The phonological status of the velar fricative at fa d’ ambo

Abstract

In this study we discuss the phonological status of /x/ in the Fa d’ambô (FA), a Portuguese-based Creole language spoken on Ano Bom island. Based on the analysis of 270 lexical items (SEGORBE, 2007) and of 108 sets of cognates which contrast the Fa d’ambô with the Proto-Creole of Gulf of Guinea (PGG) (BANDEIRA, 2017), we observed that /x/ could be inserted in the Fa d’ambô as a result of a spirantization process, characterized by the lenition of *kPGG into xFA. There are evidences that indicate /x/ and /k/ as distinctives phonemes in this language. Considering the phonotatic distribution of /k/ and /x/, we noticed the occurence of a neutralization process in Fa d’ambô, in which /k/ is produced as [x] when the oclusive consonant is preceded by the low vowel [a] in prestressed syllables as in [pisxaˈdo] ~ [piskaˈdo] ‘fisherman’. Otherwise, [k] remains as an oclusive in stressed syllables, as in [pisˈka] ‘to fish’. The neutralization of /k/ into [x] corresponds to a synchronous processo of Fa d’ambô, being characterized by the feature [dorsal] maintenance and by the association of the [continuant] feature to the oclusive (CLEMENTS, 1996). This is the feature responsible for the diachronic speciation of *k into /x/ and for the annulment of the synchronous distintion between /k/ and /x/.