THE STRESSED MID VOWELS OF 17^THCENTURY PORTUGUESE FROM THE RHYMES OF THE BAROQUE CANCIONEIRO A FÉNIX RENASCIDA

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the pronunciation of the stressed mid vowels in Portuguese of the 17^thcentury, through the observation of the rhymes of the poetry from that period. The corpus of this research comprises the poems of the book A Fénix Renascida ou obras poéticas dos melhores engenhos portugueses . The methodology adopted in this study was based, essentially, on mapping and analysing all the rhymes with stressed mid vowels in these literary texts. Data from this study were compared to data from 13^th, 15^thand 16^thcenturies (in FONTE, 2010, 2014). The results of this research suggest that there was, until the 17^thcentury (at least) constant phonetic variation in the pronunciation of the Portuguese language’s stressed mid vowels. Throughout history, some of these variations have resulted in change. In these cases, the variant fixed in the current pronunciation does not correspond to the etymological form. In other cases, however, the earliest pronunciation of the language was fixed.

Stressed mid vowels; Modern Portuguese; Rhymes; Variation; Change