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Portuguese phonology. The phonology of Portuguese varies among dialects, in extreme cases leading to some difficulties in mutual intelligibility. This article on phonology focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard.
A comprehensive book on the linguistic structure of Portuguese, covering syntax, phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. It also discusses the social and historical background of Portuguese, its dialect variation and language planning, and its spread in the world.
- Pronunciation of Vowels in European Portuguese
- I Can’T Hear The Difference!
- So What Exactly Is A Vowel?
- Factors That Affect Vowel Pronunciation
- Letter by Letter
- Other Notes
Explore the guide below to get to know Portuguese vowels a little bit better. You can mouseover Rui’s lovely face in the interactive diagram to listen to and practice all these vowel sounds! For the best possible experience, use a computer running the Chromebrowser.
Hearing and producing the distinctions between each sound takes time and practice, so don’t worry about mastering all of these right away. We are primed to hear the distinctions between sounds in our native language(s), but the sounds of a new language will not come as naturally. This is because our brain keeps trying to match each sound to one tha...
A vowel is simply one of the letters that represents a vowel sound, such as a, e, i, o, and u. Each of these letters corresponds to multiple different vowel sounds, depending on a variety of factors. For example, notice how the o in the stressed syllable is pronounced differently than the o in the unstressed syllable in this word: bolocakeSlow audi...
Openness
Open (low) or closed (high)? The vertical position of the tongue indicates the openness, or height, of a vowel. With open vowels, the tongue is lower, i.e. more flat against the bottom of your mouth, creating less obstruction of air flow. In contrast, with closed vowels your tongue is higher in the mouth, essentially closing off some of the air flow and thus creating a different resonance. The sounds along the bottom of the chart are more open and as you move to the top of the chart, they bec...
Frontness ↔️
Front, mid, or back? Front vowels are produced with the tip of your tongue engaged near the front of your mouth, around your hard palate. Back vowels are produced with the back of your tongue pulled back and up toward your soft palate. Try repeating just the vowel sounds as you move from left to right in the chart. Notice how your tongue moves from the front to the back of the mouth.
Roundness
Your lips affect the “roundness” of a vowel. They can form a circle, stay relaxed, or be spread to affect the resonance of the sound. Notice there is more rounding as you move from left to right in the chart.
Now that we’ve explored some of these different factors, let’s take a look at some of the different vowel sounds associated with each written letter. A: casahouseSlow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine casahouseSlow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine mábad fãfan lâminablade E: seifSlow audio Play audio Conjunction energiaenergy sêbe(i...
The best way to get comfortable with pronunciation is to spend plenty of time listening to native speakersrather than trying to memorize every single rule. But if you’re interested, here are a few more interesting patterns that you may notice along the way: 1. Often you will notice that vowels change from closed to open when the word is pluralized....
Jun 8, 2000 · A comprehensive and up-to-date account of the phonetics and phonology of European and Brazilian Portuguese, with historical and comparative perspectives. The book covers consonants, vowels, glides, syllable structure, morphology, stress, and phonological processes.
Learn about the sound system of Portuguese, including its seven vowel sounds and twenty consonant sounds, and how they differ from English. Compare the syllabic structures and stress patterns of Portuguese and English words, and see examples and charts.
The Routledge Handbook of Portuguese Phonology provides an up-to-date description of the Portuguese phonological system, including a thorough account of the fundamental concepts, data, and previous explanations, as well as the status quaestionis, directions for future research, and further reading.
The authors deploy current theoretical models to explain the rich variety of Portuguese phonology and interrelated aspects of morphology. This is by far the most comprehensive account of the...
