The variable use of the definite article in the face of anthroponyms: a variationist analysis in popular speech in Fortaleza

Following the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Variationist Sociolinguistics, this study investigates the variation in the use of the definite article before anthroponyms in popular speech in Fortaleza. We used a sample from the Projeto Norma Oral do Português Popular de Fortaleza - CE, wit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Souza, Dayane Bezerra de, Araújo, Aluiza Alves de, Alves, Leticia Freitas
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE)
Repositorio:Revista Linguagem em Foco (Online)
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.revistas.uece.br:article/13655
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.uece.br/index.php/linguagememfoco/article/view/13655
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:artigo definido
antropônimos
Fortaleza-CE
sociolinguística variacionista
definite article
anthroponyms
variationist sociolinguistics
Descripción
Sumario:Following the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Variationist Sociolinguistics, this study investigates the variation in the use of the definite article before anthroponyms in popular speech in Fortaleza. We used a sample from the Projeto Norma Oral do Português Popular de Fortaleza - CE, with 24 informants, of the Dialogue between Informant and Documenter. We analyzed our data using the software GoldVarb X, including the following independent variables:  gender, education level, age, proximity of the enunciator to the person referred by the noun phrase, type of preposition, informational status, gender of the anthroponym, number of words in the noun phrase, type of anthroponym, type of report and title. We found 599 occurrences of the studied case, obtaining the following frequency of use of the article: 67.8% for presence and 32.2% for absence. Among the variables tested, 6 were selected by the computer program: proximity of the enunciator to the person referred by the noun phrases, type of preposition, informational status, gender of the anthroponym, number of words in the noun phrase and type of anthroponym. Thus, the linguistic pattern of the community demonstrates a preference for using the definite article over anthroponyms and a greater influence of linguistic factors on the studied characteristic.