Linguistic variations are the result of constant language changes, which involve geographic, social, professional and situational factors.
Check below questions about language variations commented by our expert teachers.
question 1
(And either)
Of Sunday
"Otherwise?"
- What?
"What what?"
- What did you say.
"Otherwise?"
— É.
"What's up?"
- Nothing. I just thought it was funny.
"I don't see the fun."
“You'll agree it's not an everyday word.
“Oh, it isn't. By the way, I only wear Sunday.
“Although it sounds like a Monday word.
- No. Monday's word is "obesity".
— "Onus".
— “Onus” too. “Desiderate”. “Remainder”.
— “Remainder” is from Sunday.
- No, no. Second. Tuesday at most.
— But "otherwise", frankly...
- What's the problem?
— Removes the “other sim”.
"I don't take it back." It's a great word. In fact, it's a difficult word to use. Not just anyone uses “others”.
(VERISM. LF Comedies of private life. Porto Alegre: LP&M, 1996)
In the text, there is a discussion about the use of some words in the Portuguese language. This use promotes the (a)
a) temporal marking, evidenced by the presence of words indicating the days of the week.
b) humorous tone, caused by the occurrence of words used in formal contexts.
c) characterization of the linguistic identity of the interlocutors, perceived by the recurrence of regional words.
d) distance between interlocutors, caused by the use of words with little-known meanings.
e) vocabulary inadequacy, demonstrated by the selection of unknown words by one of the interlocutors in the dialogue.
Correct alternative: b) humorous tone, caused by the occurrence of words used in formal contexts.
The text revolves around an informal conversation, in which the use of words used in formal contexts is discussed. Humor arises precisely from this contrast of words that are used according to the field of action - formal and informal situations, which in linguistics is defined as Situational or diaphasic variation.
a) WRONG. Admittedly, days of the week are suggested in the text to use certain words, but this is not a relevant issue with regard to linguistic variation. In temporal terms, the historical development of the language is what matters for this theme, whose type of variation is identified as Historical or diachronic variation — Old Portuguese, by example.
c) WRONG. There is no presence in the text of regionalisms, a type of linguistic variation characterized as geographic or diatopic variation — differences between Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal, for example.
d) WRONG. The discussion of the text does not show distancing from the interlocutors, after all, when discussing which day of the week they should use certain words, both apparently seem to know them.
e) WRONG. Both interlocutors seem to know the words, in such a way that the text develops into a conversation about the day of the week on which they should be used. Thus, there is no word inadequacy, except for the fact that words used in formal speeches are mentioned in the conversation which occurs informally, but this just promotes the humorous tone of the text, which is why alternative b) is correct.
question 2
(And either)
Mandinga — It was the name that, during the period of the great navigations, the Portuguese gave the west coast of Africa. The word became synonymous with witchcraft because the Portuguese explorers considered the Africans who lived there to be witches—they gave indications about the existence of gold in the region. In native language, mandinga it designated land of sorcerers. The word ended up becoming synonymous with spell, spell.
(COTRIM, M. The cat's jump 3. São Paulo: Editorial Generation, 2009. Fragment)
In the text, it is evident that the construction of the meaning of the word mandinga results from a (a)
a) socio-historical context.
b) technical diversity.
c) geographic discovery.
d) religious appropriation.
e) cultural contrast.
Correct alternative: a) socio-historical context.
The text is marked by a type of linguistic variation identified as Historical or Diachronic.
This type of variation is marked by the development of the language over time, such as what happened with medieval Portuguese to modern Portuguese.
The text shows how the word "mandinga" was designated ("It was the name..."), how it was changed ("The word became (...) because (...)") and how it became ( "The word ended up turning...").
b) WRONG. Linguistic variation can be marked by social aspects, according to the social groups involved. An example of this is the technical language used among professionals, which is often not noticeable outside this group. The word "mandinga", however, is not a technical word used among browsers, but it was created and modified over time, as the text explains that by "(designating) land of sorcerers. (...) it ended up becoming synonymous with spell, sorcery.".
c) WRONG. The word "mandinga" had a meaning that was modified over time, which is why its construction did not results from geographical discovery, but from its socio-historical context, as stated in the text: "In native language, mandinga it designated land of sorcerers. The word ended up becoming synonymous with spell, spell.".
d) WRONG. The fact that the word has assumed the synonym of witchcraft does not mean that the word "mandinga" has been appropriated by religious aspects. The text indicates that the construction of the word results from a historical issue, as it mentions what it meant at the time and what its meaning is today.
e) WRONG. Although the text indicates the cultural contrast between Portuguese and Africans, this is not the issue that highlights the construction of the word "mandinga". The text allows us to see that the meaning of the word stems from a historical aspect, as evidenced by the following excerpt: "In native language, mandinga it designated land of sorcerers. The word ended up becoming synonymous with spell, spell.".
question 3
(And either)
discarded words
As a child, I used to live in the interior of São Paulo with the curious verb pinchar and I still hear it sporadically there. The meaning of the word is “throw away” (pinch out this crap) or “send away” (pinch up this guy here). It would have been one of the many words I heard the least in the state capital and therefore stopped using it. When I ask people if they know this verb, I often hear answers like “my grandmother says that”. Apparently, for many speakers, this verb is a thing of the past, which will cease to exist as soon as this ancient generation has died.
The words are, for the most part, the result of a tradition: they were already there before we were born. “Tradition”, etymologically, is the act of delivering, passing on, transmitting (above all cultural values). The breaking of the tradition of a word is equivalent to its extinction. Normative grammar often collaborates by creating prejudices, but the strongest factor that motivates speakers to extinguish a word is to associate the word, directly or indirectly influenced by the normative view, to a group that judges not to be the your. Is pinchar, associated with the rural environment, where there is little schooling and urban refinement, doomed to extinction?
It is commendable that we are concerned about the extinction of the blue macaws or the golden lion tamarins, but the extinction of a word does not promote any commotion, as we are not moved by the extinction of insects, except the extremely pretty. On the contrary, the extinction of words is often encouraged.
VIARO, M. AND. Portuguese Language, n. 77, March. 2012 (adapted)
The discussion about the (dis) use of the verb “pinchar” brings us a reflection on the language and its uses, from which it is understood that
a) the words forgotten by the speakers must be discarded from the dictionaries, as suggested by the title.
b) the care of endangered animal species is more urgent than the preservation of words.
c) the abandonment of certain words is associated with sociocultural prejudices.
d) generations have the tradition of perpetuating the inventory of a language.
e) the contemporary world demands the innovation of language vocabulary.
Correct alternative: c) the abandonment of certain words is associated with sociocultural prejudices.
The issue of sociocultural prejudice is highlighted in the second paragraph: "Normative grammar often collaborates in creating prejudices (...). Is pinchar, associated with the rural environment, where there is little education and urban refinement, doomed to extinction?".
a) WRONG. The author understands that words are "results of a tradition" and that they cannot fail to be transmitted. He criticizes the fact that we allow words to be extinguished, calling the reader to the following reflection: "It is commendable that we let us worry about the extinction of the blue macaws or the golden lion tamarins, but the extinction of a word does not cause any commotion (...). On the contrary, the extinction of words is often encouraged.".
b) WRONG. The author compares the extinction of animals with the (mis)use of words, alerting the reader to their importance: "It is commendable that we let us worry about the extinction of the blue macaws or the golden lion tamarins, but the extinction of a word does not cause any commotion (...). On the contrary, the extinction of words is often encouraged.".
d) WRONG. The text indicates that the words, as well as the traditions, must be transmitted, however, both can become extinct due to their (un)use, that is, they do not last forever. With regard to the verb "pinchar", the author informs "Apparently, for many speakers, this verb is something from the past, which will cease to exist as soon as this old generation dies."
e) WRONG. According to the author, it is not the contemporary world that requires vocabulary innovation, but that the extinction of words stems from prejudice, whose criticism is the central theme of the text: "The pinchar, associated with the rural environment, where there is little schooling and urban refinement, is destined to extinction?".
question 4
(Fuvest)
“The correction of the language is an artificiality, I continued episcopalally. The natural is incorrect. Note that grammar only dares to poke around when we write. When we speak, he walks away, his ears drooping.”
LOBATO, Monteiro, Prefaces and interviews.
a) In view of the opinion of the author of the text, can it be correctly concluded that the spoken language is devoid of rules? Briefly explain.
b) Between the word “episcopally” and the expressions “putting in its beak” and “with withered ears”, there is a contrast of linguistic varieties. Replace the colloquial expressions, which appear there, with equivalent ones that belong to the standard variety.
a) Language is governed by rules. What happens is that written language requires a text that is adequate to its context and the same happens with oral language, which is often more informal.
Therefore, the fact of adapting to their contexts should not be seen as a discredit. Linguistic variations exist and culturally enrich a language, so they cannot be considered a wrong form of expression.
Monteiro Lobato's writing, for example, values orality, as he brings his literature closer to children. To have the effect he wanted, Lobato did not stop writing in the way people express themselves orally, believing in the cultural enrichment inherent in linguistic variations.
b) “The correction of the tongue is an artificiality, I continued episcopalally. The natural is incorrect. Note that the grammar only dares to throb when we write. When we talk, walk away, in an oppressed way.”
question 5
(UEFS)
The language without errors
Our school tradition has always despised the living language, spoken on a daily basis, as if it were all wrong, a corrupt way of speaking “the language of Camões”. There was (and is) a strong belief that it is the school's mission to “fix” the language of students, especially those who attend public schools. With that, a deep abyss was opened between the language (and the culture) of the students and the language (and the culture) proper to the school, an institution committed to values and ideologies dominant. Fortunately, in the last 20 or so years, this posture has been criticized and it is increasingly accepted that it is necessary to take into account the prior knowledge of students, their familiar language and their characteristic culture, to, from there, expand their linguistic repertoire and cultural.
BAGNO, Mark. The language without mistakes. Available in: http://marcosbagno.files.wordpress.com. Accessed on: Nov. 5 2014.
According to the reading of the text, the language taught at school
a) it helps to reduce the gap between the culture of classes considered hegemonic and popular.
b) it should be banned from contemporary education, which seeks to be based on the student's culture and life experiences.
c) needs to enrich the student's repertoire, valuing their prior knowledge and respecting their culture of origin.
d) Its main purpose is to curb the linguistic variations that compromise the good use of the Portuguese language.
e) it becomes, in contemporary times, the great reference for student learning, who should value it at the expense of its original linguistic variation.
Correct alternative: c) needs to enrich the student's repertoire, valuing their prior knowledge and respecting their culture of origin.
For Bagno, linguistic variations deserve to be honored, as the excerpt shows: "(...) it is necessary to take knowledge into account students, their familiar language and their characteristic culture, to, from there, expand their linguistic repertoire and cultural.".
a) WRONG. Even though attitudes are changing regarding linguistic variations, there is still prejudice. language in school with regard to the language of the ruling classes and the language of classes popular.
b) WRONG. The standard norm is a very important competence for communication. The fact that the school teaches in this way cannot limit the understanding that the language is constantly evolution and that linguistic variations are culturally enriching and therefore have their prestige.
d) WRONG. The statement in this alternative is contrary to Bagno's statements regarding variations linguistics, which believes in the importance of making room for the students' repertoire and, based on it, making it broader.
e) WRONG. For linguist Marcos Bagno, valuing the linguistic repertoire of students is the most appropriate way to expand it.
question 6
(Unicamp)
On September 21, 2015, Sérgio Rodrigues, literary critic, commented that he pointed out a Portuguese error in the title of the film What time is she back? “reveals a short view of how language works”. And justifies:
“The title of the film, taken from the speech of a character, is in a colloquial register. What year were you born? Which grade are you? and similar phrases are familiar to all Brazilians, even with a high level of education. Is it necessary to reaffirm at this point in the 21st century that works of art are free for far greater transgressions?
Aim for a work of fiction to have the same degree of formality as a newspaper editorial or report of firm reveals an authoritarian way of understanding the functioning not only of language, but of art as well.”
(Adapted from the Better Saying blog. Full post available at http://www Melhordizendo.com/a-que-horas-ela-volta-em-que-ano-estamos-mesmo/. Accessed on 06/08/2016.)
Among the excerpts from language scholars reproduced below, check the one that corroborates the post's comments.
a) In a society structured in a complex way, the language of a given social group reflects it as well as its other forms of behavior. (Mattoso Câmara Jr., 1975, p. 10.)
b) The required language, especially in Portuguese language classes, corresponds to a model specific to the dominant classes and the social categories linked to them. (Camacho, 1985, p. 4.)
c) There is no ethical, political, pedagogical or scientific justification for continuing to condemn as errors the linguistic uses that are established in Brazilian Portuguese. (Bagno, 2007, p. 161.)
d) Anyone who has learned to reflect on language is able to understand a grammar – which is nothing more than the result of a (long) reflection on language. (Geraldi, 1996, p. 64.)
Correct alternative: c) There is no ethical, political, pedagogical or scientific justification for continuing to condemn as errors the linguistic uses that are established in Brazilian Portuguese. (Bagno, 2007, p. 161.)
Bagno's excerpt criticizes the limited view of language, in which linguistic variations are discredited; whence linguistic prejudice arises.
Both the comment on the above statement and the quote from Bagno contemplate Situational or Diaphasic Variation, which understands that language depends on contexts.
This happens when a speaker changes his speech in the face of formal and informal situations.
a) WRONG. Mattoso Câmara's excerpt deals with one of the types of linguistic variations - Social or Diastratic Variation, whose speakers understand each other by virtue of the environment to which they belong. An example of this is the technical language used among physicians, whose vocabulary is often incomprehensible among patients.
b) WRONG. Camacho's excerpt criticizes the fact that in Portuguese language classes generally only the standardized language is considered correct and, therefore, superior, with no opening to reflect on the cultural enrichment promoted by other forms of language.
d) WRONG. Geraldi's excerpt is a reflection on the complexity of language. The study of grammar goes beyond memorizing rules, but understanding the language, which is constantly evolving.
question 7
"I don't know a match in the world,
lie me as you do;
ca ja moiro for you, oh!,
my white and red sir,
do you want me to withdraw
when did i see you in skirt?
Ma day I got up,
that then I have not seen you ugly!"
(Cantiga da Ribeirinha, Paio Soares de Taveirós)
In the excerpt from the troubadour song above, we have an example of:
a) geographic variation
b) diatopic variation
c) historical variation
d) social variation
e) situational variation
Correct alternative: c) historical variation
Historical variation, also called diachronic, is a type of linguistic variation that occurs over time. Therefore, the Portuguese used in medieval times is very different from modern Portuguese.
In addition to it, we have 3 more types of language variations:
- Geographical or diatopic variation: related to the place it develops.
- Social or diastratic variation: related to the social groups where it develops.
- Situational or diaphasic variation: related to the developing context.
question 8
I. Linguistic variations happen through the interaction and communication of human beings.
II. Regionalism is a type of linguistic variation that occurs through the interaction of people from the same region.
III. The sociolect is a type of geographic linguistic variation that develops in a particular location.
About linguistic variations, it is correct to state:
there
b) I and II
d) I and III
d) II and III
e) I, II and III
Correct alternative: b) I and II
Linguistic variations are language variants that occur through people's interaction and communication. They are classified into 4 types:
- Geographical or diatopic variation, for example, regionalism, which develops through interactions between people in the same place.
- Historical or diachronic variation, for example, the differences between archaic and modern Portuguese.
- Social or diastratic variation, for example, the sociolects, who vary from one social class or group to another.
- Situational or diaphasic variation, for example, slang, that is, popular expressions created by certain social groups.
question 9
“Brazilian doesn't know Portuguese / Only in Portugal is Portuguese spoken well”
And this story of saying that “Brazilians don't know Portuguese” and that “only in Portugal is Portuguese spoken well”? This is a big nonsense, unfortunately passed down from generation to generation through the traditional teaching of grammar in school.
Brazilians know Portuguese, yes. What happens is that our Portuguese is different from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. When we say that in Brazil we speak Portuguese, we use this name simply for convenience and for a historical reason, precisely that we were a colony of Portugal. From a linguistic point of view, however, the language spoken in Brazil already has a grammar — that is, it has operating rules — that is increasingly different from the grammar of the language spoken in Portugal. That is why linguists (language scientists) prefer to use the term Brazilian Portuguese, as it is clearer and makes this difference well.
In the spoken language, the differences between Portuguese from Portugal and Portuguese from Brazil are so great that difficulties in understanding: in vocabulary, in syntactic constructions, in the use of certain expressions, not to mention, of course, the tremendous differences in pronunciation — in Portuguese from Portugal there are vowels and consonants that our Brazilian ears are hard to recognize, because they are not part of our system phonetic. And many studies have shown that the pronominal systems of European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are totally different.
(Linguistic prejudice: what is it, how is it done (1999), by Marcos Bagno)
About the text, it is correct to say:
a) The differences between Brazilian and Portuguese Portuguese are generated by historical variation, which influences the grammatical differences of the languages.
b) Brazilian Portuguese is inferior to Portuguese from Portugal, as the original Portuguese language was inserted in Brazil by the Portuguese.
c) The linguistic difference marked by the different uses of the Portuguese language is the result of the social variations existing between the two countries.
d) The linguistic variations that exist between Portugal and Brazil represent the different dialects created by each nation.
e) Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal are the result of geographic variation called regionalism.
Correct alternative: e) Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal are the result of geographic variation called regionalism.
Regionalism is an example of geographic or diatopic variation that develops through the place where the language is used and, therefore, even being the same, it presents differences in speaking and writing.
About the other alternatives:
a) WRONG. Historical or diachronic variation happens through the development of history over time. As an example, we can mention the differences between ancient and modern Portuguese.
b) WRONG. It is wrong to say that one language is inferior to another, since the variants involve several factors: historical, geographical and social. When we say this, we are committing linguistic prejudice.
c) WRONG. Social or diastratic variation is the result of interaction between certain groups and social classes, for example, the sociolects.
d) WRONG. Dialect represents a regional variant of a language that includes its own ways of speaking, for example, the gaucho dialect. Therefore, it is a regional variant within the same language.
question 10
Depending on the context and communicative situations, the language used can be formal or informal. The linguistic variation in which this happens is called:
a) diaphasic variation
b) diachronic variation
c) diatopic variation
d) diastratic variation
e) synchronous variation
Correct alternative: a) diaphasic variation
Diaphasic variation, also called situational variation, is related to different communicative contexts. Thus, depending on the situation in which communication takes place, the speaker can use formal or informal language to communicate.
