O vocativo no continuum rural-urbano: usos do município mineiro de Patrocínio

Abstract

The objective of this research is to identify, describe, and analyze the use of vocatives in spoken language, both in the urban area and in rural communities (Dourados, Caxambu, Puladouro, and Samambaia) of the city of Patrocínio, located in the Alto Paranaíba region of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The interest in the topic arose from observations made during interactions with speakers from the community of Dourados, where vocatives were used in an intercalated position within noun phrases functioning as verbal complements, as in: “Tem pão seu Polidoro sovado” and “Tem farinha Dona Maria de mandioca” (sic, Ribeiro, 2006). This placement of the vocative, which differs from the conventions of normative grammar and even from standard educated usage, may cause strangeness among speakers who do not belong to the community. In light of this, the study also includes an analysis of vocative usage among urban speakers, aiming to compare language use in the two settings: rural and urban. The research is grounded in the assumption that language is a social fact, and therefore a heterogeneous and variable phenomenon. It follows the theoretical and methodological principles of Variationist Sociolinguistics, drawing primarily on the works of Weinreich, Labov, and Herzog (2006 [1968]), Labov (2008 [1972]), Coelho et al. (2015), Tarallo (1990), and Berlinck and Biazolli (2018). The research methodology was structured around four main stages: selection of informants, data collection, data coding and analysis, and interpretation of the analyzed data. Since the study involved recorded interviews and, considering the observer’s paradox (Labov, 2008 [1972]), it was essential that the interactions took place in natural, face-to-face social contexts, in order to obtain a relevant amount of vernacular data from each participant. To this end, the organization of a homemade pastry recipe book – a culturally significant element in these rural communities – was proposed as a strategy to promote spontaneous interaction. In the urban area, data were collected primarily in public spaces, such as tourist sites and commercial establishments. Two social variables were controlled: level of education and age group. The sample consisted of 32 informants – 16 from rural communities (with 385 utterances containing vocatives) and 16 from the urban area (with 206 utterances). Considering that vocatives play an important role in establishing contact between interlocutors, the study also examines their relationship with discourse markers and their integration with nominal forms of address. The results of the research reveal the linguistic diversity of Brazilian Portuguese, particularly within the Minas Gerais dialect, through the observation of vocative use in real communicative contexts. The findings highlight that, in the rural variety, the most frequent position of the vocative is final, whereas in the urban variety it tends to occur initially. As for the noncanonical intercalated position, its use was found to be rare and restricted to rural speakers.