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Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese
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Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 19502

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Patrícia Amaral

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-1105, USA
Interests: semantics; pragmatics; historical linguistics; Romance linguistics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I invite the submission of proposals for contributions to this Special Issue entitled, “Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese”. The goal of this Special Issue is to showcase the current research on variation and change in Portuguese, focusing on morpho-syntactic, semantic or pragmatic phenomena. It will examine different ways in which the analysis of Portuguese contributes to current theories of language variation and language change. Work focusing on variation in time and space, as well as work involving social and situational factors, on any varieties of Portuguese is welcome.

In the past decades, several reference works on Portuguese have been published, providing overviews of the language subsystems and including descriptions of grammatical structures that display variation (Wetzels et al. 2016, Martins and Carrilho 2016). Some studies have provided accounts of specific varieties (e.g., Gonçalves 2010, Bouchard 2017), sociolinguistic analyses of Portuguese from a variationist perspective (e.g., Malvar and Poplack 2008; Scherre et al. 2018) or highlighted the role of pragmatic factors constraining the use of variable structures (e.g., Schwenter and Silva 2002, Posio 2021).  However, there are few entire works devoted to variation in this language (a notable exception being Barbosa et al. 2017). In addition, there is a need to build on Portuguese data to examine the connection between language variation and change, or to reflect upon the implications of such data to adjudicate between competing theories of morpho-syntactic and semantic change. This Special Issue aims to fill this gap. Papers in this issue may, e.g.: (i) explore an instance of morpho-syntactic variation in a variety of Portuguese, (ii) compare two or more geographic varieties with respect to a certain phenomenon, (iii) examine a change in progress, or (iv) analyze the diachronic development of a feature over time, in one or more varieties. For this Special Issue, research on the contact between Portuguese and other languages will not be considered. Papers from different theoretical frameworks and various methodologies are welcome, as long as the theoretical question is clearly formulated and the methodological choices are consistently aligned with the goals of the paper.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor ([email protected]) or to the Languages Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purpose of ensuring a proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Tentative completion schedule:

  • Abstract submission deadline: 15 April 2023
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 May 2023
  • Full manuscript deadline: 15 October 2023

References:

Barbosa, Pilar, Maria da Conceição de Paiva & Celeste Rodrigues. (Eds.) 2017. Studies on Variation in Portuguese. IHLL, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Bouchard, Marie-Eve. 2017. Linguistic variation and change in the Portuguese of São Tomé. Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University.

Carrilho, Ernestina, & Ana Maria Martins. (Eds.) 2016. Manual de linguística portuguesa. Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Gonçalves, Perpétua. 2010. A génese do Português de Moçambique. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda.

Malvar, Elisabete & Shana Poplack. 2008. O presente e o passado do futuro no Português do Brasil. In Votre, Sebastião and Cláudia Roncarati (Eds.), Anthony Julius Naro e a Lingüística no Brasil: Uma homenagem académica. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Press, 186-206.

Posio, Pekka. 2021. A pessoa and uma pessoa: Grammaticalization and functions of a human impersonal referential device in European Portuguese. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics 20(1), 2. doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/jpl.254.

Scherre, Maria Marta, Lilian Yacovenco & Anthony Julius Naro. 2018. Nós e a gente no português brasileiro: concordâncias e discordâncias. Estudos de linguística galega Volume especial I: 13-27. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15304/elg.ve1.3585.

Schwenter, Scott A. and Gláucia Silva. 2002. Overt vs. Null Direct Objects in Spoken Brazilian Portuguese: A Semantic/Pragmatic Account. Hispania 85(3): 577-586.

Wetzels, W. Leo, Sergio Menuzzi & João Costa (Eds.) 2016. The handbook of Portuguese linguistics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Dr. Patrícia Amaral
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Portuguese
  • language variation
  • language change
  • morphology
  • syntax
  • semantics
  • pragmatics
 

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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7 pages, 313 KiB  
Editorial
Introduction to the Special Issue: Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese
by Patrícia Amaral
Languages 2024, 9(9), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9090288 - 25 Aug 2024
Viewed by 537
Abstract
This Issue focuses on morphosyntactic variation and change in Portuguese [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

19 pages, 1406 KiB  
Article
Word Order in Colonial Brazilian Portuguese: Initial Findings
by Aroldo Leal de Andrade and Lara da Silva Cardoso
Languages 2024, 9(8), 269; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080269 - 1 Aug 2024
Viewed by 942
Abstract
Some recent studies have posed the hypothesis according to which the grammatical stage that precedes the cultured trend of Brazilian Portuguese is Colonial Brazilian Portuguese, not Classical Portuguese. Therefore, there are still few works systematically comparing these two varieties. This is the goal [...] Read more.
Some recent studies have posed the hypothesis according to which the grammatical stage that precedes the cultured trend of Brazilian Portuguese is Colonial Brazilian Portuguese, not Classical Portuguese. Therefore, there are still few works systematically comparing these two varieties. This is the goal of the present paper, which focuses on word order. By undertaking a corpus-based study using the same textual genre from the contemporary authors Eusébio de Matos and António Vieira, we have looked for all word order patterns while paying special attention to the X*VS order (with one or more constituents preceding the verb and a postverbal subject), given that it is quite typical of Classical Portuguese as a V2-like grammar, unlike the modern Portuguese grammars. We have observed that, although the colonial text follows the general trends of the classical language, it starts to depart from a V2-like grammar because it shows a higher frequency of non-V2 orders and a preference for informationally marked constructions involving internal positions to the clause. From a parameter hierarchy viewpoint, the main conclusion is that such differences represent frequency divergences which are consistent with nano- or microparametric changes which took place later. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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15 pages, 1526 KiB  
Article
Reanalyzing Variable Agreement with tu Using an Online Megacorpus of Brazilian Portuguese
by Scott A. Schwenter, Lauren Miranda, Ileana Pérez and Victoria Cataloni
Languages 2024, 9(6), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060197 - 28 May 2024
Viewed by 1790
Abstract
We reanalyze the phenomenon of verbal (non)agreement with the 2SG tu in a megacorpus of Brazilian Portuguese compiled from the web. Unlike previous research, which has analyzed sociolinguistic interview data and regional differences, we examine these data with a focus on the internal [...] Read more.
We reanalyze the phenomenon of verbal (non)agreement with the 2SG tu in a megacorpus of Brazilian Portuguese compiled from the web. Unlike previous research, which has analyzed sociolinguistic interview data and regional differences, we examine these data with a focus on the internal linguistic factors that constrain the variability. Our analysis of 4860 tokens of tu + verb reveals that non-agreement with the 3SG verb form is by far the most common pattern, 2SG agreement being relatively infrequent. Individual verb lexemes show highly distinct rates of (non)agreement. In addition, the specific tense/aspect/mood forms and main/auxiliary status are likewise significant factors affecting the variation. We conclude that future studies of this phenomenon should not ignore these internal linguistic factors. We situate our study within a group of other recent studies in Romance linguistics, which have found that individual verbal and constructional patterns can have diverse effects on morphosyntactic variation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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20 pages, 1297 KiB  
Article
A Diachronic Overview of the Prepositional Accusative in Portuguese
by Ana Regina Calindro
Languages 2024, 9(6), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060194 - 24 May 2024
Viewed by 747
Abstract
One of the several differences between Modern European Portuguese (EP) and Modern Brazilian Portuguese (BP) is the prepositional expression of complements licensed by the preposition a. While in EP the preposition a occurs in several contexts, this element has been substituted by [...] Read more.
One of the several differences between Modern European Portuguese (EP) and Modern Brazilian Portuguese (BP) is the prepositional expression of complements licensed by the preposition a. While in EP the preposition a occurs in several contexts, this element has been substituted by other strategies in BP, as is extensively discussed in the literature. The aim of this paper is to investigate the historical behavior of a-marked prepositional accusatives (PP-ACC) in Portuguese. In order to do so, a search was conducted for PP-ACCs in the Historical Portuguese Corpus Tycho Brahe. The results showed an increase of PP-ACCs in the 17th century, followed by a decrease in the 18th century. Thereafter, unmarked accusatives (NP-ACC) were analyzed in the corpus, which resulted in 7756 sentences, contrasting with 624 PP-ACCs in the same contexts. This result shows that the a-marked accusative is far less common than bare accusatives in Historical Portuguese. Psych verbs, however, behaved differently, showing a constant increase in PP-ACCs. In EP, the preposition a still introduces Experiencer arguments in structures with some psych verbs (O vinho agradou ao João—lit. ‘The wine pleased ‘to’ John’). In BP, the preposition a has disappeared in psych predicates (O vinho agradou Ø o João—‘The wine pleased John’). In both Modern EP and BP, most PP-ACCs have become typical unmarked direct objects. In the context of psych verbs, however, structural accusative assignment has shifted to structural dative Case in Modern EP, so as to ascertain the interpretation of the Experiencer in the internal argument via the preposition a. While in Modern BP, the argument is not overtly marked since it receives inherent accusative case in the derivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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21 pages, 504 KiB  
Article
European Portuguese lá: Use-Conditional Meaning and Pragmaticalization
by Lukas Müller
Languages 2024, 9(6), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060189 - 21 May 2024
Viewed by 898
Abstract
This study focusses on non-adverbial uses of lá in European Portuguese, whose exact meaning contribution still remains an open research question. Applying a multidimensional semantics framework, the central claim is that non-adverbial uses of lá represent use-conditional items. Passing the standard tests suggested [...] Read more.
This study focusses on non-adverbial uses of lá in European Portuguese, whose exact meaning contribution still remains an open research question. Applying a multidimensional semantics framework, the central claim is that non-adverbial uses of lá represent use-conditional items. Passing the standard tests suggested in the literature, they thus do not contribute to the truth conditions of an utterance but specify particular use conditions. It is argued that they are felicitously used if a speaker wants to convey illocutionary modification, which pragmatically leads to mitigation or reinforcement effects. Diachronically, substantiated by historical data from the Corpus do Português, use-conditional lá is argued to be a product of a pragmaticalization process that led to so-called pragmatic fission at some point, i.e., to the polysemy of two synchronically available configurations of a truth-conditional and a use-conditional lá. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
22 pages, 1055 KiB  
Article
Fostes tu?: Analogical Change in European Portuguese and the Case of the Second Person Singular in the Simple Past (Indicative)
by Ana Guilherme
Languages 2024, 9(5), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9050176 - 11 May 2024
Viewed by 1070
Abstract
This paper sets out to study the second person–number marking in the (indicative) simple past in the history of European Portuguese, with a particular focus on morphological innovations such as fostes tu, which are considered deviant. These innovations, according to some brief [...] Read more.
This paper sets out to study the second person–number marking in the (indicative) simple past in the history of European Portuguese, with a particular focus on morphological innovations such as fostes tu, which are considered deviant. These innovations, according to some brief descriptions in the literature (cf. Piel 1989; Williams 1994), are considered a case of morphological change by analogy; however, it remains to be determined whether it is a case of analogical extension or, possibly, leveling that would have resulted in syncretism. Based on data retrieved from private letters from the 16th to the 20th century by almost illiterate authors, we will argue that this innovation results from an analogical extension, motivated by morphological and pragmatic factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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19 pages, 1897 KiB  
Article
When a New Pronoun Crosses the Border: The Spread of A Gente on the Brazilian-Uruguayan Frontier
by Cíntia Pacheco, Ana Carvalho and Marta Pereira Scherre
Languages 2024, 9(3), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030098 - 13 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1685
Abstract
This study shows that the incorporation of the first-person plural pronoun a gente has not only reached the southernmost tip of the Brazilian territory, but has crossed the border and entered Uruguayan Portuguese, or varieties of Portuguese spoken in northern Uruguay by Portuguese–Spanish [...] Read more.
This study shows that the incorporation of the first-person plural pronoun a gente has not only reached the southernmost tip of the Brazilian territory, but has crossed the border and entered Uruguayan Portuguese, or varieties of Portuguese spoken in northern Uruguay by Portuguese–Spanish bilinguals. This finding is based on the quantification of the a gente/nós variable in sociolinguistic interviews carried out in two border communities: Aceguá, Brazil, and Aceguá, Uruguay. The analysis of interviews recorded on each side of the border yielded a total of 1000 tokens that were submitted to a multivariate analysis. Following the premises of comparative sociolinguistics, we compared the distribution of the variable on both sides of the border and found that although Uruguayans used a gente less often than Brazilians, this innovation, preferred by young speakers, is incorporated in both dialects, following similar linguistic paths. These results show that Uruguayan Portuguese has incorporated the pronominal a gente in its grammar in a clear sign of convergence towards Brazilian Portuguese and divergence from Spanish, despite the coexistence with Spanish that categorically uses nosotros as the first-person plural pronoun and reserves the cognate la gente for its purely lexical meaning ‘the people’. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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16 pages, 643 KiB  
Article
On the Variability of Portuguese Duration Adverbials with Por and Durante
by Diana Santos
Languages 2024, 9(3), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030094 - 12 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1158
Abstract
The fact that there are (at least) two different translations of the English preposition for used to describe duration in Portuguese, namely durante and por, shows that duration is an interesting area in the tense and aspect panorama of this language, which [...] Read more.
The fact that there are (at least) two different translations of the English preposition for used to describe duration in Portuguese, namely durante and por, shows that duration is an interesting area in the tense and aspect panorama of this language, which deserves close study. In this paper, I present an empirical study based on four different corpora to investigate the matter, looking at the Portuguese varieties from Brazil and Portugal and different text genres (general and specialised newspapers, oral interviews, and fiction). The material spans circa two centuries. This paper identifies some specific uses and preferences of the two adverbials and confirms and challenges other claims in the linguistic literature. It shows that narrative fiction is definitely different from newspaper text due to its need to describe short duration and that planned duration can be expressed using both kinds of adverbials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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24 pages, 2090 KiB  
Article
Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity
by Tjerk Hagemeijer, Rita Gonçalves and Nélia Alexandre
Languages 2024, 9(3), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030083 - 29 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1312
Abstract
This paper investigates the formation of spatial locative relativization in three African varieties of Portuguese. While research on relative constructions in Portuguese has deserved considerable attention in the literature, it tends to focus on the European and Brazilian varieties, with locative relativization being [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the formation of spatial locative relativization in three African varieties of Portuguese. While research on relative constructions in Portuguese has deserved considerable attention in the literature, it tends to focus on the European and Brazilian varieties, with locative relativization being only marginally addressed. Using data extracted from spoken corpora of contemporary, urban varieties of Angolan, Mozambican, and Santomean Portuguese, we aim to discuss whether there is a correlation between syntactic and semantic variables and the selection of the two main locative relative morphemes, onde ‘where’ and que ‘that’. Overall, the three varieties at stake behave similarly with respect to the analyzed syntactic variables and follow the tendency found in Portuguese varieties toward the use of pied-piping and P-chopping as the dominant relativization mechanisms, independent of the syntactic relation between the antecedent and the relative clause. Semantically, we identified some fine-grained differences between the three varieties, with Santomean Portuguese generally being the outlier or one of the outliers. Crucially, definiteness of the head noun stands out as the one variable that plays a major role in the selection of the relative morpheme: [−definite] head nouns show a proportionally higher preference for que in both AP and STP, which is particularly visible with bare nouns in the latter. This motivates the hypothesis that less specified head nouns show a preference for the un(der)specified relative morpheme que. We further show that the role of language contact is at best very limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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17 pages, 1204 KiB  
Article
Text Mining Approaches to Language Use in Social Media: The Case of Portuguese Bué
by Camila Lívio and Chad Howe
Languages 2024, 9(3), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030082 - 29 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1685
Abstract
This study describes processes of language change in Angolan Portuguese focusing on the use of intensifiers. Previous studies have shown that intensifiers are a relevant category for the study of language change due to their rapid change and variable meaning. It has been [...] Read more.
This study describes processes of language change in Angolan Portuguese focusing on the use of intensifiers. Previous studies have shown that intensifiers are a relevant category for the study of language change due to their rapid change and variable meaning. It has been noted that intensifiers are particularly prone to renewal, suggesting speakers’ desire to innovate. Informed by a Digital Humanities approach, we collect and analyze data from Twitter (now X), focusing on the multi-functional intensifier bué, ‘very’, in Angolan Portuguese (AP). In this paper, we (1) provide an overview of the word’s distribution in AP, (2) consider the processes of change involved in bué’s variation, and (3) discuss the role of linguistic borrowing in language change and grammaticalization, shedding light on some of the cultural aspects that play a role in this word’s development, such as the influence of the media and the contact situation between Angolan and European Portuguese. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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19 pages, 2239 KiB  
Article
Regularization and Innovation: A Usage-Based Approach to Past Participle Variation in Brazilian Portuguese
by Kendra V. Dickinson
Languages 2024, 9(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9020052 - 30 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1437
Abstract
This project explores the synchronic variation of participle forms in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Despite general systematicity, the language maintains many historically irregular participles, which often compete with regularized variants. The language has also developed innovative participles, which tend to exist in variation with [...] Read more.
This project explores the synchronic variation of participle forms in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Despite general systematicity, the language maintains many historically irregular participles, which often compete with regularized variants. The language has also developed innovative participles, which tend to exist in variation with regular forms. Adopting a usage-based framework, the study examines how analogical processes affect persistent irregular participles and short-form forms in BP, emphasizing the role of grammatical context and frequency. Data are drawn from the Portuguese Web 2011 corpus, including 12 verbs with long-form Latinate irregulars (n = 4800) and 8 verbs with short-form forms (n = 3200). The results show that long-form Latinate irregulars are more common as adjectives and with the verb estar, while regularized forms are prevalent with ser and in perfect constructions. Conversely, short-form participles occur least frequently in perfect constructions, showing a tendency towards the maintenance of regularity in this context. Additionally, verbs that occur more often in perfect constructions are most resistant to innovation. These findings indicate that perfect constructions play a dual role in promoting and preserving regularity in BP and shed light on how grammar–internal relationships and contexts of occurrence play a role in language variation and change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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17 pages, 422 KiB  
Article
Marching towards Contrast: The Case of ao passo que in Portuguese
by Manuel Delicado Cantero and Patrícia Amaral
Languages 2024, 9(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010006 - 20 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1836
Abstract
This paper explores the diachrony of the Portuguese contrastive connective ao passo que (‘whereas’). First, we describe its syntactic and semantic properties in present-day European Portuguese. With this contemporary analysis in mind, we explore the semantic and syntactic changes from the PP ao [...] Read more.
This paper explores the diachrony of the Portuguese contrastive connective ao passo que (‘whereas’). First, we describe its syntactic and semantic properties in present-day European Portuguese. With this contemporary analysis in mind, we explore the semantic and syntactic changes from the PP ao passo que (lit. ‘at the step/pace that’) into first a temporal connective of simultaneity (‘at the same time as’) and, ultimately, a contrastive expression. The evolution of expressions with temporal meanings into contrastive ones has been documented in many languages. In our paper, we show that another related meaning, that of the gradual development of events that are temporally simultaneous, may also evolve into a contrastive meaning. We also examine the role of the syntax and semantics of the noun passo in this process. Furthermore, we discuss the internal analyzability of the connective and provide evidence for the retention of some internal syntax, which has implications for current theories on the nature of complex categories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
29 pages, 1363 KiB  
Article
On the Emergence of Portuguese FCI qualquer: A Diachronic Perspective
by Clara Pinto
Languages 2023, 8(4), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040290 - 18 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1542
Abstract
Romance free choice items (FCIs) are frequently pointed out as resulting from the grammaticalization of the relative determiner qual ‘which’ and an element derived from a volition verb, such as querer ‘want’. Contrary to other Romance FCIs, Portuguese qualquer ‘any’ remains understudied, therefore [...] Read more.
Romance free choice items (FCIs) are frequently pointed out as resulting from the grammaticalization of the relative determiner qual ‘which’ and an element derived from a volition verb, such as querer ‘want’. Contrary to other Romance FCIs, Portuguese qualquer ‘any’ remains understudied, therefore motivating the current research. In this article, I investigate the syntax and semantics of qualquer, from a diachronic perspective, based on examples extracted from 13th and 14th century texts. Analysis of contexts of occurrence of qualquer showed that, in Old Portuguese, the elements qual and quer could combine in different configurations, corresponding to different structures. On the one hand, the relative determiner qual could combine with a form of the volition verb in ever free relative clauses. On the other hand, qual and quer were also combined in appositive relative clauses, which seem to be at the core of postnominal qualquer. However, similar to what is argued for Old Spanish, qualquer was also a quantifier-like element, occurring in prenominal position and giving rise to universal interpretations. The different origins of prenominal and postnominal qualquer may help explain the different readings in contemporary data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese)
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