Control of the semantic features of “nós” and “a gente” in variationist studies

The first person plural has different possible semantic interpretations expressing broader and narrower referents. Sociolinguistic research indicates that the semantic value assigned to the referential contexts expressed by the first person plural is significant for the variation of the Brazilian Po...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mendonça, Josilene de Jesus
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Repositorio:Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br:article/8660585
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/cel/article/view/8660585
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:1st person plural
Semantic features
Meta-analysis
1ª persona del plural
Trazas semánticas
Meta-análisis
1ª pessoa do plural
Traços semânticos
Meta-análise
Descripción
Sumario:The first person plural has different possible semantic interpretations expressing broader and narrower referents. Sociolinguistic research indicates that the semantic value assigned to the referential contexts expressed by the first person plural is significant for the variation of the Brazilian Portuguese forms nós and a gente. In order to present generalizations about the use of a gente according to the semantic features of the referent, we performed a meta-analysis of seventeen variationist studies which analyzed the semantic interpretation of these forms of the first person plural. A chi-squared test was conducted for each study independently. Overall, the results of the univariate analysis revealed an association between the choice of variant (nós or a gente) and the semantic features of the referent. Next, in order to be able to generate some generalizations about the probability of a gente being used with a specific semantic feature, a generalized logistic regression was performed for each study. The results indicate that specific/determine referential contexts were more likely to be expressed by a gente, which indicates a loss of specific/generic semantic distinction between the variants nós and a gente.