Variation and Change in Portuguese

Recommended Prerequisites

Level C1 in Portuguese is a prerequisite for all courses in the program. 

Teaching Methods

This course unit  articulates i) expository moments (in order to render intelligible the basic theoretical concepts as well as to present the methodological options); ii) critical reading and synthesis of specialized reference texts iii) analysis of corpora / sources varied in nature.

Learning Outcomes

UC goals: i) acquaint the students with the theoretical and methodological frames needeed to understand/describe language variation and change and their interrelationships; ii) promote reflection on how these fundamental concepts are integrated in linguistic analysis; iii) to inform and systematize information regarding aspects of the history of Portuguese (in internal and social dimensions) decisive for its different current settings; iv) to inform and systematize information concerning the nature and symbolic value of geographical and social varieties of Portuguese in the world; v) promote the implementation of acquired knowledge to conceive their own research projects. During the semester, students will develop skills that will allow them to deal with theoretical and methodological issues concerning the variable functioning of historical languages and to apply, critically and originally, the adequate descriptive tools in the study of time, social and space dimensions of Portuguese.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Change and linguistic variation: Theoretical and methodological issues.

2. Portuguese Language - diachronic variation:

2.1. linguistic change and definition of varieties - milestones and evolutionary steps in different areas of grammar;

2.2. the language "drafting" process.

3. Portuguese Language and synchronic variation: geographical, socioletal and symbolic dimension.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria José Simões Pereira de Carvalho Antunes

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Other: 15.0%
Synthesis work: 35.0%
Research work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Ammon, U. (Ed.) (2004). Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language. Berlim: W. de Gruyter

Castro, I. (2006). Introdução à história do português. Lisboa: Colibri

Chambers, T. & Schilling Estes, N. (eds.) (2002). Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell

Cintra, L. (1983). Estudos de dialectologia portuguesa. Lisboa: Sá da Costa

Ernst, G. (Ed.) (2003). Histoire linguistique de la Romania. Berlin: W. de Gruyter

Ferronha, A. (Coord.) (1992). Atlas da língua portuguesa no mundo. Lisboa: INCM

Hock, H. & Joseph, B. (1996): Language History, Language Change and Language Relationship. Berlim: Mouton de Gruyter

Maia, C. (1986). História do galego-português. Estado linguístico da Galiza e do Noroeste de Portugal desde o século XIII ao século XVI. Coimbra: INIC

Ringe, D. & Eska, J. (2013). Historical Linguistics. Towards a 21st Century Reintegration. Cambridge: C. Univers. Press

Silva, R. (2008). O português arcaico: uma aproximação. Lisboa: INCM.