The production of the alveolar, apico-alveolar and post-alveolar fricatives in syllabic coda of BP and EP

Abstract In this study, the acoustic-articulatory characteristics of the alveolar [s, z], apicoalveolar [, ] and post-alveolar [ʃ, ʒ] fricatives in syllabic coda of Brazilian and European Portuguese were investigated. Data were supplied by native informants from Florianópolis-SC/BR, Rio de Janeiro-RJ/BR, Erechim-RS/BR, Lisboa/PT, Granjal-Viseu/PT and São Jorge-Azores/PT. Since it is common sense that in Brazilian Portuguese only alveolar or post-alveolar fricatives occur, the distribution of fricatives in syllabic coda in speech samples from the places aforementioned was analyzed. The spectral peaks of the fricatives in relation to informants’ schooling level were the investigated parameters. Based on the present findings, the relation between low schooling and the analysis of spectral peak values of the fricative segments produced in Brazilian and European Portuguese was found crucial for the establishment of a link between the production of these fricatives and the colonization process of the geographic regions included in this research.