Regional identity of Cabo Verde-MG and Muzambinho-MG: patterns of linguistic variation and social meanings

• Grant number: 22/05191-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2022
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Sociolinguistics and Dialectology
• Principal Investigator: Rosane de Andrade Berlinck
• Grantee: Leticia Gaspar Pinto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Based on the Theory of Linguistic Variation and Change, this work will characterize the ways of speaking in two cities known for their rural characteristics, Cabo Verde-MG and Muzambinho-MG, in order to identify which are the regional identity values of these communities, and how they are constructed, expressed, and sustained through language. For this, four sociolinguistic variables will be analyzed, two of which are considered gradual traits (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2004): 1st person plural verb agreement, and 3rd person plural verb agreement; and the other two considered discontinuous traits (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2004): the rhotacism and the deletion of the sibilant in coda in lexemes. Such variables will be investigated through sociolinguistic interviews that will be carried out with 48 informants with different age groups, 24 from each municipality, divided between men and women and with different levels of education. These interviews will be transcribed, and the data collected and statistically analyzed with the help of the R program (CORE TEAM, 2021). Allied to this, the study will investigate the social meaning of the linguistic variables under analysis and, above all, how these meanings are correlated with the construction of regional identity traits of the two speech communities. To analyze these aspects, applications of attitude and perception tests will be carried out - based on the proposal of Campbell-Kibler (2006, 2009). At first, open interviews will be carried out with the informants who participated in the sociolinguistic interviews and, in a second moment, an online perception experiment will be applied in order to observe the covert reactions of individuals regarding the use of forms in variation.