Esta dissertação tem por objetivo investigar o papel que a frequência dos tipos silábicos desempenha na atribuição acentual em pseudopalavras produzidas por falantes nativos do Português Brasileiro através de metodologias experimentais. Contrapuseram-se, para isso, dados empíricos, provenientes de um experimento, a hipóteses fonológicas para o acento primário em PB. As propostas analisadas consistiram em: Hipótese Lexical (CÂMARA JR., 1970 [2001]), Hipótese Métrica (BISOL, 1994), Hipótese Morfológica (LEE, 1995) e Hipótese Multirrepresentacional (CANTONI, 2013). Esta pesquisa está norteada nos pressupostos dos Modelos Multirrepresentacionais. Fez-se necessária a compilação de um corpus linguístico que permitisse a extração da frequência dos padrões fonológicos requeridos na presente investigação, o qual é denominado de Corpus ABG. O experimento, que se subdividiu em dois grupos experimentais, inquiriu a relevância dos tipos silábicos [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], [-oɾ] e [-aɾ] nos estudos acentuais. O grupo de análise 1, composto pelos tipos silábicos [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], investigou, por meio do conceito de lacuna fonológica, se a frequência dos tipos silábicos impacta na determinação da localização acentual. O grupo de análise 2, composto pelos tipos silábicos [-oɾ] e [-aɾ], verificou em que medida a frequência dos tipos silábicos interage com processos analógicos, tendo como motivação a frequência de vocábulos fonológicos similares. Os resultados do experimento sugerem que, ao contrário do que preveem as propostas algorítmicas, todos os padrões acentuais (proparoxítono, paroxítono e oxítono) podem emergir - e emergiram. As produções acentuais encontradas no experimento trazem indícios de que a frequência dos tipos silábicos impacta na forma como o acento é atribuído no PB, bem como trazem evidências de que processos analógicos podem interagir com a produtividade na atribuição acentual. Os resultados, portanto, indicam que diferentes fatores, em diferentes níveis de abstração, são responsáveis pela atribuição acentual no PB. / This dissertation aims to investigate the role that the frequency of the syllabic types plays in the stress assignment in pseudowords produced by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese through experimental methodologies. For this, empirical data, originating from an experiment, were contrasted to phonological hypotheses for the primary stress in BP. The proposals analyzed consisted of: Lexical Hypothesis (CÂMARA JR., 1970 [2001]), Metrical Hypothesis (BISOL, 1994), Morphological Hypothesis (LEE, 1995) and Multirepresentational Hypothesis (CANTONI, 2013). This research is guided on the assumptions of the Multirepresentational Models. A compilation of a linguistic corpus was necessary to allow the extraction of the frequency of the phonological patterns required in the present investigation, which is named Corpus ABG. The experiment, which was subdivided into two experimental groups, inquired about the relevance of the syllabic types [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], [-oɾ] and [-aɾ] in the stress studies. Analysis group 1, composed of the syllabic types [niw], [Voral.tʃiw] and [Vnasal.tʃiw], investigated, through the concept of phonological gap, whether the frequency of the syllabic types has an impact on the determination of the stress location. Analysis group 2, composed of the syllabic types [-oɾ] and [-aɾ], verified to what extent the frequency of the syllabic types interacts with analogical processes, motivated by the frequency of similar phonological vocables. The results of the experiment demonstrated that, contrary to what the algorithmic proposals foresee, all the stress patterns (proparoxitone, paroxitone and oxytone) can emerge - and emerged. The stress productions found in the experiment indicate that the frequency of the syllabic types impacts on how the stress is assigned in BP, as well as provides evidences that analogical processes can interact with productivity in stress assignment. The results, therefore, demonstrate that different factors, at different levels of abstraction, are responsible for the stress assignment in BP.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo investigar o papel que a frequência dos tipos silábicos desempenha na atribuição acentual em pseudopalavras produzidas por falantes nativos do Português Brasileiro através de metodologias experimentais. Contrapuseram-se, para isso, dados empíricos, provenientes de um experimento, a hipóteses fonológicas para o acento primário em PB. As propostas analisadas consistiram em: Hipótese Lexical (CÂMARA JR., 1970 [2001]), Hipótese Métrica (BISOL, 1994), Hipótese Morfológica (LEE, 1995) e Hipótese Multirrepresentacional (CANTONI, 2013). Esta pesquisa está norteada nos pressupostos dos Modelos Multirrepresentacionais. Fez-se necessária a compilação de um corpus linguístico que permitisse a extração da frequência dos padrões fonológicos requeridos na presente investigação, o qual é denominado de Corpus ABG. O experimento, que se subdividiu em dois grupos experimentais, inquiriu a relevância dos tipos silábicos [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], [-oɾ] e [-aɾ] nos estudos acentuais. O grupo de análise 1, composto pelos tipos silábicos [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], investigou, por meio do conceito de lacuna fonológica, se a frequência dos tipos silábicos impacta na determinação da localização acentual. O grupo de análise 2, composto pelos tipos silábicos [-oɾ] e [-aɾ], verificou em que medida a frequência dos tipos silábicos interage com processos analógicos, tendo como motivação a frequência de vocábulos fonológicos similares. Os resultados do experimento sugerem que, ao contrário do que preveem as propostas algorítmicas, todos os padrões acentuais (proparoxítono, paroxítono e oxítono) podem emergir - e emergiram. As produções acentuais encontradas no experimento trazem indícios de que a frequência dos tipos silábicos impacta na forma como o acento é atribuído no PB, bem como trazem evidências de que processos analógicos podem interagir com a produtividade na atribuição acentual. Os resultados, portanto, indicam que diferentes fatores, em diferentes níveis de abstração, são responsáveis pela atribuição acentual no PB. / This dissertation aims to investigate the role that the frequency of the syllabic types plays in the stress assignment in pseudowords produced by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese through experimental methodologies. For this, empirical data, originating from an experiment, were contrasted to phonological hypotheses for the primary stress in BP. The proposals analyzed consisted of: Lexical Hypothesis (CÂMARA JR., 1970 [2001]), Metrical Hypothesis (BISOL, 1994), Morphological Hypothesis (LEE, 1995) and Multirepresentational Hypothesis (CANTONI, 2013). This research is guided on the assumptions of the Multirepresentational Models. A compilation of a linguistic corpus was necessary to allow the extraction of the frequency of the phonological patterns required in the present investigation, which is named Corpus ABG. The experiment, which was subdivided into two experimental groups, inquired about the relevance of the syllabic types [niw], [Voral.tʃiw], [Vnasal.tʃiw], [-oɾ] and [-aɾ] in the stress studies. Analysis group 1, composed of the syllabic types [niw], [Voral.tʃiw] and [Vnasal.tʃiw], investigated, through the concept of phonological gap, whether the frequency of the syllabic types has an impact on the determination of the stress location. Analysis group 2, composed of the syllabic types [-oɾ] and [-aɾ], verified to what extent the frequency of the syllabic types interacts with analogical processes, motivated by the frequency of similar phonological vocables. The results of the experiment demonstrated that, contrary to what the algorithmic proposals foresee, all the stress patterns (proparoxitone, paroxitone and oxytone) can emerge - and emerged. The stress productions found in the experiment indicate that the frequency of the syllabic types impacts on how the stress is assigned in BP, as well as provides evidences that analogical processes can interact with productivity in stress assignment. The results, therefore, demonstrate that different factors, at different levels of abstraction, are responsible for the stress assignment in BP.

This study examined a Pseudoword Phonics Curriculum to determine if this form of instruction would increase students’ decoding skills compared to typical real-word phonics instruction. In typical phonics instruction, children learn to decode familiar words which allow them to draw on their prior knowledge of how to pronounce the word and may detract from learning decoding skills. By using pseudowords during phonics instruction, students may learn more decoding skills because they are unfamiliar with the “words” and therefore cannot draw on memory for how to pronounce the word. It was hypothesized that students who learn phonics with pseudowords will learn more decoding skills and perform higher on a real-word assessment compared to students who learn phonics with real words. Students from two kindergarten classes participated in this study. An author-created word decoding assessment was used to determine the students’ ability to decode words. The study was broken into three phases, each lasting one month. During Phase 1, both groups received phonics instruction using real words, which allowed for the exploration of baseline student growth trajectories and potential teacher effects. During Phase 2, the experimental group received pseudoword phonics instruction while the control group continued real-word phonics instruction. During Phase 3, both groups were taught with real-word phonics instruction. Students were assessed on their decoding skills before and after each phase. Results from multiple regression and multi-level model analyses revealed a greater increase in decoding skills during the second and third phases of the study for students who received the pseudoword phonics instruction compared to students who received the real-word phonics instruction. This suggests that pseudoword phonics instruction improves decoding skills quicker than real-word phonics instruction. This also suggests that teaching decoding with pseudowords for one month can continue to improve decoding skills when children return to real-word phonics instruction. Teacher feedback suggests that confidence with reading increased for students who learned with pseudowords because they were less intimidated by the approach and viewed pseudoword phonics as a game that involved reading “silly” words. Implications of these results, limitations of this study, and areas for future research are discussed.

Models of word pronunciation have tended to emphasize either generalized knowledge in the form of letter-to-sound correspondence rules or item specific knowledge in the form of rote associations. Simple formulations of both types of models have been found to be clearly insufficient to account for the pattern of results obtained with three types of items: regular words, exceptional words and pseudowords. The general findings are: 1-pseudowords take longer for response initiation than words; 2-although slower, pseudowords are pronounced quite easily by most readers; 3-exception words take longer for response initiation than regular words. Even a dual-process formulation, based on item specific knowledge for some type of items and generalized correspondence rules for other items, fails to account for some of the differences in pronunciation latencies which have been observed between regular and exceptional words. Glushko (1979a) has proposed that the regular-exceptional distinction should be replaced by a consistent-inconsistent distinction. The thrust of his argument is based on his finding that regular words like MINT have the same pronunciation latencies as exceptional words like PINT. Hence when one controls for a certain type of similarity between words, there is no difference between regular and exceptional words. However, a difference is found between words whose final three letters share a consistent pronunciation {such as MINK and PINK) and words whose terminal letter groups have more than one pronunciation {such as MINT and PINT). Glushko's model, the activation-synthesis model, is based on the elimination of the regular-exceptional distinction. On the basis of this elimination, it is possible to make a number of extensions to the activation-synthesis model. Empirical verifications of these potential extensions were attempted using manipulations intended to increase or decrease the amount of conflict present when target items were presented for pronunciation. Inconclusive results were obtained from a first manipulation which used a repeated list paradigm. A second manipulation revealed that it was possible to speed up the pronunciation of a pseudoword by priming with regular words but not by priming with exceptional words. However, priming with exceptional words increased the number of exceptional pronunciations which were emitted for the subsequent pseudoword. The pattern of results is consistent with the conclusion that the regular-irregular distinction should be maintained and superimposed on the consistent-inconsistent distinction. The argument is made that the inconsistency effect may be due to the activation of inconsistency detectors by words which contain specially coded letter groups. It is further suggested that the activation of inconsistency detectors would modify the usual response generation or retrieval process. This modified process would allow access to the exceptional information which would be somewhat resistant to the usual generalization phenomena observed in word pronunciation. Suggestions are also made as to the nature of the cues which could activate the inconsistency detectors. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)