Syncope and raising of the postonic non final vowel /o/: a relationship between two variable phenomena

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed concomitantly two variable phonological processes, syncope (abóbora ~ abobra) and raising (abóbora ~ abóbura) of the postonic non final vowel /o/, in order to establish the possible relationship between these two phenomena, and also to explain the social and/or structural factors that could explain the choice of the speaker by a variant or another. This analysis, conducted based on theoretical and methodological assumptions of the Theory of Variation and Change (WEINREINCH; LABOV; HERZOG, 1968; LABOV, 1972, 1994, 2001), takes into account the speech of 14 individuals from Rincão Vermelho - RS – data that constitute the complementary sample of VARSUL database, PUCRS agency. The results suggest that, related to the action of linguistic factors, both processes were verified in the same environments; however, we observed the role of lexical and extralinguistic factors, more specifically the Educational Level, as significant in the application of both processes. Furthermore, after the application of Kendall Tau correlation test, we found a negative correlation between phenomena investigated.