Faz tu! Faça você! O uso do modo imperativo nos dados do projeto ALiB na região centro-oeste do Brasil.

Abstract

This investigation analyzes the variation in the usage of the imperative mode in the second person singular – indicative form (faz) and subjunctive form (faça) – in the Midwest Region of Brazil based on data from the Projeto Atlas Linguístico do Brasil (ALiB). The purpose of this research is to describe the phenomenon of the verbal imperative and it is based on the theoretical methodological concepts of Variationist Sociolinguistics (WEINREICH; LABOV; HERZOG, 2006 [1968]; LABOV, 2008 [1972]) and dialectology (CARDOSO, 2010; THUN, 2017), mainly with a focus on the methodology of the Project ALiB. The data presented in this work were collected by the interview of 84 people (classified by age and sex) from 21 cities from the countryside of the states of Mato Grosso (103 - Aripuanã, 104 - São Félix do Araguaia, 105 - Diamantino, 106 - Poxoréu, 107 - Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, 109 - Barra do Garças, Cáceres and 111 - Alto Araguaia), Mato Grosso do Sul (112 - Coxim, 113 - Corumbá, 114 - Paranaíba, 116 - Nioaque and 117- Ponta Porã) and Goiás (118 - Porangatu, 119 - São Domingos, 120 - Aruanã, 121 - Formosa, 122 - Goiás, 124 - Jataí and 125 - Catalão). The Data from the Midwest capitals (108 - Cuiabá (MT), 115 - Campo Grande (MS) and 123 - Goiânia (GO) were collected and analyzed by Oliveira (2015; 2023) in her work about the imperative in the capitals of Brazil and it will be used in this work as a comparative way to understand if the countryside localities are presented as a counterpoint or as a reflection of the behavior of the speakers of the capitals in relation to the use of the verbal imperative. The data collected were processed by the GoldVarb X program (SANKOFF; TAGLIAMONTE; SMITH, 2005) and it is presented through graphs and tables in order to produce the description and analysis of the results obtained. The data shows that the highest percentual of the imperative was the indicative, 79% of the data. Regarding the subjunctive form, it resulted in 21% of the data. The current work aims to analyze the intra and extra linguistic contexts in which the subjunctive form still resists in the region.