Prosodic Emphasis And (Socio)Linguistic Variation

Abstract

In this article, my main objective is to discuss the relationship focus/variation, and examine, more precisely, three studies of the phenomena of language variation in contemporary Portuguese spoken in Rio de Janeiro: (a) of Fausto (1992), whose analysis is based on the phenomenon of assimilation of -ndo/-no (cf. -'falando' / 'falano', for example), (b) of Gonçalves (1993), about the processes of insertion (prosthesis) and cancellation (aphaeresis) of [a] at the beginning of words (as in 'atropeçar' and 'cabar', respectively), and (c) of Brunner (1995), who addresses intensification strategies as used in Portuguese. All three start from the theory of sociolinguistic variation (cf. Labov, 1966 and 1972), seeking to establish, therefore, groups of linguistic and extralinguistic factors that may pose constraints to the application or non-application of a variable rule.