Descrições e interpretações fonéticas e fonológicas do segmento vocálico nasal em português tem se filiado, na lingüística brasileira e mesmo na portuguesa, ao estruturalismo de Mattoso Câmara Jr., para quem o caráter nasal da vogal se deve ao segmento consonântico nasal que a segue e o que o autor chama de arquifonema nasal. O fenômeno consonântico em questão, que doravante chamaremos de murmúrio da vogal nasal ou apenas murmúrio nasal 1 , não é apenas um gesto remanescente do qual a vogal assimila a nasalidade. O murmúrio nasal, muitas vezes, é facilmente visualizado no espectrograma. Um estudo fonético acústico como o de Sousa (1994) pode mostrar isso, tanto com medidas de freqüência, como de duração. Por outro lado, temos evidências, a partir dos dados do presente trabalho, de que o murmúrio nasal encontrado quando a vogal nasal antecede uma consoante oclusiva, não é detectado antes de consoante fricativa. Assim, para que as reflexões frutifiquem é preciso aclarar alguns pontos de partida no estudo das vogais nasais do português brasileiro (doravante PB). De um lado, temos a possível interpretação (como o fez Cagliari, 1977) de que a vogal teria assimilado totalmente a consoante nasal, tornando-se nasalizada, representando-se no nível fonético como apenas um segmento. De outro lado,

A 55‐year‐old white farmer from north‐east Brazil presented with a 1‐month history of headache and a solitary nodular lesion on his face. He was a smoker and had reported contact with pigeons. He did not complain of any other systemic symptom such as cough or pain. Physical examination of the skin lesion revealed a nodule measuring approximately 3 cm in diameter with central ulceration and overlying crust ( ). The lesion clinically resembled a keratoacanthoma. 1 Nodular, single, keratoacanthoma‐like lesion with a necrotic crust on the face Routine admission blood investigations, including a full blood count, liver function tests, and renal electrolytes, were normal. Serology for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (enzyme‐linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot) was negative. Intradermal cutaneous tests for Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, E. coli, candida, and trichophytin were negative, whilst tuberculin reaction showed a weakened reactor. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination and tissue culture of the skin lesion demonstrated Cryptococcus neoformans. Chest X‐ray revealed hilar and perihilar tumor localized to the anterior mediastinum. Cytology of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from lumbar puncture revealed 90% monocytes and 10% polymorphs. Glucose (11 mg%) and protein (405 mg%) levels of the CSF were elevated, whilst flow cytometry of the CSF gave 125 cells/mm3. KOH examination and culture of the CSF were negative. Histologic examination of the cutaneous nodule demonstrated a dermal lymphohistiocytic infiltrate with a granulomatous reaction. On hematoxylin and eosin stained sections, microorganisms were seen, characterized by spores surrounded by a pale capsule. Alcian blue/periodic acid‐Schiff (PAS) staining further highlighted fungal structures. The microscopic findings seen were characteristic of Cryptococcus neoformans (). Cryptococcus neoformans was grown in tissue culture confirming the diagnosis of cutaneous cryptococcosis. After thoracotomy, biopsy of the chest tumor demonstrated a few fungus cells in a dense fibromatous tissue ( ) consistent with the diagnosis of a cryptococcoma. Surgical removal of this tumor was deemed inappropriate due to the proximity of the heart and major vessels. 2 Histology of the nodule showing epidermal hyperplasia and numerous fungal cells in the absence of an inflammatory response (Alcian blue/PAS staining, ×63) 3 Higher magnification showing details of the Cryptococcus neoformans. The radiate or spiny appearance is given by the shrinkage during processing of the tissue (Alcian blue/PAS staining, ×400) 4 Higher magnification of the pulmonary lesion with Cryptococcus neoformans (PAS staining, ×1000) After 1 month of therapy with fluconazole intravenously (400 mg/day), we observed total resolution of the lesion on the face. Repeated lumbar puncture revealed normalization of the CSF protein, whilst skin biopsy from the previously affected site became negative on KOH examination and culture. We continued treating our patient with oral flucon...

In this paper we study how spoken and sung versions of the same text differ in terms of the variability in duration and pitch. These two modalities are usually studied separately and few works can be found in the literature that report results about the comparison of their acoustic properties. In this work, recordings of both speech and singing of Brazilian Portuguese popular songs were conducted. Then, the variability was measured by statistical analysis of the fundamental frequency and speech rate, specifically the mean and variance. In a first study this was done at the syllable and sentence levels and latter at the phone level for further analysis. In general, results show that speech and singing variability cannot be differentiated in terms of the variance. We expected different results because singing is more constrained than speech both in terms of pitch (small variation within the note) and duration (metrical constraint). It seems that the results of higher pitch stability for singing reported in the literature cannot be generalised, particularly for the popular genre in which there is a prosodic proximity between singing and speech. These interesting findings also motivate to analyse other aspects of dynamic pitch and duration to better understand the prosodic differences between the two modalities.

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