Mid vowels in pre-stressed-syllable: interindividual and intraindividual variation in the dialect of Belo Horizonte

Abstract

The variation of mid-height vowels in pre-stressed-syllable position in nouns spoken in the dialect of Belo Horizonte is analysed, taking into consideration linguistic factors and phonological processes, such as vowel harmony and vowel reduction, which interfere in this type of production. In pre-stressed position, the mid-high vowel occurs in most cases, whereas the mid-high and high vowel occur in more specific cases. Three distinct corpora were considered (MAGALHÃES, 2000; ALVES, 1999; spontaneous speech). The results obtained reveal that formality at the moment of recording the data is fundamental for the occurrence of intraindividual variation. As shown in the data extracted from spontaneous speech, variation is interindividual, since each speaker opts for a manifestation of the mid-high vowel in a distinct way from others. This variation is studied under the view of Optimality Theory.