O problema da diversidade dialectal do Centro-Sul português: informação perceptiva versus informação acústica

Abstract

This paper is based on acoustic data presented by Bris­sos (2014) for central-southern Portuguese dialects. It is divided into two main parts. 1, A review of the informa­tion found in the literature addressing or relevant to the problem of central-southern Portuguese dialect diver­sity. The geographical area under consideration corres­ponds to that studied in Brissos (2014). 2, Comparison of that information, which is based on impressionistic data, with the results presented in Brissos (2014). Audi­tory phonetic data on specific dialects or local speech varieties leads to the same basic conclusions as Brissos’ data. This suggests a revision of some of the ideas sta­ted in studies of the dialect classification of central-sou­thern Portuguese. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that it is based on two different methods: that of impressionistic (i.e., traditional) dialectology, and that of acoustic dialectology. Both methods should be used in a complementary manner in present-day dialecto­logy; the study of phonetic aspects of dialects cannot be based on impressionistic descriptions alone, as has traditionally been the case.