Aspectos prosódicos e sintáticos dos pronomes clíticos em português do Brasil e no vernáculo florentino

Abstract

This study investigates pronominal forms in BP and in vernacular Florentine. Our analysis adopts an innovative methodology by using spontaneous speech corpora: for BP, the C-ORAL-BRASIL, and for Florentine, the Corpus Stammerjohann and the Corpus per il Confronto Diacronico. Our study aims to: (I) in BP, quantify and analyze the distribution of pronominal forms cê(s)/ocê(s)/você(s); (II) in vernacular Florentine, investigate the usage of 3rd person singular clitic pronouns gl'/e/la/l' when used together with the verbs essere (to be), fare (to do), andare (to go) and venire (to came) and compare diachronically the results of the two analyzed corpora, recorded thirty to forty years apart. This researchs innovative element lies in the methodology we adopted: instead of inferring the clitic or tonic value of the studied forms by using morphosyntactic analysis, their tonicity or atonicity was determined based on prosodic data. Pronouns duration was acoustically analyzed and, based on their suprasegmental form, it was possible to establish their function. Our study aimed to observe different processes in two languages: in Florentine, clitic forms are fully grammaticalized, so its possible to establish their function based on their segmental form. In BP, grammaticalization process is not complete yet: the same form can be tonic or atonic and can occupy different functions and positions. Comparison between the two languages, therefore, allows us to observe the behavior of well-established forms those in Florentine and the different distributions of the cê(s)/ocê(s)/você(s) forms in BP. Acoustical analysis is, therefore, crucial to a better understanding of the changes that are affecting 2nd person pronouns in BP. In Florentine, diachronic analysis allows us to verify the reduction in usage of subject clitic forms through a thirty to forty years arc that is mentioned in literature but that had not been previously proved by quantitative research. Results indicate: (I) in BP, the confirmation of our hypothesis that suprasegmental form presents different durations and, therefore, different functions for the same forms; (II) in Florentine, a significant reduction of the clitic subject, preceding the investigated period.