The Interplay Between Spontaneous Writing And Underlying Linguistic Representations

The paper discusses the importance of incorporating naturalistic data from spontaneous written texts in language acquisition research in general, and in writing acquisition studies in particular. It is argued that spontaneous data can be revealing of the nature of local, epilinguistic procedures, which, by their turn, are seen as indices of underlying system construction. Data are analyzed, from first graders' spontaneous writing in Portuguese, which bear on the problem of the underlying representation of phonological nasality in the language. It is finally argued that it is the two-sequence interpretation given by the orthography to this aspect of Portuguese phonology that, in the long run, forces children to restructure their «preferred» analysis pointing to a series of phonologically distinct nasal vowels in the language. The alternating nature of the considered data leads to discussion of the relationship between longitudinal and transversal language acquisition studies, and to the proposal of incorporating a micro-historical dimension to explain variability in language acquisition data. It is finally argued that the data under consideration are best accounted for by a constructivist model that attributes a constitutive status to social interaction, and to children's history of contact with particular words and structures within the context of specific discourse events. © 1988 Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal/ Springer Netherlands.3441543

Vowel Deletion And Binarity In Portuguese: A Study Based On Bayesian Predictive Inference [apagamento Vocálico E Binariedade No Português: Uma Investigação Baseada Em Preditivas Bayesianas]

The applications of statistical models in laboratory phonology have been shown to be productive in evaluating the predictive power of hypotheses. In this paper, the strength of the restriction FootBin was tested statistically in Brazilian and European Portuguese, on the basis of a Bayesian predictive inference model. We assumed that if the restriction FootBin is active there is a preference, in a language, for words with an even number of syllables. This sudy, based on such assumption, was conducted on the basis of acoustic and statistical analysis of data from an experiment on vowel deletion/reduction. Our statistical results show that FootBin is active in both PB and EP, although the strength of binarity is stronger in PB. The fact that FootBin is active in both varieties with a different strength in BP and in EP supports an optimality constraint-based analysis.301121Abaurre, M.B., Galves, C., Rhythmic differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese: an optimalist and minimalist approach (1998) DELTA, 14, pp. 377-403Bisol, L., Palatalization and its variable restriction (1991) International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 89, pp. 107-124Bisol, L., O acento e o pé métrico binário (1992) Cadernos de Estudos Lingüísticos, 22, pp. 69-80. , Universidade Estadual de CampinasBisol, L., O troqueu silábico no sistema fonológico (2000) DELTA, 16, pp. 403-413Bisol, L., Hora, D., Palatalização da oclusiva dental e fonologia lexical (1993) Letras, 5, pp. 25-40Carvalho, J.B., Réduction vocalique, quantité et accentuation: pour une explication structurale de la divergence entre portugais lusitanien et portugais brésilien (1988) Boletim de Filologia, 32, pp. 5-26Carvalho, J.B., Phonological conditions on portuguese clitic placement:on syntactic evidence for stress and rhythmical patterns (1989) Linguistics, 27, pp. 405-436Collischonn, G., Um estudo do acento secundário em português. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1993), Dissertação de mestradoD'Andrade, E., Laks, S.B., Na crista da onda: o acento de palavra em português (1991) Actas do 7o Encontro da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, pp. 15-26Frota, S., Prosody and Focus in European Portuguese (1998), Universidade de Lisboa. Tese de doutoradoGupta, A., Nadarajah, S., Handbook of Beta Distribution and its Applications (2004), New York: Marcel Dekker, IncHarris, J.W., Syllable structure and stress in Spanish: a nonlinear analysis (1983), Cambridge, MA: MIT PressHarris, J.W., A podiatric note on secondary stress in Spanish (1989), MIT msHayes, B., Metrical stress theory: Principles and Case Studies (1995), Chicago: University of Chicago PressKager, R., Rhythmic vowel deletion in Optimality Theory (1997) Derivations and Constraints in Phonology, pp. 463-499. , In I. Roca (ed.), Oxford:Oxford University PressMassini-Cagliari, G., Cantigas de amigodo ritmo poético ao lingüístico-um percurso histórico da acentuação em português. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (1995), Tese de doutoradoMateus, M.H.M., Aspectos da Fonologia do Português (1975), Lisboa:Instituto Nacional de Investigação CientíficaMateus, M.H.M., Gramática da Língua Portuguesa (1983), Coimbra: AlmedinaMateus, M.H.M., D'Andrade, E., The Phonology of Portuguese (2000), Oxford: Oxford University PressMatos, M.P., Sandalo, F., Síncope vocálica no Português Brasileiro (2006), In Anais do VI Encontro do CELSUL, Círculo de Estudos Linguísticos do Sul. Florianópolis: UFSCPrince, A., Relating to the Grid (1983) Linguistic Inquiry, 14, pp. 19-100Pirrehumbert, J., Beckman, M., Ladd, D.R., Conceptual Foundations of Phonology as a Laboratory Science: Conceptual and Empirical Issues (2000) Phonological Knowledge, pp. 273-303. , In: N. Burton-Roberts, P. Carr & G. Docherty (orgs), Oxford: Oxford University PressRamus, F., Nespor, M., Mehler, J., Correlates of Linguistic Rhythm in the Speech Signal (1999) Cognition, 73, pp. 265-292Roca, I.M., Secondary Stress and Metrical Rhythm (1986) Phonology Yearbook, 3, pp. 341-370Sandalo, F., Abaurre, M.B., Mandel, A., Galves, C., Secondary stress in two varieties of Portuguese and the Sotaq optimality based computer program (2006) Probus-International Journal of Latin and Romance Linguistics, pp. 97-125. , 8.1Sandalo, F., Abaurre, M.B., Acento secundário em duas variedades de português: uma análise baseada na OT (2007) O acento em português: abordagens fonológicas, , In: Araújo, G. A. (org), São Paulo:ParábolaVigário, M., Cliticização no português europeu: uma operação póslexical (1998) Actas do XIV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 1, pp. 557-598. , Aveiro, PortugalVigário, M., The prosodic word in European Portuguese (2003) Interface Explorations, p. 6. , Berlin: Mouton de GruyterWetzels, L., The lexical representation of nasality in Brazilian Portuguese (1997), Probus 9.