Uma fotografia variacionista da monotongação do ditongo [ej] nos dados do Projeto Atlas Linguístico do Brasil

Abstract

In this work, the Variationist Sociolinguistics’ theory and methodology help us investigate the phenomena of monophthongization of the diphthong [ej] in the Portuguese spoken by the seven Brazilian capitols, in the Midwest and Southeast regions according to the data collected by the Atlas Linguistic Project of Brazil (ALiB). Our goal is to analyze the extralinguistic conditioners that work in favor of the monophthongated variant. The results indicate that the phenomenon in question occurs more often in the Midwest capitols, however, independently of the region, the erasing of the [j] occurs less than its realization of the diphthong [ej]. In the Midwest capitols, only education (middle school) was indicated as a relevant variable for the monophthongated variant, meanwhile, in the Southeast capitols, the variable sex (men) was the only ally of the rule studied.