Vozes feirenses: a avaliação social da variante tu em Feira de Santana - Ba

Abstract

This study deals with conscious and unconscious social subjective evaluation by speakers born in Feira de Santana regarding the use of the pronoun tu with third-person singular verbal morphology. It proposes an innovative qualitative approach to the study of variation and change to measure subjective (or latent) correlates, focused on the problem of evaluation, through an interdisciplinary framework (the interface between labovian sociolinguistic studies and systemic functional linguistics), focused on the interpersonal metafunction and the Appraisal Systems (Martin; White, 2005), as well as on the theoretical and methodological assumptions from Variationist Sociolinguistics (Labov, 2008[1972]). The study corpus compiles eight unpublished interviews with viewpoints of speakers born in Feira de Santana, from which four were analyzed – two by male speakers and two by female speakers from the three age groups; their viewpoints were obtained through a DID semi-structured interview with six sociocultural questions and with an average of 30 minutes long each. Professors and students from the Letters Program were not included in this study due to their familiarity with the topic under investigation. With a qualitative approach to the data, it focuses on social subjective evaluation, on linguistic and sociolinguistic awareness, as well as on covert prestige and overt prestige (Labov, 1982[1966]; Labov, 2008[1972]) based on appraisal analysis, which deals with the identification and classification of resources for the expression of positive and negative sentiments – Attitude; resources for discursive positioning – Engagement; and resources for amplification/attenuation of Attitude and Engagement – Graduation (Martin; White, 2005). The methodological framework (Appraisal Systems) proved to be productive for the identification of the subjective correlates embedded in the social evaluation of the variant tu, expressed both explicitly and implicitly by the informants; under a high level of linguistic and sociolinguistic awareness, they confirm the use of the variant and mobilize judgments anchored in shared ethical and moral principles to evaluate behaviors and forms of interaction regarded as adequate or not in the context of Feira de Santana. The high level of linguistic and sociolinguistic awareness shown by the informants enabled the discovery of the covert prestige and overt prestige linked to the variant tu. Speakers’ awareness about their practices and belonging reinforces the centrality of language as an instrument of symbolic representation of social life, not a mere reflection of it. The analysis of the speakers’ perceptions and attitudes evinces the existence of implicit linguistic norms and shows how the selection of the pronoun works as marker of social and identity distinction in that community. In formal contexts, some stigmatization is directed at the variant tu, but the phenomenon is far from being homogenous; the variant is primarily an active social marker, mobilized by the informants in the negotiation of meaning and belonging. The results reinforce the need for understanding language as social practice, indissociable from the cultural and identity values that structure them. The findings have a strong potential for application in the field of Educational Sociolinguistics for disclosing how linguistic variations and social and cultural factors impact the educational context. The teaching of sociolinguistic knowledge is fundamental for educational practices to value diversity, to fight linguistic prejudice, and to promote critical language education. Thus, this study serves to deepen the relation between linguistic variation and the educational context, to guide teachers in the discussion on standard norm and popular varieties, and to strengthen initiatives aimed at a more inclusive and socially just education.