CCV branching onsets in Brazilian Portuguese: Productive or lexicalized?

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to discuss the phonotactic productivity of branching onsets in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). We ask whether the frequency of use of a given syllable type or of its segmental sequences can mirror the speaker’s phonotactic competence or if it mirrors a historical accident. To verify the phonological nature of the branching onset structure (Consonant1+Consonant2+Vowel) and of its different segmental sequences (frequent sequences /tɾ, pɾ, bɾ/, infrequent sequences /dɾ, kl, gl/ and marginal sequences /tl, dl, vl/), we analyzed data from a speech corpus and a pseudoword generation task. The results point that i) although infrequent, CCV structure is productive in BP phonotactics, since speakers can use this structure to form new words in the language; ii) frequent and infrequent consonant sequences are equally productive in pseudoword formation; iii) marginal sequences are less productive than frequent and infrequent sequences; iv) although the low frequency of /tl, dl/ and /vl/ is attributed to different external factors (perceptual difficulties; diacronic accidents), both have similar phonotactic status. These results suggest that the frequency of use cannot be taken as a mirror to the speaker’s phonotactic grammar, also suggesting that this grammar distinguishes two levels of phonological productivity: productive and marginal.

Keywords

• fonologia
• fonotaxe
• frequência de uso
• sílabas
• fonologia de laboratório