Ditongos orais e seus processos evolutivos na história do Português

Abstract

Through study of a medieval corpus (Carvalho 2017), this article analyses some phenomena of variation and change in the historical development of the primary or secondary oral falling diphthongs [aw], [aj], [ej] and [ow], highlighting some phenomena of maintenance, closing, reduction and creation in the course of their evolution. It shows how, in some lexical units, the diphthongs were maintained throughout the medieval period, unlike the current norm (e.g. contrauto), while in other cases a late tendency towards reduction was found, even in forms today considered erudite, which later recovered the diphthong (e.g. clasula). We also look at instances of variation between -airo and -ario which may complicate the notion of what constitutes a“learned word”, and cases of irreversible change, with precise chronological endpoints, in proparoxytones (sabham > saibam). In the case of [ej] and [ow], we provide considerable evidence suggesting a chronology for monophthongization three or four centuries earlier than that given by Paul Teyssier (1980). We also touch on the variation oi ~ ui (e.g. froyto ~ fruito), found in common Galician but within a clear chronological framework in our corpus (favouring ui > u). Finally, we show that cases of anticipation of the semivowel w (au- gua), and reduction of the rising diphthong wa (agar- dar), characteristic of Galician and some social varieties of Portuguese, are also found in these documents from the coastal zone of central Portugal.