Full text
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| Author(s): |
Lívia Oushiro
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2011-02-07 |
| Examining board members: |
Ronald Beline Mendes;
Sebastião Carlos Leite Gonçalves;
James Walker
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| Advisor: | Ronald Beline Mendes |
| Abstract | |
The investigation of syntactic and morphosyntactic variables within the framework of Variationist ociolinguistics has received, in general, less attention than the study of phonological variables. This study analyses variation amaong four different structures of Wh-interrogatives in the speech and writing of native paulistanos: (i) \'simple\'wh-interrogatives (as in Onde você mora? \'Where you live?\'); (ii) wh-que interrogatives ( as in Onde você mora? \'Where-that you live?\'); (iii) cleft wh-interrogatives (as in Onde é que você mora? \'Where is-it that you live?\'); and (iv) wh-in-situ (as in Você mora onde? \'You live where?\'). Semantic equivalence among the four structures is established through the concept of speaker\'s pressupposition (Stalnaker, 2002). Further, this study proposes the concept of communicative competence (Hymes, 1991 [1979]) as a criterium for determining the envelope of variation: different structures are considered variants if they are factually possible, feasible, appropriate, and performed in the same contexts. The qualitative analysis based on these concepts defines two different envelopes of variation - hence, two variables: one which involves the alternation in the position of the wh-word (in situ vs. moved), and another which comises the three structures with a moved wh-word (\'simple\', wh-que and cleft -wh). Results of the quantitative analyses show that wh-in-situ is mostly favored by morphosyntactic and discourse-pragmatic factors, and that non-linguistic factor groups such as gender and age are also indirectly correlated with the variantion through the use of different discourse strategies. The use of wh-que, on the other hand, is probably undergoing change, as apparent time analyses show a avoring effect by younger speakers. Variation in this case is mostly influenced by syntactic and prosodic factors. In addition to proposing criteria to the study of morphosyntactic variables, this dissertation discusses the results of the quantitative analyses in relation to other levels of linguistic variation, aiming at their integration into a larger framework of Variotion Theory. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 09/03190-0 - A variable analysis for wh-questions |
| Grantee: | Livia Oushiro |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |