Linguistic variation in the ENEM: an analysis of the notebooks from 2017 to 2023

Abstract

Language can be conditioned by internal factors, in its phonetic, lexical, morphological, syntactic, phonological, discursive and semantic system, and by external factors, such as: sex or gender, education level, age group, social class, ethnicity, region , orality and writing. Therefore, the school space can function as a place of socialization, which respects linguistic differences, and which recognizes heterogeneity as an intrinsic factor in language, especially at the end of high school, the stage in which students will take the National High School Exam (ENEM). This perception contributes to the reduction of linguistic prejudice, as the real use of the language goes beyond the concepts imposed by Normative Grammar. Furthermore, addressing this topic at school and in national exams contributes to the recognition of the plurality of uses of the language, in addition to corroborating the fact that it is used in different ways in different contexts and for different purposes. This ranges from more formal situations, such as academic writing, to informal everyday interactions. Therefore, this work aimed to analyze the treatment given to linguistic variation in the ENEM language test in the years 2017 to 2023. As a methodological procedure, bibliographic and documentary research was used. As a result, it was observed that geographic, historical and diamesic variation are the most used, however, the test still offers a shallow discussion about variation, not delving into topics such as linguistic prejudice, for example.