The representation of the pronominal subject in the speech of Natal
Pronominal Subject; Theory of Language Variation and Change; Principles and Parameters Theory; Sociolinguistics.
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), as it also resorts to the Generative Theory, by using the Principles and Parameters Theory (CHOMSKY, 1981, 1995). In view of this theoretical perspective, this dissertation has as main subject the variable phenomenon that evolves the representation of the pronominal subject of determined reference within the speech of Natal-RN. We aim to investigate the representation of the pronominal subject in the abovementioned speech. The corpus preliminarily consists of eight interviews applied to socially stratified informants, with 30-minutes long samples, from the project FALA-Natal, taking into account four different age groups of informants in order to search for evidence of change in apparent-time (LABOV, 2014). We defend the hypothesis that the representation of the pronominal subject in the speech of Natal is undergoing changes in order to be more productive the filling of pronominal subjects, 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 data of the sample of the project FALA-NATAL, the preliminary results testify the change that the pronominal system of the speech in Natal is going through, in the sense of being more productive the filling of pronominal subjects, pointing out, in a general way, the preference of the youngest age group to fill in the subject.