Revisiting Duarte (1995): for a Gradient Analysis of Indeterminate Subjects in Brazilian portuguese

Abstract

Recent studies on the representation of pronominal subjects in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) show the preference for overt indeterminate referential subjects. A "side effect" of the change in the Null Subject Parameter in BP is the progressive decline in the use of the standard strategies -structures with verb in the third person plural with a null subject and sentences with the pronominal generic clitic se -and the appearance of alternative strategies -an increasing frequency of sentences with overt nominative pronouns, especially você (you) and a gente (the people =we). Our purpose is to refine data of indeterminate subjects, collected from a sample of the speech of graduates from Rio de Janeiro.Our theoretical framework associates the Theory of Language Variation and Change (WLH, 2006(WLH, [1968)with the Principles and Parameters Theory (CHOMSKY, 1981(CHOMSKY, , 1995, which guides our analysis, from the hypotheses raised to the interpretation of the empirical data . Our results show that the different strategies are not in direct competition: they can be distributed in three diferent groups, according to a set of features they share, with respect to arbitrary and generic reference. At one extreme we find [+3rd person/+plural] category, which excludes the speaker, represented by the dying arbitrary clitic se and the pronoun eles (they), preferably overt. At the other extreme, we have a [+3rd person/+singular] category, which may or may not include the speaker and the addressee, represented by the generic clitic se, the zero strategy (with a 3 rd person singular verb form) and você (you), which is preferably overt. Finally, we have a [+1st person/+plural] category, which does include the speaker, represented by nós (we) and a gente (the people, the folks=we), with considerable advantage with respect to the former. The variation in each category disposed along our scale is not a stable phenomenon: each point has a strong competitor to represent each degree of indeterminate reference as the change progresses.

Sujeito Nulo e Ordem Verbo-Sujeito no português brasileiro: análise diacrônica

“…ufrj.br/ revelam que os índices de sujeitos nulos referenciais, ainda atestados em todos os padrões (exemplos em 4a,b,c,d), são ainda mais baixos do que os encontrados Um outro argumento apresentado por Holmberg, Nayudu e Sheehan (2009), Holmberg (2010), Holmberg e Phimsawat (2017), entre outros, para a inclusão do português brasileiro entre as línguas de sujeito nulo parcial seria e existência de um nulo genérico (exclusivo ou inclusivo). Mais recentemente, Marins, Soares da Silva e Duarte (2017), mostram que o nulo exclusivo está em competição com o "eles" indeterminado, e o nulo inclusivo, em competição com "você" e "tu", com ampla preferência pelas formas nominativas. Para aceitar tal proposta, seria necessário atestar contextos de ocorrência do sujeito nulo que não sejam afetados pela mudança -o que não existe (Kato & Duarte 2014).…”