AS VOGAIS MÉDIAS NA INTERFONOLOGIA PORTUGUÊS - ESPANHOL

Abstract

This research presents a study whose objective was the description and the analysis of the process of the middle vowels acquisition in spanish by native speakers of portuguese in Brazil. The informants of the present research have been students of spanish as a foreign Language in the Language Department of the Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões. To verification the behavior of the middle vowels in this acquisition process, linguistic variables as well as extra-linguistic ones have been taken into consideration. The analysis of the results has been based on the Contraint-Based Theory of Phonological Markedness and Simplification Procedures, proposed by Calabrese (1988, 1995 and 2004). The results of this investigation, based on Calabrese´s theory , permit the conclusion that the spanish language presents a five-vowel system in its phonological system, having mid-low vowels -/i, Ε, a, o, u/- which become mid-high vowels, on a phonetic level, in open syllables. The research also shows the tendency for Brazilian speakers to pronounce mid-low vowels in Spanish words while native speakers of Spanish pronounce them as mid-high vowels.