Consonantal voicing and apocope in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper investigates the nature of apocope in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and its interaction with consonantal voicing and noise. Apocope results in the emergence of word-final consonants that were historically restricted in BP. It develops as a consequence of the weakening and loss of word-final unstressed high front vowels. The findings reported in this paper indicate that apocope is implemented gradually at both lexical and phonetic levels. We propose that this phonetic reduction stems from the real-time weakening of the final unstressed high front vowel, triggering progressive changes that also affect adjacent segments. Voiceless consonants are more likely to favor apocope than voiced ones and tend to interact with consonantal noise. Notably, the noise duration of sibilant tends to increase when apocope occurs. Additionally, apocope contributes to vowel shortening in closed syllables. This study advances our understanding of apocope as a phenomenon shaped by multiple interacting factors that gradually reshape word structure in a gradual fashion across both phonetic and lexical domains.