Direct object pronouns <em>te</em> y <em>você</em>: linguistic variation in Brazilian Portuguese

This article provides a variationist account of the linguistic factors that constrain the use of direct object pronouns te and você in Brazilian Portuguese. Results indicate that the factor group verbal construction plays a significant role in the use of these variants. In synthetic verbal constructions, the pronoun te is favored (0.56), whereas in constructions with more than one verb variant você is favored, both with two verbs (0.60) and with three verbs (0.79). From a theoretical standpoint, this article represents a contribution to variationist studies of Brazilian Portuguese, as it proposes the inclusion of a variable not yet studied in this variety, i.e. direct object pronouns with reference to second person singular. Original received: 2014/05/15 Review sent to author: 2014/08/01 Accepted: 2014/08/1