Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo de natureza sincrônica e quantitativa da variação entre aplicação x não-aplicação da regra de concordância verbal de 3ª e 1ª pessoas do plural. Os dados são oriundos da variedade do português popular falada por pessoas idosas residentes na zona rural dos estados de São Paulo e Minas Gerais, na área correspondente às trilhas das bandeiras paulistas. A variação da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural constitui um fenômeno comum no português do Brasil e tem sido amplamente documentada pela literatura lingüística, a qual evidencia que formas como Eles fala x Eles falam podem ser encontradas na fala de pessoas de diversas regiões brasileiras e de diferentes graus de escolaridade. São poucos os estudos que tratam da variação da regra de concordância com sujeitos de 1ª pessoa do plural (Nós fala x Nós falamos), manifestada em variedades populares do português brasileiro. Adotando os pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Sociolingüística e da Lingüística Funcional, nosso objetivo é descrever, analisar e explicar os padrões de concordância encontrados, buscando identificar os fatores lingüísticos (semânticos, gramaticais, discursivos) e sociais que condicionam a realização ou a não-realização da regra formal de concordância verbal. / This research presents a synchronic and quantitative study of the variation between application x non-application of the subject-verb agreement rule with the 3rd and 1st plural persons. The data were collected from Popular Portuguese spoken by elderly who live in the rural areas of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, in the regions that coincide with the historical route of the Bandeirantes (members of colonial exploratory expeditions). The variation of subject-verb agreement with the 3rd plural person is an ordinary phenomenon in Brazilian Portuguese, and it has been extensively documented by linguistic literature, which gives evidence that forms as Eles fala x Eles falam can be found in the speech of people of various Brazilian regions and of different education degrees. Few are the studies that deal with the variation of subject-verb agreement with the 1st plural person (Nós fala x Nós falamos), displayed in popular varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Using the theories of Sociolinguistics and Functional Linguistics, our goal is to describe, analyze and explain the patterns of agreement found, searching for linguistic (semantic, grammatical, discursive) and social factors that condition the application or the non-application of the formal subject-verb agreement rule.

This study concerns simultaneous bilingual acquisition (2L1) of Swedish-Brazilian children growing up in mixed-lingual families in Stockholm, with Swedish as their dominant language. Earlier studies on this language combination were not found. Not even were there any studies considering 2L1 children of the same age group as our main subjects (Anna 7;7,3–9;1,30, Maria 6;1,16–6;11,11). An analysis of their acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as a weaker language (WL) was carried out in a Generative Grammar approach, mainly through the selective theory of language acquisition. The corpus consists of interviews with 2L1 children in a semi-longitudinal registration of their production. The focus of this analysis lies on the observation of three domains of BP grammar that differ morpho-syntactically from Swedish: verb inflection; VP as minimal responses; NP number and gender agreement. Three main research questions were formulated: 1) Are the simple and robust structures, provided by domestic input enough for triggering the functional categories (FC) of their WL? 2) If the FCs are activated, do they develop in the same sequence as a WL as they would in BPL1? 3) If the 2L1 children show any deviations in acquiring the grammar of their WL, is it possible to distinguish any influence from Swedish? To answer these questions a contrastive study was carried out, comparing the acquisition of BPWL with studies on 2L1 and BPL1 acquisition. The results show that the domestic input is enough for triggering the grammar of the WL, and that it was triggered and developed through a similar procedure to that of BPL1, although delayed. Contact with BPL1 input in Brazil was necessary to activate the children’s oral production. When using VPs for minimal responses it requires more than domestic input, and the influence of Swedish was reflected in the subjects’ use of sim ‘yes’ instead of VPs, as in this case grammar enters the domain of discourse at the syntax/pragmatics interface.

A proposta desta tese é analisar os fatores lingüísticos e sociais relacionados à variação na concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural com base nas entrevistas dos 90 informantes que compõem o VarX – Banco de Dados Sociolingüísticos Variáveis por Classe Social de Pelotas/RS –, estratificados conforme gênero, classe social, faixa etária: 45 são do gênero masculino e 45 do feminino, 30 da classe social média alta, 30 da média baixa, e 30 da baixa; 30 da faixa etária entre 16 e 25 anos, 30 da faixa etária entre 26 e 49 anos e 30 da faixa etária com mais de 50 anos. Pretendemos, dessa forma, contribuir para a descrição da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural do português popular brasileiro. Para a análise dos dados, utilizamos metodologia quantitativa com base na interface Windows para o Varbrul e em formulário de codificação de dados. Na análise, discutimos a presença versus a ausência de concordância verbal de terceira pessoa do plural; e a concordância verbal padrão versus nãopadrão de terceira pessoa do plural. Os resultados mostram que, em Pelotas, há variação de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, mas com predomínio do uso da marca, uma vez que existe presença de desinências verbais em 4.317 contextos (de um total de 5.263), perfazendo 82%, e em 945 contextos não ocorrem marcas de concordância, perfazendo 18%. Também, constatamos, com base na amostra em estudo, particularmente no resultado das variáveis sociais que há indícios de aquisição de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, visto que há um aumento gradual de emprego de marcas de concordância, cuja direção é dos informantes mais velhos para os mais novos, sendo que os mais novos apresentam maiores percentuais e peso relativo de emprego de desinências verbais de 3ª pessoa do plural. No estudo da concordância verbal padrão versus não-padrão, analisamos a distribuição das formas padrão versus não-padrão, envolvendo tanto ausência de marca quanto formas alternantes de realização da marca, enfatizando as variáveis sociais. E observamos que, em Pelotas, há altos percentuais de emprego de formas padrão, em decorrência de aspectos sociais e culturais. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the linguistic and social factors related to the variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural based on interviews of 90 informants who make up the VarX –Sociolinguistics Database Variable by Social Class of Pelotas/RS –, stratified according to gender, social class, age: 45 are males and 45 females, 30 of the upper middle class, 30 of the low middle class, and 30 of the low social class; 30 are between 16 and 25 years of age, 30 between 26 and 49 and 30 of the age group over 50 years. We intended, therefore, to contribute to the description of the verbal agreement of 3rd person plural of the popular Brazilian Portuguese. For data analysis, we used quantitative methodology based on the Windows interface for Varbrul and on data encryption form. In the analysis, we discussed the presence versus the absence of verbal agreement in the third person plural, as well as the standard verb agreement versus the non-standard third person plural. The results show that, in Pelotas, there is variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural, but with predominance of the use of the mark, since the presence of verbal endings occurs in 4317 contexts (of a total of 5263), consisting of 82%, and in 945 contexts there are no agreement marks, totaling 18%. We also found, based on the sample under study, particularly the outcome of the social variables that there is evidence of acquisition of 3rd person plural agreement, since there is a gradual increase in use of verb agreement marks, whose direction goes from the older to the younger informants, given that the younger have higher rates and relative employment of verbal endings of 3rd person plural. In the study of standard versus non-standard verbal agreement, we analyzed the distribution of standard versus non-standard forms, involving both the absence of marks as well as alternate forms of the realization of the mark, emphasizing the social variables. And we observed that in Pelotas there are high percentages of use of standard forms as a result of social and cultural aspects.

A proposta desta tese é analisar os fatores lingüísticos e sociais relacionados à variação na concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural com base nas entrevistas dos 90 informantes que compõem o VarX – Banco de Dados Sociolingüísticos Variáveis por Classe Social de Pelotas/RS –, estratificados conforme gênero, classe social, faixa etária: 45 são do gênero masculino e 45 do feminino, 30 da classe social média alta, 30 da média baixa, e 30 da baixa; 30 da faixa etária entre 16 e 25 anos, 30 da faixa etária entre 26 e 49 anos e 30 da faixa etária com mais de 50 anos. Pretendemos, dessa forma, contribuir para a descrição da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural do português popular brasileiro. Para a análise dos dados, utilizamos metodologia quantitativa com base na interface Windows para o Varbrul e em formulário de codificação de dados. Na análise, discutimos a presença versus a ausência de concordância verbal de terceira pessoa do plural; e a concordância verbal padrão versus nãopadrão de terceira pessoa do plural. Os resultados mostram que, em Pelotas, há variação de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, mas com predomínio do uso da marca, uma vez que existe presença de desinências verbais em 4.317 contextos (de um total de 5.263), perfazendo 82%, e em 945 contextos não ocorrem marcas de concordância, perfazendo 18%. Também, constatamos, com base na amostra em estudo, particularmente no resultado das variáveis sociais que há indícios de aquisição de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, visto que há um aumento gradual de emprego de marcas de concordância, cuja direção é dos informantes mais velhos para os mais novos, sendo que os mais novos apresentam maiores percentuais e peso relativo de emprego de desinências verbais de 3ª pessoa do plural. No estudo da concordância verbal padrão versus não-padrão, analisamos a distribuição das formas padrão versus não-padrão, envolvendo tanto ausência de marca quanto formas alternantes de realização da marca, enfatizando as variáveis sociais. E observamos que, em Pelotas, há altos percentuais de emprego de formas padrão, em decorrência de aspectos sociais e culturais. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the linguistic and social factors related to the variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural based on interviews of 90 informants who make up the VarX –Sociolinguistics Database Variable by Social Class of Pelotas/RS –, stratified according to gender, social class, age: 45 are males and 45 females, 30 of the upper middle class, 30 of the low middle class, and 30 of the low social class; 30 are between 16 and 25 years of age, 30 between 26 and 49 and 30 of the age group over 50 years. We intended, therefore, to contribute to the description of the verbal agreement of 3rd person plural of the popular Brazilian Portuguese. For data analysis, we used quantitative methodology based on the Windows interface for Varbrul and on data encryption form. In the analysis, we discussed the presence versus the absence of verbal agreement in the third person plural, as well as the standard verb agreement versus the non-standard third person plural. The results show that, in Pelotas, there is variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural, but with predominance of the use of the mark, since the presence of verbal endings occurs in 4317 contexts (of a total of 5263), consisting of 82%, and in 945 contexts there are no agreement marks, totaling 18%. We also found, based on the sample under study, particularly the outcome of the social variables that there is evidence of acquisition of 3rd person plural agreement, since there is a gradual increase in use of verb agreement marks, whose direction goes from the older to the younger informants, given that the younger have higher rates and relative employment of verbal endings of 3rd person plural. In the study of standard versus non-standard verbal agreement, we analyzed the distribution of standard versus non-standard forms, involving both the absence of marks as well as alternate forms of the realization of the mark, emphasizing the social variables. And we observed that in Pelotas there are high percentages of use of standard forms as a result of social and cultural aspects.

Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo de natureza sincrônica e quantitativa da variação entre aplicação x não-aplicação da regra de concordância verbal de 3ª e 1ª pessoas do plural. Os dados são oriundos da variedade do português popular falada por pessoas idosas residentes na zona rural dos estados de São Paulo e Minas Gerais, na área correspondente às trilhas das bandeiras paulistas. A variação da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural constitui um fenômeno comum no português do Brasil e tem sido amplamente documentada pela literatura lingüística, a qual evidencia que formas como Eles fala x Eles falam podem ser encontradas na fala de pessoas de diversas regiões brasileiras e de diferentes graus de escolaridade. São poucos os estudos que tratam da variação da regra de concordância com sujeitos de 1ª pessoa do plural (Nós fala x Nós falamos), manifestada em variedades populares do português brasileiro. Adotando os pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Sociolingüística e da Lingüística Funcional, nosso objetivo é descrever, analisar e explicar os padrões de concordância encontrados, buscando identificar os fatores lingüísticos (semânticos, gramaticais, discursivos) e sociais que condicionam a realização ou a não-realização da regra formal de concordância verbal. / This research presents a synchronic and quantitative study of the variation between application x non-application of the subject-verb agreement rule with the 3rd and 1st plural persons. The data were collected from Popular Portuguese spoken by elderly who live in the rural areas of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, in the regions that coincide with the historical route of the Bandeirantes (members of colonial exploratory expeditions). The variation of subject-verb agreement with the 3rd plural person is an ordinary phenomenon in Brazilian Portuguese, and it has been extensively documented by linguistic literature, which gives evidence that forms as Eles fala x Eles falam can be found in the speech of people of various Brazilian regions and of different education degrees. Few are the studies that deal with the variation of subject-verb agreement with the 1st plural person (Nós fala x Nós falamos), displayed in popular varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Using the theories of Sociolinguistics and Functional Linguistics, our goal is to describe, analyze and explain the patterns of agreement found, searching for linguistic (semantic, grammatical, discursive) and social factors that condition the application or the non-application of the formal subject-verb agreement rule.

This study develops a new approach to agreement variation in Standard Arabic (SA) and Rural Jordanian Arabic (RJA) based on the Probe-Goal framework of Chomsky (2000, 2001). The key patterns investigated are the variation in fullness of agreement in the SV and VS word orders, the relationship between agreement and clitic doubling, and the patterning of agreement with conjoined subjects. The thesis argues for a connection between agreement, clitic doubling, and word order. Full agreement on T (in person, number, and gender) causes the subject to move to [Spec, TP], deriving SV order. However, partial agreement on T (lacking person) creates only a partial copy of the subject in [Spec, TP]. This partial copy is realized as a pronominal clitic in some contexts (giving CLsVS word order) and as null pro in other contexts (giving VS word order). This approach enables a unified account of various differences in the patterning of agreement in SA and RJA. Turning to the more complex case of agreement with conjoined subjects, both varieties exhibit full resolved agreement with preverbal conjoined subjects. With postverbal conjoined subjects, however, there is variation: SA allows only partial agreement with the first conjunct while RJA allows partial agreement either with the first conjunct or with the entire conjoined phrase, depending on the features and the order of the conjoined nominals. The Probe-Goal framework augmented with Multiple Agree and the Continuity condition (Nevins 2007, 2011) will be employed to account for the choice between these two options in RJA. The more general theoretical conclusion is that the variation in agreement patterns is constrained by the internal hierarchical structure of φ-features on the probe. I propose that the probe has the same hierarchical structure as a pronoun (i.e. a DP). This proposal makes predictions about the range of possible variation in the features that are active in agreement and connects to broader issues such as the Pronominal Argument Hypothesis (Jelinek 1984) and the diachronic relationship between pronouns and agreement markers. / May 2017

Notre recherche vise à décrire les connaissances grammaticales élaborées par des élèves de première secondaire au cours de l’enseignement/apprentissage de l’accord du verbe. Cette description se fonde sur l’observation des interactions didactiques entre les élèves, et leur enseignant autour de l’objet de savoir « accord du verbe » : elle concerne plus particulièrement l’interaction entre les pôles « élève » et « savoir ». Notre recherche s’inscrit dans le courant de la grammaire pédagogique moderne. La théorie de la transposition didactique de Chevallard (1985/1991) constitue également la pierre angulaire de nos travaux : les concepts de transposition didactique externe (le passage du savoir savant au savoir à enseigner) et interne (le passage du savoir à enseigner au savoir effectivement enseigné) agissent à titre d’analyseurs des interactions didactiques. L’observation, la description et la théorisation des interactions didactiques imposent une démarche écologique pour la collecte des données. Pour notre recherche, les données ont été recueillies grâce à la captation vidéo de séquences didactiques portant sur l’accord du verbe : elles consistent en des interactions verbales entre élèves ou entre les élèves et leur enseignant. L’analyse des données s’est effectuée selon une perspective macro et micro : (1) L’analyse macro indique que les connaissances antérieures des élèves résistent à l’institutionnalisation des savoirs puisque le savoir enseigné n’est pas celui qui est exclusivement mobilisé. Les élèves recourent à un vaste éventail de connaissances de types procédural et déclaratif pour l’identification du verbe et du sujet, dont la réussite n’est par ailleurs pas assurée. De plus, les connaissances qu’ils ont élaborées autour de la règle d’accord et du transfert des traits morphologiques sont également nombreuses et variées et ne les conduisent pas à accorder le verbe avec constance. (2) L’analyse micro suggère que l’élaboration des connaissances relatives à l’accord du verbe dépend de la manière dont les outils de la grammaire (manipulations syntaxiques et phrase de base) sont utilisés par les élèves. Plus précisément, le savoir piétine ou recule lorsque les manipulations syntaxiques ne sont pas appliquées dans la phrase ou qu’elles ne sont pas adaptées dans certains contextes syntaxiques; le savoir fait des bonds en avant dans les classes où les élèves sont en mesure de recourir à la phrase de base pour soutenir leur analyse grammaticale. Les descriptions proposées dans le cadre de notre thèse conduisent à discuter de leurs implications pour la transposition didactique externe et, plus généralement, pour la didactique du français et de la grammaire. / The purpose of our work is to describe the grammatical knowledge formulated by first- year high school students during the teaching/learning of verb agreement. This description is based on the observation of didactic interactions between students, their teacher and the knowledge element, “verb agreement”: it’s main focus is on the interaction between students and knowledge. Our research lies within the mainstream of modern pedagogical grammar. The didactic transposition theory put forward by Chevallard (1985/1991) also serves as a foundation: didactic transposition concepts, both external (from scholarly knowledge to knowledge to be taught) and internal (from knowledge to be taught to knowledge actually taught) act as didactic interaction analyzers. The observation, description and theorization of didactic interactions require an ecological approach to data collection, which was done by capturing video clips of didactic sequences on verb agreement. These consisted of verbal interactions between students or between students and their teacher. The analysis of this data was performed from both a macro and micro perspective: (1) The macro analysis denotes that the students' previous knowledge is resistant to the institutionalization of learning, since taught knowledge is not being called upon. In their identification of verbs and subjects, students employ a wide range of declarative and procedural knowledge types, even without some form of success being ensured. Moreover, while the knowledge they formulate relative to the agreement rule and the transfer of morphological characteristics is both substantial and varied, it does not consistently lead them to verb agreement. (2) The micro analysis suggests that knowledge formulated relative to verb agreement depends on how the students make use of grammar tools (syntax and basic sentence manipulation). More specifically, knowledge can get underfoot or even take a step ! "#! backward when syntactic manipulations are not applied in the sentence or cannot be adapted to certain syntaxic contexts, and can leap forward in classes where students are able to support their grammatical analysis through resorting to basic sentences. The descriptions put forward within the context of our thesis lead to a discussion of their implications for external didactic transposition and more generally, to the teaching of French and of grammar.

No description available.

This study aims to investigate possible factors contributing to subject-verb agreement errors in Swedish junior and senior high school students' English written production. The sample data is collected from the Swedish Learner English Corpus (SLEC), which comprises student texts produced in a classroom setting. The texts are randomly chosen but evenly distributed in terms of binary gender, school year, and type of high school program. In this study, the texts included in the scope are written by students attending a Swedish-speaking school with Swedish as their first language. Errors are classified as overgeneralization or transfer and further classified in relation to the subject type, the verb type, and the distance between the subject and the verb. The classification of all correct instances of subject-verb agreement is also performed to further investigate possible error explanations. A total of 41 agreement errors were found in 24 texts written by students in the 9th and 11th grades. The results show that overgeneralization is more frequent than transfer errors. Overgeneralization suggests that the students are aware of the third-singular form but do not always apply it correctly, while transfer errors show a potential lack of awareness or attention to the form. In both cases, the errors indicate that these students have not automatized the principle yet. Errors are often related to subject types “a pronoun” or “a noun/noun phrase" and the verb be, which is the most frequently used verb. Most of the errors occur when the subject and the verb are in immediate contact, and more than half of them involve a relative pronoun as subject, which indicates that the learners have misinterpreted the grammatical principle or have not fully acquired it. Overuse of the third-person singular form can also be an effect of teaching and explicit learning, which makes learners apply the form whenever it seems possible and relevant.

Esta pesquisa apresenta análises sobre avaliação, produção e percepção linguística no português paulistano, por meio do exame de quatro variáveis sociolinguísticas: a realização de /e/ nasal como monotongo [e] ou ditongo [ej] (como em fazenda); a pronúncia de /r/ em coda silábica como tepe [R] ou retroflexo [õ] (como em porta); a concordância nominal de número (como em as casas/as casa); e a concordância verbal de primeira e de terceira pessoa do plural (como em nós fomos/nós foi, eles foram/eles foi). O objetivo central é analisar, em uma comunidade amplamente heterogênea de um ponto de vista sociodemográfico, as inter-relações entre a expressão de identidades sociais através de usos linguísticos e a possível influência dos significados sociais desses usos em processos de variação e mudança linguística. Para tanto, analisou-se qualitativa e quantitativamente uma amostra contemporânea do português paulistano, composta de 118 entrevistas sociolinguísticas com falantes nativos, à luz dos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Sociolinguística Variacionista (Labov, 2006 [1966], 2008 [1972]). Tais análises compreendem o encaixamento linguístico e social de cada variável, bem como seu encaixamento simultâneo na fala de cada indivíduo. Além disso, examinaram-se percepções sobre as variantes de (-r), com base na técnica de estímulos pareados (Lambert et al., 1960), a fim de melhor compreender os mecanismos subjacentes à associação de certos significados sociais ao emprego de diferentes formas linguísticas. Os resultados mostram que, embora as correlações entre as quatro variáveis sociolinguísticas e variáveis sociais sejam bastante semelhantes entre si (todas se correlacionam com o Sexo/Gênero, a Classe Social e o Nível de Escolaridade dos falantes), há diferentes tendências dentro da comunidade por exemplo, mudança em direção à variante ditongada [ej]; padrões divergentes quanto ao emprego de (-r) por parte de jovens de diferentes classes sociais; variação estável das concordâncias nominal e verbal em regiões periféricas e mudança em direção à variante padrão em regiões centrais. Para compreendê-los, o exame de seus significados sociais é fundamental. Argumenta-se que [ej] tem se difundido rápida e unidirecionalmente pelo fato de se constituir um marcador (Labov, 2008 [1972]) para paulistanos, que não revelam ter consciência da variável, tampouco apresentam um discurso metalinguístico sobre suas variantes. O forte favorecimento do retroflexo entre jovens de classes baixas foi desencadeado por uma reinterpretação de seu significado social como uma variante local e de prestígio, devido à presença maciça de migrantes do Norte/Nordeste, cuja variante fricativa é relativamente mais estigmatizada na comunidade. Ao mesmo tempo, ainda que o encaixamento social das concordâncias nominal e verbal seja bastante semelhante, a marca zero de concordância nominal (as casa) goza de maior vitalidade por indexicalizar significados como masculinidade, paulistanidade e morador da Mooca. Não obstante as diferentes tendências que se verificam na comunidade, os padrões de encaixamento das variáveis linguísticas se reproduzem sistematicamente na fala de cada indivíduo, o que permite caracterizar os paulistanos como uma única comunidade de fala (Labov, 2006 [1966]), que compartilha normas de produção e de avaliação linguística. De acordo com o teste de percepções, os moradores da cidade também são consistentes em suas reações subjetivas a variantes de (-r). Demonstra-se adicionalmente que a coesão dialetal é promovida não por amplas categorias sociais como Sexo/Gênero ou Faixas Etárias, mas pelo princípio mais fundamental de densidade de comunicação (Gumperz, 1971b,a). / This study examines linguistic evaluation, production, and perception in São Paulo Portuguese, through analyses of four sociolinguistic variables: the realization of nasal /e/ as a monophthong [e] or as a diphthong [ej] (as in fazenda farm); the realization of coda /r/ as a tap [R] or as a retroflex [õ] (as in porta door); nominal number agreement (as in as casas/as casa the houses); and first person plural and third person plural verb agreement (as in nós fomos/nós foi we went, eles foram/eles foi they went). The main goal is to investigate the inter-relation between the expression of social identities through language uses and the possible impact of social meanings on processes of language variation and change, in a highly diverse and heterogeneous community. Based on the theory and methods of Variationist Sociolinguistics (Labov, 2006 [1966], 2008 [1972]), each variables linguistic and social embedding, as well as their simultaneous embedding in individual speakers speech, were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively in 118 sociolinguistic interviews with native Paulistano speakers. In addition, perceptions on the variants of (-r) were examined through an experiment using the Matched Guise Technique (Lambert et al., 1960), aimed at describing the mechanisms underlying the association of certain social meanings with different language forms. The results show that, in spite of the similarity between the social embedding of the four variables (all of them are correlated with speakers sex/gender, social class, and level of education), there are different trends within the community for instance, change towards (e) diphthongization; divergent patterns regarding (-r) in the speech of younger speakers of different social classes; stable variation in nominal and verbal agreement in peripheral areas but change towards the prestige variant in central areas. The explanation for these patterns is related to the variants social meanings. It is argued that [ej] has spread rapidly and unidirectionally because it is a marker (Labov, 2008 [1972]) for Paulistanos, who are not aware of the variable and do not present an elaborate metalinguistic discourse on its variants. The fact that retroflex /r/ is strongly favored by working class youth may be attributed to a reinterpretation of its social meaning, due to the extensive presence of migrants from the Northern and Northeastern regions of the country, whose /r/ realization as a fricative is relatively more stigmatized in the community. At the same time, although nominal and verbal agreement are very similarly stratified, the nonstandard variant of the former (as casa the houses) exhibits greater vitality as it indexes masculinities and local identities with the city and with Mooca, one of its most traditional neighborhoods. Despite different trends by different social groups in the community, the embedding of the linguistic variables is systematically reproduced in each speakers speech, which allows for the characterization of São Paulo as a single speech community (Labov, 2006 [1966]) in that its native speakers share norms of use and evaluation of the variants. According to the perception test, the city inhabitants are also consistent in their subjective reactions to the variants of (-r). It is shown that such social cohesion is promoted not by census social categories such as sex/gender or age, but by the more fundamental principle of density of communication (Gumperz, 1971b,a).