Read the following sentences:
(1) The fire destroyed the park.
(2) Fires lit the sky.
Did you notice that, in (1), the pronunciation of the noun “fire” differs from that given in (2)? Do you know this phonetic phenomenon? This is what we call metaphony and can occur when changing the timbre of the stressed vowel, the stem vowel of a verb or the ending of a word. We will analyze these three possibilities in this text.
1) metaphony of the stressed vowel: some words may show a change in O closed tonic for O open in the formation of the plural:
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
Thistle |
Thistles |
blinker |
blinkers |
Lump |
lumps |
cuttlefish |
cuttlefish |
crow |
crows |
Choir |
choirs |
Body |
bodies |
Raven |
crows |
spoil |
spoils |
wreckage |
wreckage |
I choose |
stumbling blocks |
Effort |
efforts |
Fire |
Fires |
Oven |
ovens |
Forum |
Forums |
ditch |
ditches |
Tax |
Taxes |
Match |
Games |
crumb |
Brains |
cornflakes |
mirrows |
Eye |
Eyes |
Bone |
bones |
Egg |
Eggs |
Pit |
wells |
Pork |
pigs |
Harbor |
ports Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;) |
post |
posts |
People |
peoples |
Reinforcement |
Reinforcements |
I pray |
requests |
brow |
eyebrows |
Brick |
bricks |
crooked |
crooked |
Change |
sections |
Thing |
change |
Note that this change in timbre is related to the presence of the ending forming the plural. It can also occur in the following cases:
a) /ê/ for /é/ in the opposition between male and female and in verbs of the second conjugation:
Example:
this/this
must/should
b) /ê/ to /i/; /ô/ for /u/ in the opposition between adjuncts and absolute masculines:
Example:
that/that
all/all
c) /i/ to /ê/; /u/ to /o/; /i/ to /é/; /u/ to /ó/ in third conjugation verbs:
Example:
lie/minds
feel/feel
childbirth/parts
2) metaphony in the vowel of the stem of a verb: occurs in the change of timbre suffered by the vowel of a rhizotonic verb. Recall that rhizotonic is the verb form whose stressed syllable is located in one of the syllables of the stem.
a) metaphony in the 1st conjugation:
Example:
verb take
I take
you take
He takes
Landlet's go
Landyou go
take
b) metaphony in the 2nd conjugation:
Example:
verb duty
I must
Dandsee
dandsee
we must
you must
dandhe comes
c) metaphony in the 3rd conjugation:
verb measure
mandsteel
manddes
mandin
we measure
manddis
manddem
By Mariana Rigonatto
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RIGONATTO, Mariana. "What is metaphony?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-e-metafonia.htm. Accessed on July 27, 2021.
