To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

1. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable? Tyler Young To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

2. Latin Vowels Latin had 10 vowels, 5 being short and 5 being long. Orthographically, there were only 5 vowels and the differences between the short and long vowels were indicated different ways during the evolution of the language: • By doubling the vowel for long vowels. • By marking long vowels with an apex (similar to an acute accent mark.) • By capitalizing long vowels. Eventually all of these systems were abandoned and the vowel quality was left ambiguous. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

3. Portuguese Vowels Portuguese has 7 phonemic vowels and 14 allophonic vowels. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

4. The Big Problem – {e} and {o} /e, ɛ, o, ɔ/ Graphemes (Unnatural Stress)Graphemes (Natural Stress) {ê}  [e] {e}  [e] or [ɛ] {é}  [ɛ] {o} [o] or [ɔ] {ô}  [o] {ó}  [ɔ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

5. This Isn’t The Problem When a tonic open or closed {e} or {o} falls on the unnatural stress of the word, the orthography disambiguates the phoneme with accent marks: Examples: exército [e’zɛχcito] óbvio [‘ɔbviu] você[vo’se] metrô [me’tɾo] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

6. This Is The Problem However, if it falls on the natural stress of the word (usually the penultimate syllable), the orthography doesn’t indicate the phoneme: Examples: porta  Is it [‘pɔχtǝ] or *[‘poχtǝ]? morto  Is it *[‘mɔχtu] or [‘moχtu]? ferro  Is it [‘fɛhu] or *[‘fehu]? preto  Is it *[‘pɾɛtu] or [‘pɾetu]? To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

7. My Goals • Create a corpora of all words with ambiguous {e} and {o} vowels. • Separate the words by tonic vowel [e, ɛ, o, ɔ], and then by grammatical category, gender, etc. • Analyze the phonetic environments around [e, ɛ, o, ɔ] and look for patterns. Is the allophone before/after it a vowel or a consonant? If a vowel, is it front, mid, back, high, low, etc.? If a consanant is it voiced or voiceless? Is it dental, palatal, alvelar, velar, etc.? • Compose a flow chart to show found rules. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

8. Two Easy Rules for Disambiguation 1. [ɛ̃] and [ɔ̃] don’t exist in Brazilian Portuguese. 2. [ɛ] and [ɔ] don’t appear in atonic syllables. Examples: também [tʌ̃’bẽĩ] *[tʌ̃’bɛ̃ĩ] devemos [de’vẽmus] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

9. Disambiguating Verbs(Present Indicative) - 1 Example Conjugations: pegar [pe’gaχ] : pego [‘pɛgu] pegamos [pe’g ʌ̃mus] pegas [‘pɛgǝs] pegais [pe’gais] pega [‘pɛgǝ] pegam [‘pɛgʌ̃ũ] dever [de’veχ] : devo [‘devu]devemos [de’vẽmus] deves [‘dɛvis] deveis [de’veis] deve [‘dɛvi] devem [‘dɛvẽĩ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

10. Disambiguating Verbs(Present Indicative) - 2 -AR Verbs Eu  open Nós  no ambiguity Tu  open Vós  no ambiguity Você  open Vocês  open Ele  open Eles  open Ela  open Elas  open -ER/-IR Verbs Eu closedNós  no ambiguity Tu  open Vós  no ambiguity Você  open Vocês  open Ele  open Eles  open Ela  open Elas  open To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

11. Disambiguating Verbs(Present Indicative) - 3 Present Indicative:Not all verbs follow the preceing rule. Here are the exceptions. Irregularly closed: -elhar-ei?ar-ejarmar/-mer aconselhar aproveitar bocejar comer ajoelhar beijar desejar engomar cheirar festejar somar -nar deitar tremer apaixonar deixar -ou- tomar esacionar enfeitar roubar mencionar queimar ouvir relacionar queixar-se telefonar respeitar -er (monosillabic) condenar treinar crer ver -o(i)ar-ear/iar enjoarbarbearmisc. magoarchatearfechar perdoar nomear chegar soar pentear voar recear apoiar odiar To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

12. Disambiguating Verbs(Present Subjunctive / Imperative) If the conjugation ends in -e, -es, or –em open All others (-a, -amos, -ais, -as or –am)  closed Examples: correr [ko’heχ]levar [le’vaχ] corra [‘kohǝ] leve [‘lɛvi] corras [‘kohǝ] leves [‘lɛvis] corram [‘kohʌ̃ũ] levem [‘lɛvẽĩ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

13. Disambiguating Verbs(Preterite) There is an ambiguity in the third person plural form of –ER verbs. Irregular Verbs: open Regular Verbs: closed Examples: Irregular (always open): -eram [ɛɾʌ̃ũ] Regular (always closed): -eram [eɾʌ̃ũ] couberam [kou’bɛɾʌ̃ũ] agradeceram [agɾade’seɾʌ̃ũ] deram [dɛɾʌ̃ũ] aprenderam [apɾẽ’deɾʌ̃ũ] disseram [dʒi’sɛɾʌ̃ũ] beberam [be’beɾʌ̃ũ] estiveram [estʃi’vɛɾʌ̃ũ] deveram [de’veɾʌ̃ũ] fizeram [fi’zɛɾʌ̃ũ] emagreceram [emagɾe’seɾʌ̃ũ] houveram [ou’vɛɾʌ̃ũ] moveram [mo’veɾʌ̃ũ] puderam [pu’dɛɾʌ̃ũ] perceberam [peχse’beɾʌ̃ũ] puseram [pu’zɛɾʌ̃ũ] sofreram [so’fɾeɾʌ̃ũ] quiseram [ki’zɛɾʌ̃ũ] torceram [toχ’seɾʌ̃ũ] souberam [sou’bɛɾʌ̃ũ] tremeram [tɾe’meɾʌ̃ũ] tiveram [tʃi’vɛɾʌ̃ũ] venderam [vẽ’deɾʌ̃ũ] trouxeram [tɾou’sɛɾʌ̃ũ] veram [‘veɾʌ̃ũ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

14. Disambiguating Verbs(Future Subjunctive) There is an ambiguity for –ER verbs. Irregular Verbs: open Regular Verbs: closed Examples: Irregulars (always open): Regulars (always closed): tiver [tʃi’vɛχ] dever [de’veχ] tiveres [tʃi’vɛɾis] deveres [de’veɾis] tivermos [tʃi’vɛχmus] devermos [de’veχmus] tiverdes [tʃi’vɛχdʒis] deverdes [de’veχdʒis] tiverem [tʃi’vɛɾẽĩ] deverem [de’veɾẽĩ] quiser [ki’zɛχ] sofrer [so’fɾeχ] quiseres [ki’zɛɾis] sofreres [so’freɾis] quisermos [ki’zɛχmus] sofrermos [so’fɾeχmus] quiserdes [ki’zɛχdʒis] sofrerdes[so’fɾeχdʒis] quiserem [ki’zɛɾẽĩ] sofrerem [so’fɾeɾẽĩ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

15. Disambiguating Verbs(Past Subjunctive) There is an ambiguity for –ER verbs, except first and second person plural forms. Irregular Verbs: open Regular Verbs: closed Examples: Irregulares (always open): Regulares (always closed): tivesse [tʃi’vɛsi] devesse [de’vesi] tivesses [tʃi’vɛsis] devesses [de’vesis] tivéssemos [tʃi’vɛsemus] devêssemos [de’vesemus] tivésseis [tʃi’vɛseis] devêsseis [de’vesseis] tivessem [tʃi’vɛsẽĩ] devessem [de’vesẽĩ] quisesse [ki’zɛsi] sofresse [so’fɾesi] quisesses [ki’zɛsis] sofresses [so’fresis] quiséssemos [ki’zɛsemus] sofrêssemos [so’fɾesemus] quisésseis [ki’zɛseis] sofrêsseis[so’fɾeseis] quisessem [ki’zɛsẽĩ] sofressem [so’fɾesẽĩ] To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

16. Disambiguating Adjectives Certain types of adjectives follow an easy rule: If it ends in –{oso} closed [‘ozu] If it ends in –{osa}, {osos}, or {osas}  open [‘ɔzǝ], [‘ɔzus], [‘ɔzǝs] All other adjectives may follow a different more complicated system. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

17. Disambiguating Nouns - 1 This is the tendency I noticed: Generally, when a noun has a tonic {e} or {o}: Feminine Nouns open Masculine Nouns closed Examples: masculine: feminine: porto [‘poχtǝ] porta [‘pɔχtǝ] globo [‘globu] bola [‘bɔlǝ] gelo [‘ʒelu] meta [‘mɛtǝ] berço [‘beχsu] febre ['fɛbɾi] This is hardly a rule. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

18. Disambiguating Nouns - 2 Some plural nouns go from closed to open in the plural: Examples: Singular (closed): Plural (open): olho [‘oƛu] olhos [‘ɔƛus] ovo [‘ovu] ovos [‘ɔvus] osso [‘osu] ossos [‘ɔsus] globo [‘globu] globos [‘glɔbus] fogo [‘fogu] fogos [‘fɔgus] coro [‘coɾu] coros [‘cɔɾus] corvo [‘coχvu] corvos [‘cɔχvus]  This phenomenon only occurs with ambiguous {o} and not {e}. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

19. To Do List 1. Study verb patterns using “501 Portuguese Verbs.” 2. Establish rules for verbs. 3. Use computer macro to gather large corpora. 4. Establish rules (if any) for nouns. 5. Establish rules (if any) for adjectives. 6. Establish rules (if any) for other categories. 7. Create flow chart for each category. To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?

20. Sources To what extent is open and closed {e} and {o} in Portuguese predictable?