Proposta de reformulação da caracterização dialetal do noroeste português

Abstract

Brissos / Rodrigues (2016) have presented acoustic data supporting the redesign, in several fundamental respects, of the current idea of one of the most distinctive dialects of European Portuguese: the variedade do ([dialectal] variety of) Baixo Minho e Douro Litoral, as identified by Cintra’s (1983) classification of Portuguese dialects. In order to carry out that reformulation, Brissos / Rodrigues’ data must be tested against an extensive network of inquiry points. The present paper takes on that test and arrives at a proposal for a restatement of the dialect’s characterization based on three basic premises: (i) its area is much larger than was traditionally assumed; (ii) its identifying linguistic feature – the diphthongization of stressed vowels – only leaves out cardinal vowels; and (iii) there is diphthongization not only with high semivowels but with non-high central semivowels as well. The outcome of the study is the first substantial revision of Cintra’s classification, which we claim ought to be incorporated into the literature on Portuguese dialectology. The proposed revision is in turn suggestive of a new approach to some important issues in the history and phonetics/phonology of Portuguese.