Variações gráficas em um documento do século XVII

Abstract

This paper presents a description of the graphical system of a seventieth century manuscript pointing out that the graphemes representation faced a constant process of variatin when there were no grammatical rules established to regulate the spelling of words. The text was written by a priest of the Society of Jesus whom had knowledge of the Portuguese language structure. The text presents ornate syntax, and it shows stylistic features like metaphors, Latin expressions and other marks of the standard grammar; however, it presents a large graphematic varietion. Our purpose aims at doing a survey of the occurrences presenting some interpretations of the uses of the variety of one single word. We listed different ways the words are written and we did some interpretations emphasizing that the act of writing at that time was guided basically by the writer’s freedom of choice once in the seventieth century there was not any agreement about standard orthography. Although the pseudo- etymological pattern was already in use, it is the phonological model based on the recording of graphical variants of a single word, the responsible for producing on some occurrences, differences and difficulties of understanding that really stands out.