Tu, você, nós e a gente: a sociolinguistic analysis of pronominal variants in the Portuguese spoken in São Luís – MA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31513/linguistica.2026.v22n1a72672Abstract
This study examines patterns of linguistic variation involving the pronominal variants tu, você, nós, and a gente in the Portuguese spoken in São Luís, Maranhão. It investigates how these forms are distributed in discourse and which factors condition speakers’ choices. The research adopts a qualitative approach, based on the researchers’ interpretations, and employs bibliographic review alongside sociolinguistic and comparative analyses of the data. The study is grounded in the theoretical framework of Variationist Sociolinguistics, which enables an analysis of the relationship between linguistic usage, social context, and meaning. The findings demonstrate that, in Maranhão Portuguese, the use of these variants exhibits systematic variation conditioned by regional, linguistic, and pragmatic-discursive factors. Furthermore, the alternations tu/você and nós/a gente in the speech of São Luís, while aligning with broader trends observed in Brazilian Portuguese, display locally specific patterns that contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the pronominal system of Brazilian Portuguese.
Keywords: Variation. Tu and Você. Nós and A gente. Ludovicense speech.
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