Phonetics of Brazilian Portuguese II 3305-FPB-21
The course is synthetic and applied in nature. It consists of 15 teaching hours and continues the previous course in phonetics of Brazilian Portuguese. Students are expected to already know basic phonetic and phonological terminology, distinguish the main types of speech sounds, and be familiar with the basics of phonetic transcription.
The course focuses on consolidating and applying this knowledge in two areas. The first concerns the description of selected phonetic and phonological phenomena of Brazilian Portuguese, including relations between pronunciation, spelling, stress, prosody, and variation. The second concerns the didactic use of phonetic knowledge, especially in the work of future teachers of Portuguese as a foreign or additional language.
The course covers:
- review of articulatory phonetics: speech apparatus, articulators, place and manner of articulation,
- review of phonetic transcription and its use in the description of Brazilian Portuguese,
- the vowel system of Brazilian Portuguese, qualitative contrasts, nasality, and perceptual difficulties,
- the consonant system of Brazilian Portuguese, with attention to sounds that may be difficult in pronunciation teaching,
- relations between spelling, pronunciation, and phonology, including discrepancies between orthography and phonetic realization,
- word stress, prosody, intonation, and rhythm,
regional and sociocultural variation in Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation,
- minimal pairs, perception and production exercises in pronunciation teaching,
- phonetics in the work of the Portuguese language lecturer: diagnosing difficulties, preparing simple exercises, and avoiding excessive normativity,
analysis of short pronunciation examples and design of microactivities for learners of Portuguese.
Structure for the classes:
- Phonetics and phonology after the introductory course: what should be consolidated?
- Phonetic transcription and the relation between spelling and pronunciation.
- Oral and nasal vowels in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Consonants, place and manner of articulation, learner difficulties.
- Stress, rhythm, intonation, and prosody.
- Regional and social variation in Brazilian pronunciation.
- Phonetics in language teaching: minimal pairs, perception, and production exercises.
- Review, analysis of examples, and preparation for the examination, if the schedule allows eight meetings.
Use of artificial intelligence tools: AI tools may be used only as support for consolidating terminology, preparing examples for exercises, organizing notes, and preliminary language checking. It is not acceptable to submit automatically generated phonetic analyses, transcriptions, or examination answers as one’s own work. Students must be able to independently explain the terminology, transcription, and analysis used.
Content note: the course does not include materials containing violence, vulgar language, or explicit erotic content. Individual authentic language examples may come from different registers of Brazilian Portuguese and will be discussed only for linguistic analysis.
Course coordinators
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Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student:
Knowledge
- defines and explains basic concepts in phonetics and phonology needed to describe the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese (S4K_W01, S4K_W05; K_W01, K_W05).
- characterizes selected phonetic and phonological phenomena of Brazilian Portuguese, including the vowel system, consonant system, stress, prosody, and selected regional variants (S4K_W04, S4K_W05; K_W04, K_W05).
- understands the role of phonetic knowledge in the analysis of Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation and in designing simple activities supporting pronunciation learning (S4K_W01, S4K_W05; K_W01, K_W05).
Skills
- uses basic phonetic transcription to analyze selected examples of Brazilian Portuguese (S4K_U01, S4K_U03; K_U01, K_U03).
- identifies selected relations between spelling, phonetics, and phonology in Brazilian Portuguese (S4K_U03, S4K_U05; K_U03, K_U05).
- analyses selected pronunciation difficulties from the perspective of a learner of Portuguese and proposes simple exercises developing perception and production of sounds (S4K_U01, S4K_U03; K_U01, K_U03).
- uses basic sources and digital tools supporting phonetic analysis, including IPA charts and audio recordings (S4K_U02, S4K_U03; K_U02, K_U03).
Social competences
- critically evaluates their pronunciation and their competence in the phonetic description of Brazilian Portuguese (S4K_K03; K_K03).
- understands the need to include regional and social variation in the analysis and learning of pronunciation without stigmatizing non-standard varieties (S4K_K02, S4K_K03; K_K02, K_K03).
- is ready to further develop the linguistic and analytical competences needed to work with Brazilian Portuguese (S4K_K03; K_K03).
Assessment criteria
The course uses the following teaching methods:
- problem-oriented lecture with practical exercises,
- analysis of pronunciation examples,
- transcription exercises,
- work with the IPA chart and audio recordings,
- comparison of selected phonetic phenomena in Brazilian Portuguese and other languages,
- discussion of the role of pronunciation, intelligibility and variation in language teaching.
The course ends with an examination. The final grade is based on the written examination.
The examination includes:
- questions assessing knowledge of basic phonetic and phonological terminology,
- short phonetic transcription tasks,
- analysis of selected pronunciation phenomena in Brazilian Portuguese.
The examination accounts for 100% of the final grade. To pass the course, the student must obtain at least 60% of the examination points.
Exercises completed in class are preparatory in nature and serve to consolidate the material and prepare students for the examination.
Grading scale:
60-67%: 3.0
68-75%: 3.5
76-83%: 4.0
84-91%: 4.5
92-100%: 5.0
Maximum number of unexcused absences: 1 meeting. Due to the limited number of teaching hours, each additional absence requires completion of an extra assignment indicated by the instructor and covering the material from the missed class. Absence from more than 30% of the classes may make it impossible to pass the course in the regular mode if the instructor cannot verify the achievement of the learning outcomes.
Practical placement
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Bibliography
Required reading
Castilho, Ataliba T. de. 2010. Nova gramática do português brasileiro. São Paulo: Contexto.
Mendonça, Marcos. 2019. Utilização da fonética em sala de aula de língua estrangeira. Vila Brasil Língua e Cultura. O material é adequado ao perfil da disciplina porque articula noções de fonética articulatória, articuladores, AFI, consoantes, vogais, pares mínimos e comparação entre línguas com a prática docente.
Seara, Izabel Christine; Nunes, Vanessa Gonzaga; Lazzarotto-Volcão, Cristiane. 2011. Fonética e fonologia do português brasileiro. Florianópolis: LLV/CCE/UFSC. Material elaborado para o curso de Licenciatura em Letras-Português na modalidade a distância, com unidades sobre fonética, fonologia, transcrição, estrutura silábica e acento.
Silva, Thaïs Cristófaro. 2003. Fonética e fonologia do português: roteiro de estudos e guia de exercícios. São Paulo: Contexto.
Additional reading
Callou, Dinah; Leite, Yonne. 2001. Iniciação à fonética e à fonologia. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar.
Silveira, Rosane; Rossi, Albertina. 2006. “Ensino da pronúncia de português como segunda língua: considerações sobre materiais didáticos”. Revista Virtual de Estudos da Linguagem, ReVEL, 4(7). O artigo discute tópicos relevantes para o ensino da pronúncia de português como segunda língua e a presença de conteúdos fonético-fonológicos em materiais didáticos.
Castelo, Adelina. 2021. Exercícios práticos de fonética de português para estudantes chineses. Universidade Aberta.
UCLA Department of Linguistics. Interactive IPA Chart. Recurso digital para consulta e audição de sons do Alfabeto Fonético Internacional, recomendado como apoio para transcrição e treino perceptivo.
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After completing the course, the student: Skills Social competences |
Notes
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Term 2026Z:
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