATERAL CONSONANT IN SYLLABLE CODA IN A VARIETY OF BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE: A REAL TIME SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
Abstract
The article brings the results of a real-time, variable rule analysis (LABOV, 1972, 1994) of the vocalization of the lateral consonant /l/ in syllable coda (canal~cana[w] ‘channel’, Brasil~Brasi[w] ‘Brazil’) in Brazilian Portuguese in the speech of Flores da Cunha (RS). It shows that from 1990 to 2008-2009 the rule progressed along with social and economic changes verified in that small city, founded in the end of the XIX century by Italian immigrants. Young people favoured the application of the rule, women completed the acquisition of the vocalized form. The tendency to vocalize grew bigger in the presence of high consonants and back vowels, besides labial consonants, in the following phonological context. The stressed syllable ceased to have conditioning effect. The total proportion of rule application went from 12% in 1990 to 77% in 2008-2009. The big increase in the proportion of rule application accompanied the growth of the urban population and of the economic activities carried on in the urban area. This reduced the speaking of Italian dialects and their contact with Portuguese, which could have restrained vocalization.
