Revista de Estudos da Linguagem

5-30

Authors: Seung-Hwa Lee

This paper discusses the primary stress rules of Brazilian Portuguese (BP). I argue that i) the primary stress rules are category sensitive –there are two distinct rules in BP: one for non-verb forms which applies at the derivational level (level) and the other for verb forms which applies at the inflectional level (level); ii) the primary stress rules are quantity-insensitive; iii) the extrametricality is determined by morphology and is subject to Peripherality Condition.

59-80

Authors: Celso Novaes

This work presents a study of the mental representation of the null subject in Brazilian Portuguese. The analysis of the data is based on the theoretical framework established by Speas (1995). Based on the data collected from five radio and TV interviews, I propose that the null subject in Brazilian Portuguese be represented in two different ways. In the first person, the null subject has a pronominal nature, which places the Brazilian Portuguese together with languages such as Italian and Spanish. In the other persons, the null subject presents a variable nature, which places the Brazilian Portuguese among languages like Chinese and Japanese.

97-149

Authors: Maria Carlota Rosa

In this paper I explore the reflection of the religious context in the concept of universal grammar as it is presented in four missionary grammars written by Jesuit priests in Brazil: Anchieta (1595), Figueira (1621?), Dias (1697) e Mamiani (1699). In the last few decades linguists have seen the return of the expression universal grammar to the literature, as a consequence of the influence of Noam Chomsky’s work. The hypothesis of a common core for all languages has its roots in a tradition which goes back to the Middle Ages. In the Christian West it was thought that the endowment given by God to Adam was uncovered by the confusion of tongues, as a punishment for the Tower of Babel. Therefore the concept of universality in those grammars has its grounds in a very different framework from the chomskyan UG.

189-212

Authors: Eliane Mourão

Analysis of the presence of an empty category and a lexical pronoun in the subject position of tensed clauses in Portuguese. Identification of general structural factors which determine a restriction pattern for the occurence of these categories; and identification of structural factors which are specific to particular types of sentences and which determine change in the pattern.

5-22

Authors: Evelyne Dogliani Madureira

This article presents evidence for the Lexical Diffusion model in the vocalization of [lh] in the speech of informants from Belo Horizonte. A set of words in which the vocalization seems to be introduced in the middle-class group is restricted to informal speech styles. Moreover, as far as semantics, is concerned the actuation of Lexical Diffusion is focused regardless of variation, this being seen as an ulterior hypothetical step in the process. This enables us to distinguish social groups internal and external changes in terms of the implementation of lexical diffusion.

65-86

Authors: Sílvia Helena Sarbi Cardoso

The aim of this paper is to show how concerned Benveniste was with the theme of ‘reference’ or the relationship between language and reality. The reintroduction of this theme into Linguistics breaks new ground by showing how the study of language can be combined with an interest in broader problems of social analysis. Benveniste provides a concise and critical review of the problem of ‘meaning’ in Linguistics. In spite of being accused of a lack of historical postulates, Benveniste’s contributions are of paramount mportance for discourse analysis, especially in the French tradition.

103-125

Authors: Jânia Ramos

This paper presents scores of attitude tests applied in five Brazilian cities: Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis, João Pessoa and Porto Alegre. The results made possible the identification of a narrow relationship between self-confidence and cultural identity: the more people in a city are aware of the difference between their dialect and the dialect used by the media the proudes they are of their accent. It is exactly this accent which received the highest scores of acceptability by the speakers of other accents.

159-192

Authors: Carlos Alexandre Gonçalves

In this article, I examine the variable rule of semivowel ([y] and [w]) suppression in decreasing diphthongs of Brazilian Portuguese. More precisely, my purpose is to discuss the practicability of application of the variationist research into these diphthongs to Portuguese teaching, particularly literary acquisition. For this, I utilize the proposal of Mollica (1993, 1995 and in press), who establishes pedagogical strategies for the use of quantitative research in the production of didactic material.