Variable phenomena in South Region of Brazil: aspects of sociolinguistic behavior among three capital cities

Abstract

This article discusses statistical results of variable phenomena at three different linguistic levels, in order to verify to what extent there are patterns of sociolinguistic variation shared among speakers in South Region of Brazil (speech samples from Varsul Project). The results show that the linguistic behavior presents significant differences among the capitals of South Region (Curitiba, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre) with regard to: realizations of vibrant post-vocalic; alternation of second person singular pronouns TU/VOCÊ and verbal concordance with TU; and variation in the use of discourse markers OLHA/VÊ. It is emphasized (i) the importance of the search for specificities that characterize subgroups of a wider community, in addition to describe general patterns of linguistic regularity; (ii) the relevance of running statistical tests with samples from each locality to validate general results.