SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is devoted to the study of stress and related phenomena in the dialect of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) spoken in Natal. We assume a version of Metrical Theory where the principles of Government Phonology are incorporated. An analysis of the assignment of stress to three grammatical categories is presented: verbs, nouns, and adjectives. The analysis offered is an attempt to prove that these three grammatical categories are assigned stress with a single set of parameters available in the Universal Grammar. The analysis is divided in two parts. Part I consists of a discussion of various aspects of verbs. The insertion of clitics in the Future and the Conditional is discussed to some extent. Other aspects analysed include the relations of government expressed through vowel harmony, less obvious derivations where harmonized primarily stressed nuclei arise, and cases where the spreading of elements occurs. Nouns and adjectives are analysed in Part II. Of the three patterns of stress present in BP nouns and adjectives, final and penultimate are discussed in depth. Antepenultimate stress is discussed only briefly. It is shown that in BP, verbs, nouns and adjectives can present either analytic or non-analytic types of derivation. It is also claimed that certain rhythmic processes operate in BP. An analysis of the diminutive suffix is presented. According to this, there are two lexical entries which are referred to as the "diminutive": -in- and -zin-. The Natal data show that the former is the non-analytic version of the diminutive and the latter is the analytic version of it.