Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1195

Part of Session 163: Variation and change in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Other abstracts in this session)

The realization of the future tense in the spoken and written language of Rio de Janeiro

Authors: Oliveira, Josane Moreira de
Submitted by: Oliveira, Josane Moreira de (Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil)

We analyze variation in the expression of the future tense in Portuguese

with data from Rio de Janeiro city in a trendy study, covering the 70’s and the 90’s of

the 20th century. Spoken and written language is included. All of our data can be

considered standard style. For the written language, we use newspaper editorials; for the

spoken language we use interviews of college graduated professionals. Our data reveal

six variants: a) the simple future tense (viajarei amanhã); b) the present tense (viajo

amanhã); c) the periphrasis with ir in the present tense + infinitive ‘be going to +

infinitive’ (vou viajar amanhã); d) the periphrasis with ir in the future tense ‘will go to

+ infinitive’ (irei viajar amanhã); e) the periphrasis with haver in the present

tense ‘have to + infinitive’ (hei de viajar amanhã); and f) the periphrasis with haver in

the future tense ‘will have to + infinitive’ (haverei de viajar amanhã). Based on

Labovian quantitative sociolinguistics and on the principles of grammaticalization, we

controlled some linguistic and social factors and we reached the following conclusions:

a) the simple future tense remains more or less stable in the formal written language,

where it is still the preferred form; b) the present tense is used more in the spoken

language and continues to be used in certain very specific contexts from the historical

point of view; c) periphrastic constructions with haver + infinitive decrease in use

throughout the observed decades; d) periphrastic constructions with ir + infinitive are

becoming increasingly common in the written language and even surpass the simple

future tense in the spoken language; e) a process of grammaticalization of ir + infinitive

is underway, with a shift from full verb to auxiliary in the periphrastic form with the

infinitive for the future tense; and f) some linguistic and social variables have a specific

role in the selection of the variants. This phenomenon is not limited to the Portuguese

language; on the contrary, it is well documented in other languages such as English,

Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Sardinian, according to the tendency for SVO

languages to favor periphrastic forms rather than synthetic forms. One might cogitate a

change in progress in the direction of the replacement of the simple future tense by its

periphrastic alternative, as suggested by our short-term real-time study of the 20th

century data presented here.

Sociolinguistics Symposium 19

Programme: accepted abstracts

The realization of the future tense in the spoken and written language of Rio de Janeiro