Autor(es):
Correia, Susana, 1979- 
Data: 2009
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/3476
Origem: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Assunto(s): Língua portuguesa; Aquisição da linguagem; Acentos e acentuação; Linguagem das crianças; Teses de doutoramento - 2010
Descrição
Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Portuguesa), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2010 In this dissertation, we aim at describing the acquisition path of five Portuguese
children, in respect to primary word stress (henceforth word stress).
Portuguese word stress has been widely discussed, some authors arguing for a
morphology‐based algorithm (Andrade & Laks, 1992; Lee, 1995; Mateus, 1983; Pereira,
1999) and others arguing for a weight‐based one (Bisol, 1992; Wetzels, 2006).
Cross‐linguistic information on the acquisition of word stress suggested that children
acquiring Germanic languages tend to mirror the trochaic tendency of the target system, as a
result of the application of a rhythmic stress algorithm. However, in other languages,
conflicting results were attested. Acoustic analyses of early words' production in some
languages additionally suggested that, before 2;0, children might not master the acoustic
parameters for word stress, and that they might not place stress target‐like.
The acoustic analysis conducted on a speech sample of two children in our corpus
showed a great initial variability in the production of the acoustic parameters and in the
word shapes, both within the same child and between children. The results of the acoustic
analysis further confirm that the acoustic parameters to derive word stress might not be
mastered until 2;0.
The results on the production of stress patterns in the speech of 5 Portuguese
monolingual children show that, despite an initial difference (in which we observed a neutral
emergence of trochees and iambs, and a tendency for reduplications and epentheses), EP
resembles other trochaic languages (namely Dutch and English). The predominant initial
production of monosyllables, along with reduplications and epentheses at the left‐edge of
words, which heavily contribute to an apparent iambic tendency, lead us to propose a
monosyllabic representation for early words in European Portuguese (EP), with an optional
syllable at its left‐edge. Later, non‐reduplicated disyllables emerge, without favoring trochaic
or iambic words. Afterwards, a preference for trochaic words was noticeable, both through
the preferential truncation of iambic words, and through the preferential truncation of weakstrong‐
weak words into trochees, rather than iambs. Trisyllables were the later word shape
to be acquired, especially if they had an extrametrical syllable (/SWW/).
Finally, we tested the Portuguese children's sensitivity to aspects related to
morphology and syllable weight. The results did not bring indisputable evidence for
morphological constraints interacting with word stress acquisition, early non‐verbs are
produced similarly, irrespective of their morphological constituency and the target stress
pattern. Early verb forms emerge later and generally conform to a trochee and a verb theme.
The results on weight‐sensitivity showed that words with final heavy stressed syllables (e.g.,
aMOR 'love') are acquired earlier than words with final heavy unstressed syllables (e.g., LÁpis 'pencil'), and the latter are initially truncated and later produced with a light final syllable.
These results suggest that children recognize that stress in /'CV.CVC/ words is not in the final
syllable, which, therefore, cannot be heavy.
Overall results provide evidence for an algorithm for word stress that is sensitive to
the rhythmic properties of the target language, though an interaction with morphology is not
categorically rejected.
