The Alternation of Teu/Seu in Brazilian Letters: An Analysis in the Context of Historical Sociolinguistics

Abstract

In this article, we describe the results of a panoramic analysis of the alternation teu/ seu in samples of the written production of two Brazilian writers, between the years 1869 and 1907, originating from two states of the Southeast region of Brazil (RJ and MG). The purpose of this analysis is to correlate the possessives teu/seu (genitive) to
the subject-pronouns (nominative) tu (you) and você (you), in view of the fact that the insertion of você has repercussions in the selection of seu also for the reference to the interlocutor next to the etymological teu/tua (yours). We assume the hypothesis that seu possessive would evidence a neutral potential as one of the consequences
of inserting the insertion of você (you) in the pronominal system of the Brazilian Portuguese. We are guided by the theoretical-methodological criteria of historical sociolinguistics (Hernández-Campoy & Schilling, 2012) not only in relation to the survey and selection of historical sources, but also with regard to the treatment of linguistic data in the Labovian perspective (Labov, 1994). In summary, teu (yours) prevails, assuming higher productivity rates in mixed letters, while seu (yours) presents, in you-subject (tu-sujeito) letters and in letters without 2SG pronoun reference, signs of use for reference to the 2nd person singular in Brazilian Portuguese written from past synchronies (1869-1907).