NASALIZATION PROCESSES IN LUNG’IE

ABSTRACT

This study describes and analyses vocalic nasality triggered by nasal elements in codas and onsets in Lung’Ie, a Portuguese-based Creole spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe. We observed the language’s phonotactic behavior and investigated the occurrence of vocalic nasalization processes according to their segmental and suprasegmental aspects. In this regard, we considered the lexical stress and the possibility of segmental resyllabification. We designed a perceptual test in order to identify the way in which coda nasality was perceived by native speakers. By omitting a consonant in the onset position of the next syllable in relation to the nasalized syllable, speakers interpreted the nasal appendix as a full consonant [n]. The nasal consonant in the coda was therefore resyllabified into an onset position. This syllabic restructuration is an indication of a biphonemic interpretation of nasality in Lung’Ie (AGOSTINHO, 2015; BALDUINO et al., 2015; BANDEIRA, 2017). The phonotactic analysis indicates lexical stress as an essential factor in the performance of the nasalization process triggered by an onset. On the other hand, nasalization processes triggered by the coda are possible in stressed and unstressed syllables. The importance of the stress in the application of this process supports a mixed suprasegmental system in Lung’Ie constituted by lexical stress and tones, albeit stress is the primary suprasegmental category (AGOSTINHO, 2015).

Nasality; Lung’Ie, Suprasegments; Stress