A representação do sujeito pronominal na fala de Natal: um estudo de mudança em tempo aparente

Abstract

This study adopts the theoretical-methodological assumptions of the theory of language variation and change (cf. Weinreich, Labov; Herzog, 2006 [1968]; Labov, 2008 [1972]) - from which we have that every change implies a period of variation liable to be systematized. Based on linguistic studies about the Brazilian Portuguese (PB) pronominal system, (cf. Tarallo, 1978; Tarallo; Kato, 1989; Duarte, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2012, among others). In view of this theoretical perspective, this dissertation has as its theme the variable phenomenon of the representation of the pronominal subject, aiming to investigate the representation of the pronominal subject in Natal/ RN speech.The corpus preliminarily consists of 8 interviews applied to socially stratified informants, with 30-minutes long samples, from the project FALA-Natal, taking into account 4 different age and the genre groups of informants in order to search for evidence of change in apparent-time (LABOV, 1994). We defend the hypothesis that the representation of the pronominal subject in the speech of Natal is undergoing changes as to the filling of the pronominal subject, identifying the passage from a null-subject language into a non-null-subject one. Various linguistic studies corroborate this hypothesis, considering speech and writing of different regions of Brazil in different periods (DUARTE, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2012; DUARTE, PAIVA, 2003; OLIVEIRA, 1989). By means of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the collected, the results most the change that is passing the pronominal system in the Natal speech: the preference of the filling of the express subject by informants of the younger age group.