Morphological variation in Brazilian imperatives: The importance of ecological factors and the relationship with the written standard

O'Neill, Paul und Ugartemendía, Cecilia (2025): Morphological variation in Brazilian imperatives: The importance of ecological factors and the relationship with the written standard. In: Journal of Portuguese Linguistics [Forthcoming]

Abstract

This study investigates morphological variation in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) imperatives, focusing on the alternation between forms derived from the tu paradigm (t-imper, e.g., faz) and the você paradigm (v-imper, e.g., faça). While previous research has linked this variation to geographic, pragmatic (e.g., immediacy), and grammatical (e.g., negative polarity) factors, we hypothesize a social dimension: t-imper marks solidarity/non-deferential contexts, while v-imper signals deference/social distance. An experiment in Araraquara and Belo Horizonte elicited imperatives from speakers addressing familiar (friend/sibling) and deferential (boss) interlocutors. Results revealed significant variation, with Araraquara speakers favouring v-imper in deferential contexts and negative polarity, supporting our hypothesis partially. However, Belo Horizonte showed no such correlation, suggesting regional divergence or idiosyncratic variation. We argue that the lack of categorical patterns may stem from BP’s complex relationship with its written standard, which differs markedly from spoken varieties, promoting tolerance for variability. The study highlights the role of social ecology in maintaining idiosyncratic variation and challenges assumptions that all linguistic variation is functionally or socially motivated. Ultimately, we advocate for greater recognition of free variation as a legitimate linguistic phenomenon, particularly in contexts where standard language ideologies are contested.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften > Department 2 > Romanische Philologie
• Themengebiete: 400 Sprache > 460 Spanisch, Portugiesisch
• ISSN: 2397-5563
• Sprache: Englisch