his study addresses a controversial issue of the implementation of the raising role oflhe pretonic vowels/el and/ol in Brazilian Portuguese. The phenomenon has been traditionally regarded as a case of vowel harmony. A strong influence ofanalogical processes affecting derived words has also been pointed out. More recent studies have suggested however lhat the role is lexically implemented. The data for lhe present study come from the contemporary Portuguese spoken by informants from Brasília, and from Ola Portuguese and lhe Galician. The quantitative analysis of lhe synchronic data has partially confirmed the two conditioning hypotheses that are couched within lhe Neogrammarian view of lhe phenomenon. The alphabetical ordering of lhe tokens however has revealed a residue of words in which lhe variation can only be taken into account by the Lexical Diffusion model of role implementation. The qualitative analysis oflhe diachronic data has accordingly shown that in lhe process of evolution from Latin into Modem Portuguese words with pretonic leI and/o! have followed two' different tracks lhat can neither be explained by phonological conditioning nor by analogy: in some groups of words lhe pretonic vowel evolved into a categorical high or a categorical mid vowel, whereas in olher groups the realization of the pretonic vowels has never become categorical.
In this text we discuss the rôle of the phonetic context in sound changes. Our position is that the phonetic context will act only a posteriori, as a possible stabilizer of innovations, and not a priori, as a trigger of sound changes. This being the case we argue that we can deal with phonetic effects even in a diffusionist approach to sound changes. Finally, we suggest that this approach leads to a considerable reduction of the scope of variation.
The phonetic/phonological aspects involved in the pronunciation of the
post-vocalic s have already been analysed in several works conceming different
dialects of Brazilian Portuguese. This paper presents a study of some lexical
factors involved in the aspiration of the post-vocalic s in the dialect of Rio de
Janeiro as an alternative approach to the phenomenon. It also reinforces the
applicability of the Lexical Diffusion madel to Portuguese.
This study intends to show the cornplementarity of the variationist and the diffusionist models. The conjtillction of the two models makes it possible for tiS to controllinguistic,extralinguistic and lexical parameters, which leads to amore encompassing analysis since it allows us to take into account variable and invariable data. This is shown in our analysis of the variable process of Idf assimilation in the context/-ndol in words such as 'falando', 'mundo', 'ando'.
By taking the phenomena of dropping (aphaeresis) and addition (prosthesis) of inicial/al as the chiefpoint in a diffusionist inquiry, this article intends to discuss two main points. First, we analyse the most relevant characteristics or the phenomena in question as well as the typology of the initial segments we have found out. Our purpose is to present a morphological salience scale as the chief refraining agent of change. Secondly, we analyse the results ofthe tested lexical parameters and assume the hypothesis of the Inverse Proportionateness of the phenomena which, like a play on equivalences in a mirror, spread simetrically through the lexicon.
This paper discusses the possibility of the application ofthe Lexical Diffussion model to a syntactic phenomenon. It shows the importance oflexical parameters, Formality and Frequency, as factors of implementation of "Queísmo" and "Dequeísmo" in Portuguese. Statistical results demonstrate that the two
processes are only apparently opposite in the system and that they are, in fact, closely related, so that we can consider them as the sarne variatrion focus in the
language.
ln this paper I discuss some research results on syntactic variation and change which took place in OId Portuguese. Based on texts from the 14th and 15th centuries I discuss: (a) the variation involving ser/estar and the diffusion of estar to atributive structures (both locative and descriptive); (b) the variation between singular and plural as weIl as the loss ofagreement marks in the Past Participle in those structures where in conjunction with haver or ter it could be reinterpreted as a compound tense; and (c) fmaIly, I present evidence to show that in some syntactic and semantic contextsnumber agreement involving a verb and its subject was a variable phenomenon in Old Portuguese.
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