[ãw] Diphthong reduction in the verbal morphology of Brazilian Portuguese: a usage-based approach

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the unstressed [ãw] diphthong reduction in the verbal morphology of Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Three verb tenses from the first conjugation were considered: 1) present tense: cantam (they sing); 2) past perfect tense: cantaram (they sang) and 3) past imperfect tense: cantavam (they used to sing). Results indicate that PB has an ongoing mechanism of change which aims to reorganize the verbal paradigm to a reduced number of verbal endings (Duarte, 1996). Such mechanism is implemented through constraints and allowances in grammatical organization. Thus, the [ãw] diphthong reduction in the verbal morphology operates in BP Phonology through segmental reduction in prosodically weak positions. More frequent verbs are affected at higher levels than less frequent ones due to the phonetic motivation of the phenomenon in unstressed position, and regularizing the verbal paradigm by analogical leveling.