The recovery of diachronic losses through schooling

Mary Kato, Sonia Cyrino, & Velma Reche Correa

Fri. 9-10:40 C

It is a well known fact that written language is more conservative than spoken language. However, when the distance between the two involves deep structural changes, learning of the more conservative variety is like learning a different language. Such is the situation in Brazil, where, due to the mass of illiterate population, only a minority has had the opportunity of a real immersion in the more conservative variety, through reading.

In this study we will present the results of a diachronic analysis of the loss of the third person clitic in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and its recovery though schooling.

The third person clitic was used to replace propositions, predicates and indefinite NPs, in anaphoric contexts, as is still case in European Portuguese (EP). This use was gradually lost, being replaced by ellipsis.

(1) a. Maria é bonita e Alice também o é.

Maria is pretty and Alice also Cl is (Cl = clitic)

b. Maria é bonita e Alice também Ø é.

The use of the clitic was restricted to replace definite NPs. in the meantime the property of clitics to climb to higher inflected auxiliaries, whether in proclitic or enclitic position, was also lost, proclisis to the main verb becoming generalized.

(2) Pedro pode me telefonar hoje.

Pedro can Cl=lst call today

[ ] EP and Classic P

[ ] BP

The appearance of the possibility of the null definite object is a consequence of this fixed position of clitics, reanalyzed as inflections in the Brazilian system:

(3) lst person singular me-V

2nd person singular te-V

3rd person singular Ø- V

The use of ellipsis, in the case where the antecedent is different from a definite NP, has been incorporated by written language in BP, and is consequently not disallowed institutionally. The null definite object (or the null clitic), however, though part of the vernacular, is still stigmatized in written language, specially in certain syntactic contexts.

The analysis of the use of the third person clitic as a pro-form for a definite NP is shown to be absent before schooling and to increase through reading and teaching, but it conscious and prescription-conditioned use is revealed in hyper-corrections, not only in the writing of students, but also in the performance of professionals working with writing. The analysis also shows the most favorable contexts of fossilization.

The results of this work suggest the necessity of a reflection on the nature of the acquired linguistic knowledge of the literate speaker and an interaction between linguistics and teachers and pedagogical grammar writers to discuss the nature and status of diachronic changes, specially the ongoing ones.