Verb agreement and the variable “sex” in three linguistic communities in the state of Bahia

Os papéis sociais representados por homens e mulheres se refletem sobre os usos linguísticos. Tais usos diferenciam-se, também, nas construções linguísticas como a “solidariedade”, concordância, entre o sujeito e o núcleo de predicado. Para fundamentar nosso estudo, fizemos uma análise comparativa entre grupos de falantes do sexo masculino e feminino de três comunidades linguísticas do português popular do Brasil, todas situadas no interior da Bahia, mais precisamente na Região Sudoeste do Estado. Os dados de nossa pesquisa nos levam a crer que os homens tendem a empregar formas inovadoras na comunidade de fala em maior frequência do que as mulheres por causa do seu maior contato e circulação nos espaços sociais.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Concordância. Variação linguística. Português popular.ABSTRACT The roles played by men and women reflect on the uses of linguistic structures. Those uses differ also in grammar structures such as “solidarity”, agreement, between the subject and predicate. In support of our study, we made a comparative analysis between groups of speakers male and female in three linguistic communities of popular Portuguese in Brazil, all located in Bahia, more precisely in the Southwest Region of the state. The data of our study lead us to believe that men tend to employ innovative forms of speech in the community more often than women, because of their greater contact with other social groups and movement in social spaces.KEYWORDS: Agreement. Linguistic variation. Portuguese popular.The roles played by men and women reflect on the uses of linguistic structures. Those uses differ also in grammar structures such as “solidarity”, agreement, between the subject and predicate. In support of our study, we made a comparative analysis between groups of speakers male and female in three linguistic communities of popular Portuguese in Brazil, all located in Bahia, more precisely in the Southwest Region of the state. The data of our study lead us to believe that men tend to employ innovative forms of speech in the community more often than women, because of their greater contact with other social groups and movement in social spaces.KEYWORDS: Agreement. Linguistic variation. Portuguese popular