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From: dacosta@natlab.research.philips.com (Paulo da Costa)
Subject: Re: [Brazilian] Portuguese Phonology
Originator: dacosta@bach
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Message-ID: <dacosta.844955896@bach>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 13:58:16 GMT
References: <5340k1$kdv@news01.aud.alcatel.com>  <534hku$kp0@clarknet.clark.net> <jF1xeeAtyuVyEw9G@kindness.demon.co.uk>
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven, Netherlands
Lines: 39

In <jF1xeeAtyuVyEw9G@kindness.demon.co.uk> Colin Fine <colin@kindness.demon.co.uk> writes:

>In article <534hku$kp0@clarknet.clark.net>, Harlan Messinger
><gusty@clark.net> writes
>>shhouche@aud.alcatel.com (Stephen H. Houchen) wrote:
>>
>>>If I understand correctly, an orthographic "m" in Portuguese causes the
>>>preceeding vowel to be nasalized, and syllable-final "m" is not pronounced.
>>
>>>Thus, homem=/o~me~/ (nasalized "o" and "e").  How is the plural
>>>pronounced?  Is it homens=/o~me~nz/, /o~me~z/, /o~me~s/, or something
>>>else?
>>
>>It's /o~me~S/, final "s" in Portuguese being alveolarized (or "ished"
>>as I like to think of it).
>>

>I thought that was a distinctive feature of the Portuguese of Portugal.
>The poster asked about Brazilian Portuguese. 

The important thing is that the "n" remains unpronounced. The four-way
pronunciation of "s" in words like "casa", "balsa", "asno", "pasta"
(as /z/, /s/, /Z/, /S/) is standard in Portugal but also in most of
Brazil (including Rio). It is lost only in the south, where a two-way
distinction (/z/-/s/ instead of /Z/-/S/) is still mostly retained before
consonants (and _always_ before vowels). There is a similar feature (this
one typical of Rio) involving uvular "r" before a consonant, for instance
in "pardo" and "parto".

So, /o~me~S/ seems to be the most acceptable representation of the sound
of the word by itself in Brazil or in Portugal, although some people in
Brazil will pronounce it with an /s/ (and also detract from the richness
of the language in other ways :)).
       
-- 
      Paulo M. Castello da Costa     /\/\/\  Minha terra tem palmeiras   /\/\/\
dacosta@natlab.research.philips.com  \/\/\/    Onde canta o sabia'...    \/\/\/
Philips Research Labs, bldg WY8.011, / Tel +31 40 2744281  Fax +31 40 2744675 \
Prof Holstln 4, 5656 AA Eindhoven NL \_________ SERI: dacosta@prles2 _________/
