CONTRIBUTIONS OF PHONOLOGY TO THE TEACHING OF THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE: EVIDENCE OF PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN SCHOOL WRITING

Abstract

This study aims to discuss how Phonology can assist teachers in understanding orthographic deviations. We start from the premise that these deviations are a reflection of speech in writing and highlight the occurrence of phonological processes. For this purpose, we focus on two processes in this study, based on the categorization into four groups proposed by Seara, Lazzarotto-Volcão, and Nunes (2015): weakening, strengthening and syllabic restructuring. The analysis includes phonological rules involving vowels, such as vowel insertion and epenthesis, monophthongization, raising of unstressed vowels, and vowel harmony. We support the discussion with phonological studies in generative theories and acknowledge that the analysis methodology presented by Bortoni-Ricardo (2005) is an important research and systematization tool for understanding spelling deviations. The main contributions of this study are to present, not only to teachers, though they are our primary focus, but also to researchers, the contributions of Phonology to the teaching of Portuguese as a mother tongue.