RESUMO A fala dirigida à criança (FDC) é o registro comumente usado nas interações bebê-adulto em muitas comunidades linguísticas, e apresenta uma série de particularidades lexicais, sintáticas e prosódicas quando comparada à fala entre adultos, tais como palavras com reduplicação de sílabas, alta taxa de perguntas e prosódia exagerada. Neste estudo, elegemos como objeto de investigação as interrogativas e suas propriedades prosódicas. A análise de dados de interações de dez bebês de 4 a 12 meses adquirindo o português brasileiro e seus cuidadores revelou que as perguntas corresponderam a 33% do total de enunciados produzidos e são realçadas principalmente pelo pitch marcado (maior pitch range e pitch span), e maior duração. Ainda, os contornos de pitch das perguntas Qu e Sim/Não (perguntas totais) seguem seus respectivos padrões observados na fala adulta. Esses resultados são compatíveis com os encontrados na literatura e apontam que, de modo geral, A FDC usada no português brasileiro apresenta características semelhantes a esse registro em outras línguas.

ABSTRACT Infant-directed speech (IDS) is the register commonly used in infant-adult interactions in many linguistic communities, and presents a number of special lexical, syntactic and prosodic particularities when compared to adult speech, such as words with syllable reduplication, high question rate and exaggerated prosody. In this study, we focus on interrogatives and their prosodic properties as the object of investigation. Data analysis of interactions of ten Brazilian Portuguese-acquiring infants aged 4 to 12 months and their caregivers, revealed that questions corresponded to 33% of the total utterances produced and are emphasized mainly by marked pitch (raised pitch range and expanded pitch span), as well as increased duration. Moreover, the pitch contours of Wh and Yes/No questions followed their respective patterns observed in adult speech. These results are compatible with those found in the literature and indicate that, in general, the IDS used in Brazilian Portuguese has similar characteristics to this register in other languages.

Abstract This paper explores an intersection between three main topics: (i) sociolinguistic variation, (ii) variation acquisition and processing according to a psycholinguistic approach and (iii) mother-tongue teaching/learning when the two previous factors are taken into account. Nonstandard linguistic varieties coexist in society with a standardized variety that could be defined as the ‘language of education’. The distance between standard forms and the variety acquired by children at home is quite variable and could have an impact on how and when the formal register becomes (or not) part of the range of linguistic speaker’s options. In order to address these issues, we provide experimental results regarding the comprehension and production of two linguistic aspects that show a high variation in Brazilian Portuguese- verbal agreement and anaphoric forms in direct object position - as a function of formal education exposure; we also articulate these results with the concepts of core grammar and marked periphery (Kato, 2005) for a more theoretical discussion.

RESUMO: O português brasileiro exibe um padrão variável de concordância de número em que se destacam duas regras principais: marcação redundante em todos os itens relacionados e, alternativamente, concordância não redundante, com marca obrigatória no determinante ou no pronome possessivo. A saliência fônica, uma propriedade vinculada ao contraste de material fônico quando comparadas as formas singular e plural de um dado item, tem sido apontada na literatura como um fator relevante na alternância entre essas regras. Investigamos aqui experimentalmente o papel desse fator na realização morfofonológica da concordância nominal. Reportamos dois experimentos de produção eliciada conduzidos com falantes adultos, o primeiro utilizando nomes reais e o segundo pseudo-nomes. Os resultados revelam diferenças significativas em virtude da regra empregada - com tempos de reação maiores na condição não redundante - e não permitem sustentar um efeito de saliência nos termos em que esse fator é tradicionalmente caracterizado. A tonicidade da sílaba que carrega o morfema de plural parece ser, no entanto, relevante na alternância entre as regras.

ABSTRACT: Brazilian Portuguese exhibits a variable pattern of number agreement: redundant marks in all the related items, and, alternatively, non-redundant agreement, in which the plural mark is carried by the determiner or by the possessive being omitted in the remaining items. Phonic salience is a property related to the contrast between singular and plural forms of an item and had been raised as one of the relevant factors in agreement variation. In this paper the role of phonic salience is investigated by means of experimental methodology. We report the results of two elicited production experiments conducted with adult speakers - the first one, with real nouns, and second one with pseudo-nouns. The results are in line with the idea that the two rules of number agreement would be processed differently. Phonic salience, in turn, did not reveal a significant influence, contrary to the previous hypothesis. Nonetheless, syllable stress coincidence with the plural morpheme might be a cue for explaining the contrast between the two rules.