The existing phonemes in the Portuguese language can be classified into vowels, consonants, and semivowels.
vowels
A vowel is classified as “a speech sound produced by a comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract, with the vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction.”
In this phoneme, the emission of air passes freely through the mouth without barriers. The vowels make a syllable ridge, that is, any syllable must have a vowel, whether it has consonants or not, this vowel being the phonetic segment pronounced with greater intensity. In Portuguese, we have five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. When we read the alphabet the sounds of these vowels are: “a” as “a” in car; the “e”, like the “e” in “hell”; the “i”, like the “ee” in “tree”; the “o”, like the “a” in “all”; and the “u”, like the “u” in “fu”.
Examples: pia, ando, cesto, quero, lente, li, lindo, sonho, avó, som, susto, untar, pato, bota.
Therefore, In the Portuguese language, we divide the word into syllables depending on the number of vowels within the word
The word “Moro” has 2 vowels, so here we have 2 syllables Mo-Ro
When 2 vowels come together we consider them only one vowel
The word “Pia” has 2 vowels, but 2 vowels coming together so it’s only one Syllable
to make the sound of the vowels, the mouth is open or ajar. Vowels can be:
Orals the sound produced by airflow through the cavity of the mouth with little or no nasal quality in its production.
/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
b) Nasal, the sound produced by the airstream passes through the nose as a result of the lowering of the soft palate (velum) at the back of the mouth.
/ã/: fã, canto, tampa
/é/: dente, tempero
/i/: lindo, mim
/õ/ bonde, tombo
/u/ nunca, algum
c) Unstressed: pronounced with less intensity. For example:
até, bola
d) stressed: pronounced with greater intensity. For example:
até, bola
for timbre, vowels can be:
A given vowel sound has a recognizable timbre, regardless of its pitch. Different vowel sounds, similar pitches. Different vowel sounds have distinctly different timbres, even at the same pitch.
open
Examples: pé, lata, pó
closed
Examples: mês, luta, amor
Reduced – They always appear at the end of words.
Examples: dedo, ave, gente
Regarding the articulation zone:
Anterior or palatal – The tongue rises towards the hard palate.
Examples: é, ê, i
Posterior or velar – The tongue rises towards the soft palate
Examples: ó, ô, u
Medium – The tongue is low, almost relaxed.
For example : a
glides – semivowels
Glides include speech sounds where the airstream is frictionless and is modified by the position of the tongue and the lips. Glides and semivowels are very similar to vowels. The difference between vowels and glides and semivowels lies in the structure of the syllable.
In orthography, the semivowels are between the vowels and the consonants, which are the phonemes /i/ e /u/. When they come together and make a syllable.
Notice the word, daddy which means papai. It is made up of two syllables: pa-pai. In the last syllable, the vowel phoneme that stands out is the a. this is the vowel. The other vowel phoneme i is not as strong as it is. It’s the semivowel.
Outros exemplos: saudade, história, série.
couro, baile, cárie, mau, pais, rei, seita, venceu.
Notice that: the phonemes /i/ e /u/ can be represented in writing by “e”, “o” or “m”.
For example
pães / pãis
mão / mãu/
cem /céi
Consonants
Phonemes formed by consonants find barriers to be pronounced, so they need to be accompanied by vowels.
For the production of consonants, the air stream exhaled by the lungs encounters obstacles as it passes through the oral cavity. This makes the consonants real “noises”, incapable of acting as syllabic nuclei.
The consonants are: /B/, /C/, /D/, /F/, /G/, /J/, /K/, /L/, /M/, /N/, /P/, /Q /, /R/, /S/, /T/, /V/, /W/,/X/, /Z/.
Examples: caderno, lâmpada, base, deduzir, falar, pedaço, redigir, sintetizar.
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