The question of adverbs and the meaning of the present perfect across varieties of English is central to sociolinguistic variationist methodologies that have approached the study of the present perfect (Winford, 1993; Tagliamonte, 1997; van Herk, 2008, 2010; Davydova, 2010; Tagliamonte, 2013). This dissertation attempts to disentangle the effect of adverbial support from the three canonical readings of the present perfect (Resultative, Experiential and Continuative). Canadian English, an understudied variety of English, is used to situate the results seen in the Early Modern English data. Early Modern English reflects the time period in which English has acquired the full modern use of the present perfect with the three readings. In order to address both these questions and current controversies over statistical models in sociolinguistics, different statistical models are used: both the traditional Goldvarb X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte and Smith, 2005) and the newer mixed-effects logistic regression (Johnson, 2009). What is missing from the previous literature in sociolinguistics that advocates logistic mixed-effects models, and provided in this dissertation, is a clear statement of where they are inappropriate to use and their limitations. The rate of adverbial marking of the present perfect in Canadian English falls between rates reported for US and British English in previous studies. The data show in both time periods that while adverbs are highly favored in continuative contexts, they are strongly disfavored in experiential and resultative contexts. In Early Modern English, adverbial support functions statistically differently for resultatives and experientials, but that difference collapses in the Canadian English sample. Both this and the other linguistic contexts support a different analysis for each set of data with respect to adverbial independence from the meaning of the present perfect form. Finally, when the focus of the analysis is on linguistic rather than social factors, both the traditional and newer models provide similar results. Where there are differences, however, these can be accounted for by the number of tokens and different estimation techniques for each model.

The question of adverbs and the meaning of the present perfect across varieties of English is central to sociolinguistic variationist methodologies that have approached the study of the present perfect (Winford, 1993; Tagliamonte, 1997; van Herk, 2008, 2010; Davydova, 2010; Tagliamonte, 2013). This dissertation attempts to disentangle the effect of adverbial support from the three canonical readings of the present perfect (Resultative, Experiential and Continuative). Canadian English, an understudied variety of English, is used to situate the results seen in the Early Modern English data. Early Modern English reflects the time period in which English has acquired the full modern use of the present perfect with the three readings. In order to address both these questions and current controversies over statistical models in sociolinguistics, different statistical models are used: both the traditional Goldvarb X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte and Smith, 2005) and the newer mixed-effects logistic regression (Johnson, 2009). What is missing from the previous literature in sociolinguistics that advocates logistic mixed-effects models, and provided in this dissertation, is a clear statement of where they are inappropriate to use and their limitations. The rate of adverbial marking of the present perfect in Canadian English falls between rates reported for US and British English in previous studies. The data show in both time periods that while adverbs are highly favored in continuative contexts, they are strongly disfavored in experiential and resultative contexts. In Early Modern English, adverbial support functions statistically differently for resultatives and experientials, but that difference collapses in the Canadian English sample. Both this and the other linguistic contexts support a different analysis for each set of data with respect to adverbial independence from the meaning of the present perfect form. Finally, when the focus of the analysis is on linguistic rather than social factors, both the traditional and newer models provide similar results. Where there are differences, however, these can be accounted for by the number of tokens and different estimation techniques for each model.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / The present study analyzes the use of the imperative in the speech of Fortaleza, under the dome of Quantitative Sociolinguistics, using database NORPOFOR â Norma Oral do PortuguÃs Popular de Fortaleza, as a source of collection to the sample. The goal is to analyze the use of grammatical imperative in the speech of cearenseâs capital city, considering semantic and morphosyntactic motivation such as verbal conjugation, oblique pronouns position, polarity of sentence structure, semantic group and sentence verb as well as the ones of social nature like gender, education level and age range. Previous researches of Scherre (2007; 2005; 1999) and Cardoso (2009), which mention or directly work with data concerning Fortaleza, and Alves (2001), referring to JoÃo Pessoa, state of ParaÃba, indicate that subjunctive imperative finds in these speech communities a relatively significant percentage of use. The data of this research were put through GOLDVARB X software (SANKOFF; TAGLIAMONTE; SMITH, 2005), distributed among nine social and linguistic factor groups. The linguistic factor groups significantly selected by GOLDVARB X were verbal conjugation, polarity of the sentence structure and the oblique pronoun position, referring to the use of the subjunctive imperative variable. In general terms, the results revealed that imperative associated to indicative, with a 60% occurrence, was the most frequent form in the speech sample of Fortaleza. The subjunctive form showed 40% of use, opposing to our expectations, once we hoped that the imperative associated to this form should present higher frequency of use in the speech of the cearense capital. / O presente estudo analisa o uso do imperativo na fala de Fortaleza, à luz da SociolinguÃstica Quantitativa (WEINREICH; LABOV; HERZOG, 1968), utilizando como fonte de coleta para a amostra o banco de dados NORPOFOR â Norma Oral do PortuguÃs Popular de Fortaleza (ARAÃJO, 2011). O principal objetivo à analisar o uso do imperativo gramatical na fala da capital cearense, em que pesem motivaÃÃes semÃnticas e morfossintÃticas como conjugaÃÃo verbal, posiÃÃo do pronome oblÃquo Ãtono, polaridade da estrutura da oraÃÃo, grupo semÃntico e verbos da oraÃÃo, bem como motivaÃÃes de natureza social como sexo, escolaridade e faixa etÃria. Trabalhos anteriores como o de Scherre (2007; 2005; 1999) e Cardoso (2009) que citam ou trabalham diretamente com dados de Fortaleza, e Alves (2001), referente a JoÃo Pessoa â PB, indicam que o imperativo subjuntivo encontra nestas comunidades de fala um percentual de uso relativamente significativo. Os dados desta pesquisa foram submetidos ao programa Goldvarb X (SANKOFF; TAGLIAMONTE; SMITH, 2005), distribuÃdos entre nove grupos de fatores sociais e linguÃsticos. Os grupos de fatores linguÃsticos selecionados significativamente pelo GOLDVARB X foram conjugaÃÃo verbal, polaridade da estrutura da oraÃÃo e a posiÃÃo do pronome oblÃquo Ãtono quanto ao uso da variÃvel imperativo subjuntivo. Em termos gerais, os resultados demonstraram que o imperativo associado ao indicativo, com 60% das ocorrÃncias, foi a forma mais frequente na amostra de fala de Fortaleza. A forma do subjuntivo apresentou 40% de uso, contrariando nossa expectativa, uma vez que esperÃvamos que o imperativo associado a esta forma apresentasse maior frequÃncia de uso na fala da capital cearense.