O desenvolvimentodo sistema de determinante de referência definida no português de Monte Café (São Tomé)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates variation in the use of [+ definite] [+ specific] reference determiners in subject and direct object determiner phrases (SD), in the Portuguese of the Tonga community of Monte Café, in São Tomé (Africa). This community shares a number of characteristics with Afro-Brazilian Portuguese (LUCCHESI, BAXTER, RIBEIRO, 2009; NEVES, 2014, 2019), both sociolinguistic and historical: Portuguese colonization, large estates, exploitation of continental African populations and situations of linguistic contact and bilingualism. The dissertation studies the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that condition the variation in the use of definite reference determiners, which displays three variants: (i) the realization of the defined article, as in “A minha geração, são poucos que falam a língua dos pais”; (ii) the non-deictic demonstrative, as in “Os patrões é que falavam isso, que criô essa separação de nossos avós”; and, (iii) the null determiner (Ø), as in “Guera veio assi memo, nossos preto é que ranjô isso”. Focusing on the use of the null determiner (Det Ø), the most frequent variant, the research was developed within the theoretical-methodological framework of Variationist Sociolinguistics (LABOV, 2008; GUY; ZILLES, 2007). Data extracted from a corpus of 18 sociolinguistic interviews stratified in three age groups, 1 (from 20 to 40 years old), 2 (from 41 to 60 years old), and 3 (≥ 61 years old) were processed by the GOLDVARB-X ( SANKOFF; TAGLIAMONTE; SMITH, 2005) statistical program. The analysis assessed the influence of ten independent variables, identifying four linguistic variables (number in the SD, presence of another constituent in the SD, animacy of the noun, and familiarity of the reference) and two social variables (age and gender) as statistically significant. The close relationship between the singular SD and the use of Det Ø was confirmed, as well as the favorable effect of the presence of other constituents in the SD. The familiarity of reference vaiable revealed the role of pragmatics in the use of Det Ø, while the animacy of the noun confirmed the relationship proposed by Lyons (1999) between the features [+ defined] and [+ animated] and the null determiner. The results highlight the importance of the interface between the grammatical and pragmatic levels, in order to derive correct interpretations of the [+ specific] [+ definite] reading in this variety of Portuguese. Where extralinguistic variables are concerned, the age groups reveal an acquisitional profile, with more conservative use by the speakers of age-levels 2 and 3 (both favoring Det Ø), and a more innovative use among the speakers of age-level 1 (who favor the phonetically realized determiner). On the other hand, the gender variable displays a more conservative behavior in the speech of the women (who use Det Ø more) in relation to that of men.