Portuguese Linguistics. Portuguese Dialectology

(1)

Portuguese Linguistics Portuguese Dialectology Introduction: History of Portuguese dialectology

J. Leite de Vasconcellos

Inquérito Linguístico Boléo (Coimbra)

Atlas Linguístico da Península Ibérica (ALPI) TAY Main Libr L.ATL.C.AA.2 Atlas Linguístco-etnográfico de Portugal e da Galiza

Atlas Linguístico Galego TAY Main Libr L.ATL.B.GAL.1 Linguistic cartography : isophones and isoglosses

1. Major groups Cintra, ‘Nova Proposta de Classificação’ 1962: North vs Centre/South (dialectos setentrionais; dialectos centro-meridionais)

Dialectal (S) Portuguese features

merger of apical and laminal sibilants /_{/, //and of //} Evolution of sibilants:

 

      

caçar assar cozer coser coxo nojo ancho

Castilian Galician Portuguese

  χ       

 

seseo _ χ _ _ _ _ _ _ s beirão

 

separation of /b/ and /v/ cp Castilian, single /b/ phoneme, with [b β] as allophones reduction of /ou/>/o/

reduction of /ei/>/e/ raising of nasal vowels uvular /_{/ replacing apical /r/}

centralisation of /e/ before palatals espelho, senha, Tejo diphthongisation of final nasals ẽ > ẽĩ; õ, ã > ãũ

Clustering of some of these features led to a broad division of North vs South, as indicated in Cintra’s map:

(2)

N: merges b/v retains ou, ei

retains apicoalveolar s retains ch=t_

(3)

This division (particularly b=v) corresponds to lexical differences, between Minho, the West and the remainder of North; and the South, as charted by Cintra ‘Areas lexicais...’

e.g. anho Minho, cordeiro N borrego S (differential use of Romance forms)

úbere Minho (a)mojo etc NS (“)

cabrito N chibo S (inherited form vs local creation ) soro N almece, almécere S (Romance vs Arabic etyma)

espiga N maçaroca NE, S (“)

2. Regional dialects (or falares)

Properties of individual regions, as established by ILB (see LRL VI/2).

Note a) many of these are not exclusive to single regions, but are representative of general isophones or common non-standard features

b) some features are restricted to small sets of words

c) some sets of features attributed to the same dialect are mutually incompatible; these result from sporadic observations and not the exhaustive study of single speakers

d) the original formulations are phonetically imprecise, and precise contexts are not always defined.

ILB distinguishes major features of whole dialect areas and minor features of specific subfalares.

Minhoto

/ã/ irmã, branca is open [ã] not [_{]; diphthongised [brãũk] in Central M.} variety of solutions to final nasals

e.g. retention of unevolved –õ razão = razõ extension of ã>ão , mação, irmão (f) monophthongisation of ão: irmão > irmã fronting of tonic /a/ buraco [bur_{ku] (E); pest[e]na}

rising diphthongs V.Lat /_{/ > wo poço [pwosu] (also in Trás-os-Montes)} vocalisation of /l/ /al/ > [aur] (Central)

paragogy arroz [aroz_{] (found all over the place)}

(Alto Minhoto) preserves maximal system of four sibilants /_{} /paço/passo/cozer/coser

Trasmontano

General fronting of /a/ in nasal contexts pest[_{]na (as in Minho)}

paragogy nariz [nariz_]

apical /s z/ (i.e., system of four sibilants, as in Minho) sporadic cases of /_{/ for /e/ estrela, cabeça}

West /ẽ/ as /ã/ [_{]? vento [b]; /e/ as // cabeça} Central fronting of diphthong oi > ei noite [neit_]

(4)

Beirão

Conservation of apical /s z (s beirão) as only sibilant type

/_{/ paço=passo /cozer=coser} Shift of /ã/>/_{/ and // > //}

Baixo Vougo & Mondego

fronting of /_{/ to // (represented [a}e_{]) e.g Zé}

Castelo Branco fronting of /u/ to /y/ (also found in Algarve)

e Portalegre fronting of /ã/ > /_{/, ãũ > ẽũ;}

also diphthongisation of /ã/>/ãĩ/, /ẽ/ > /ẽĩ/, final ã > /ãũ/, in Cast. Br.

Meridional (excluding Lisbon!) sete = [s_{ti]; pátio = [paitu]}

monophthongisation of ei, ou

Baixo Alentejo final nasals ã > ãũ; õ_{> , õ (also in Algarve)} Algarve fronting of /a/ bacalheu

reduction of diphthong õĩto õ (or is this morphology?) shared with Alentejo Special feature of Barlavento (W. Algarve): generalised shift of vowel qualities:

      vi vulto avô     vê avó      até está  a

(Similar feature in Micaelense- São Miguel in the Azores) J. Leite de

Vasconcelos

Esquisse d’une dialectologie portugaise (1901, republished 1970)

L.F. Lindley Cintra Estudos de dialectologia portuguesa (1983)

inc. ‘Nova proposta de classificação dos dialectos

galego-portugueses’, originally in Boletim de Filologia 26, 1971, 81-116 'Areas lexicais no território português’, originally in Boletim de

Filologia, 20, 1962, 273-307

M. de Paiva Boléo e M.H. Santos Silva

‘O Mapa dos Dialectos e Falares de Portugal Continental’, Boletim

de Filologia, 20, 1961, 85-112

G. Holtus ed. Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik vol VI.2 section 450 (H.

(5)