Ortografia arcaica: letras geminadas e oscilação de grafias em textos dos séculos XIII ao XVI.

Abstract

This research, accomplished under a diachronic perspective, investigates the spelling of words in Portuguese, in texts written between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. These texts were collected in some books that study the Portuguese Language history. Specifically, we identified and described the twinned letters (consonants and vowels) and the spelling oscillation. To support the analysis, we take as basis Coutinho (2006), Hauy (1989), Ilari and Basso (2011), Mattos e Silva (1994), Melo (1957), Silva Neto (1977), Silveira Bueno (1967), Spina (2008), Williams (2001), Tarallo (1990) and Araujo (2005), which treat both the periodization of the Portuguese Language, and the metaplasms, that we use to do some analysis and description. We found that some twinned consonants and vowels are more recurring at certain times and texts, as well as some classes of words. Regarding to the word oscillation, we notice that it appears in different contexts, being perceived in the same text and / or texts and different times. We concluded that the archaic spelling did not have a pattern, but in all cases there is a relevant justification: pronunciation guides the words’ spelling, in other words it is, in fact, an attempt of phonetic spelling.