Variation in the use of present of subjunctive: integrating levels of analysis

Abstract

The variation in the use of the subjunctive mood has been widely addressed especially since the turn of the 21st century, contributing to a relevant mapping of the phenomenon in Brazilian Portuguese speech data. The research, frequently based on the assumptions of the Theory of Variation and Change, is concerned with independent variable controlling in an attempt to identify the context of retention of the subjunctive and, therefore, the context of entry in the indicative mood. Regardless the particularities of the selected sample and the methodological procedures adopted, different studies carried out emphasize the importance of the variables type of clause and modality. However, such research does not demonstrate how the type of clause, situated at the syntax level, is integrated with the discursive-pragmatic level, within the modality. Thus, this work proposes to include subtypes of clause and cross-tabulations variables in an attempt to answer the following question: How does the type of clause articulate with the discursive-pragmatic nature of modality? To answer this question, we use the work by Pimpão (2012), which investigated the variable use of the present of subjunctive in speech data from informants from Florianópolis and Lages (VARSUL Project). General results point to the association between purpose clauses and deontic submode and between causal, concessive, conditional, parenthetical clauses and clauses with the item talvez and the epistemic submode. In turn, the direct object noun clause displays high percentages under the scope of the deontic submode, and the subject clause and categorical use of subjunctive under the scope of the epistemic submode.