In this paper, we argue that phonological phrasing in Brazilian Portuguese is determined by the interaction of right-alignment of syntactic and phonological phrases (Selkirk 1986) and a eurythmic factor of Uniformity (Ghini 1993), which prefers pphrases of equal prosodic length. The Uniformity requirement shows some unexpected properties. It is not tied to a preferred length of p-phrases, and it appears to be restricted to p-phrases overlapping with the subject and the verb of the clause. KEY-WORDS: Prosodic phonology; Stress retraction; Intonation; Phonology-syntax interface.RESUMO: Neste artigo, argumentamos que a formação de sintagmas fonológicos no português brasileiro é determinado pela interação de uma restrição de alinhamento à direita entre sintagmas fonológicos e sintáticos (Selkirk 1986) e de um fator eurítmico de Uniformidade (Ghini 1993), o qual prefere sintagmas fonológicos de tamanhos prosódicos idênticos. O princípio de uniformidade apresenta algumas propriedades não * Many thanks to our consultants Paulo de Sá Porto, Maria Bernadete Abaurre, Marcelo Barra Ferreira, Giovana Hirae, Luciani Tenani, and Maria Luiza Abaurre for their time and patience with the list of sentences (for some of them growing in size) we asked them to judge. We also thank FAPESP ( esperadas, uma vez que não é restrito a um tamanho ideal de sintagmas fornológicos, e parece estar restrito aos sintagmas fonológicos que equivalem ao sujeito e ao verbo de uma dada sentença PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Fonologia prosódica; Retração de acento; Entoação, Interface sintaxe-fonologia.

Experimental results on Brazilian Portuguese (BP) intonation are reported, concentrating on speakers from the Campinas area. A combined production and perception study shows that four nuclear contours are produced and distinguished: statements (H+L* L%), emphatic statements (same, with higher F0), yes/no-questions (L+H* L%), and surprise questions (L*+H L%). A first semi-compositional analysis of the contours is offered, in which the declarative/interrogative distinction (not marked morphosyntactically on BP yes/no-questions) is encoded by the choice of L* vs. H* pitch accent. A distinction corresponding to English committing vs. non-committing intonation is marked in addition by the choice of bitonal H+L vs. L+H pitch accent. Further, it is shown that focus is marked by four out of our six speakers by the absence of a pitch accent following an early narrow focus, as well as by increased relative length of the focused constituent.

The plural of Brazilian Portuguese [w]-final nouns includes an alternation with [j], but the change is partially blocked in monosyllables and following a tense vowel (Becker et al. 2017). In this paper, we present a nonce word study with 115 children ages 7-13 and 43 adults, all participants from the state of São Paulo, showing that blocking in monosyllables is acquired earlier than blocking by tense vowels. We claim that sensitivity to monosyllabicity and vowel tenseness are both due to universal phonological pressures, but the effect of vowel tenseness is learned more slowly because it is limited to the plural morphology in this language. Our results from nonce words are convergent with evidence from innovative plurals and loanword adaptation, showing the primacy of phonological factors over history, orthography, and lexical frequency when it comes to alternations and their acquisition.

Neste artigo, buscamos evidência acústica para a harmonia vocálica com base na existência de correlação entre os valores de F1 das vogais pretônicas e tônicas. XXXX & XXXX (2009) mostram que um /a/ tônico não desencadeia harmonia vocálica em dados de Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo e Goiás. Dados de Kentowicz & XXXX (2011), no entanto, sugerem que /a/ desencadeia harmonia em dados de Pernambuco. Neste trabalho, apresentamos uma hipótese preliminar, baseada na dispersão vocálica, acerca do comportamento de vogais tônicas baixas como gatilhos de harmonia pretônica. Nossa análise baseia-se na comparação feita entre dados de Salvador e Porto Alegre e os dados de São Paulo, Minas Gerais e Pernambuco de Kenstowicz & XXXX.

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