Weakening of syllable-final /S/ in data from the south of Amazonas (Brazil)

Variationist studies show that realizations of the phoneme /S/ vary widely in Brazilian Portuguese when syllable-final. The alveolar variant has received much attention in most regions of the country, together with the alveolo-palatal variant, also widespread. However, weakening of the consonant has also been recorded, whereby it may come to have a glottal realization, or open syllables may even result. Such variants are usually attributed to the speech of people with little education belonging to the lower classes or less developed regions. In dialect studies in three municipalities in the south of Amazonas (Boca do Acre, Labrea and Tapaua), the glottal variant was found in more than 12% of the data, but it has been noted that weakening takes place in particular contexts, mainly before a lateral, nasal or affricate consonant (desligar [dehli'gah], mesmo ['mehmo.] e leste ['l epsilon ht integral]). The present study examines responses to the Phonetic/Phonological Questionnaire which have syllable-final /S/. Eighteen informants of both sexes and three different age-groups were sur-veyed. A correlation was noticed between the weakening under consideration and sonority: the more sonorous the following segment, the greater the weaking of the phoneme in question with a tendency towards glottal relaizations, whereas the less sonorous the following segment, the more salient is the sibilant, with preference for the alveolo-palatal variant. The social variables considered, with the exception of location, were shown not to be relevant. On the other hand, subsequent context turns out to be a highly relevant variable in determining how syllable-final /S/ is realized.