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Lesson Transcript

Braden: Hi, everyone. Braden here, and this is Pronunciation lesson 4 - A past and present Portuguese student.
Thássia: Hi! I'm Thássia. In this lesson, we'll talk about rhythm.
Braden: Don't worry, this isn't a music class. But, the idea of rhythm is very important to Brazilians. It's even in their language.
Thássia: That's right! In Portuguese, our words have rhythm. Just like music, every word has its own natural rhythm.
Braden: For example, teclado, which means "keyboard," has a weak-strong-weak rhythm. Te-cla-do. Thássia: And, changing the rhythm changes the word. "Teclado" isn't a word to us.
Braden: The rhythm of a word is distinguished by one syllable always being stronger than the others.
Thássia: This strong syllable is called the "tonic syllable."
Braden: By default, the tonic syllable is the second-to-last or penultimate syllable.
Thássia: Identifying the tonic syllable is essential to recognizing words and their meaning. Braden, does English have tonic syllable?
Braden: Sure does. A change in rhythm can change the meaning of certain words in English too. Such as "perfect" versus "perfect." Or, "conduct" versus "conduct." In Portuguese, this change in rhythm changes the meaning much more often than in English.
Thássia: Could you give us some other examples?
Braden: Of course. One of my favorites is the word "Brazilian." In English, we can say "BraZilian" or "BraziliAN." But, we can't say "BRAzilian." Exactly. It's weird!
Thássia: The only thing you changed was the tonic syllable.
Braden: Right. For those of you with well-trained ears, you probably heard several other pronunciation changes between the three words. But, those all happened because of the change in the tonic syllable. Now, if you're a native speaker of English, that last one should have sounded very strange.
Thássia: It sounded weird to me, too.
Braden: That's right. That's good! It should. So, the question is how to know where the tonic syllable is. If every word has its own rhythm, then it must change with every word, right?
Thássia: Uh-hmm. Everyone does have its own rhythm. But, there are some very simple rules that can help you determine where the tonic syllable is located in a word.
Braden: Great! Let's go through them.
Thássia: The fundamental rule states that the tonic syllable is always the second to last syllable or penultimate syllable. Like in camisa, which means "shirt." Or in copo, which means "cup." And, estragado, which means "rotten."
Braden: Unless, the word has a written accent, then the stress falls wherever the accent is located.
Thássia: Like in médico, which means "doctor." There's an accent on the first syllable. Médico.
Braden: Exactly! If you said medíco, it would be a verb that means "I give medicine to," someone or something. So, accents always mark the tonic syllable. Next.
Thássia: The other condition is if the last vowel in the word is a U or I, or if the word ends with the letters L, R, or Z. If any of these letters are at the end of the word, then the stress is on the last syllable.
Braden: Could you give us some examples of these?
Thássia: Sure. The word urúbu is spelled U-R-U-B-U. Since there is a U at the end of the word, the last syllable which is also the U becomes its tonic syllable. Urubu.
Braden: Perfect. Urubu is a type of vulture in Brazil by the way. If you were to say urúbu, then Brazilians probably won't understand what you're saying.
Thássia: Another example is the word papel. It has an L at the end of the word. So, the tonic syllable is the last syllable, which is -pel, papel.
Braden: A quick tip is when you see a new word, first look for an accent mark. If there isn't one, look to see if the word ends in I, U, R, L, or Z. If it does, then the tonic syllable is the last syllable.
Thássia: That's a good tip. If it ends in any other letter or doesn't have an accent, it will be stressed on the penultimate syllable.
Braden: In English, this tonic syllable has many names. The most used being "stress" or "meter." But, strong syllables, heavy syllables, or accented syllables are also commonly used. All of these terms describe the same pattern of certain syllables receiving more emphasis. Typically, through making them slightly louder, or longer, or whatever than the other syllables in the word.
Thássia: I would start to use the word "stress."
Braden: The 1970s grammar book I had when I started learning Portuguese also used the word "stress." I quickly stopped using it because that's not the word Brazilians use.
Thássia: That's right. We call it "sílaba tônica," or tonic syllable.
Braden: It took me almost a year of frustration to learn that term. I thought it would be nice to save you all from that.
Thássia: That's very Brazilian of you.
Braden: Why, thank you. So, to recap, variation in the location of the tonic syllable changes the rhythm of the word which in turn creates distinct meanings.
Thássia: For example, the word for "sense of touch" is tatu. Tatu. But, the word tatu, tatú means "armadillo."
Braden: That's right. You can imagine the confusion if you said you had lost your armadillo when you were telling the doctor your hand was numb.
Thássia: And the tonic sailable is always the second to last syllable unless there is an accent mark. If there is, then the tonic syllable will be where the accent mark is located.
Braden: Or when the word ends in I, U, L, R, or Z. Then, the tonic syllable will be on the last syllable instead of the second to last.
Thássia: Good review. Did you know we are almost done with this series?
Braden: We're going through a lot of information really fast. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed, don't worry. I was too when I first started learning this stuff.
Thássia: And, if you have questions or need more explanations, come to PortuguesePod101.com and post it in the comments.
Braden: Keep practicing, and we'll see you in the next lesson.
Thássia: Tchau!

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