The position of pronominal clitics in Brazilian Portuguese: the contribution of language perception investigation

Abstract

This paper aims to bring evidence – from the comparative analysis of investigations about the order of pronominal clitics based on Variationist Sociolinguistics and Experimental Phonology (VIEIRA, 2002; CORRÊA, 2009; 2012) – of the contribution of studies that combine description of linguistic production and perception, aided by speech resynthesis. Associating methodologies, the researches show that it is possible to define (i) the phonological direction of the unstressed pronouns, to the right (like pretonic syllables) or to the left (like post-tonic syllables); (ii) the acoustic parameters responsible for this direction; and, consequently, to specify, in sociophonetic terms, the characteristics which can be associated with certain structures and varieties.