Evaluative morphology in Portuguese in Uruguay

Abstract

This paper addresses the distribution of the evaluative suffixes -inho/-zinho from Portuguese and -ito/-cito from Spanish, on data from Portuguese spoken in Uruguay, a variety whose grammar presents Brazilian characteristics (Carvalho, 2003; Simioni, 2021) and its own characteristics (Carvalho; Bessett, 2015; Gasque; Chaves; Simioni, 2018), in addition to a strong influence from Spanish, especially at the lexical level. Given the high productivity and regular distribution of these suffixes, we intend to map traces of linguistic contact and investigate their distributional properties in the Portuguese spoken in Uruguay. The methodology comprises the analysis of speech data collected through semi-structured interviews with four informants from Poblado Uruguay - Rio Branco/Uruguay. The 102 instances with the pairs -inho/-zinho or -ito/-cito were classified according to structural aspects, as well as the base language. The results point to a greater alignment with Portuguese: there is a predominance of the suffixes -inho/-zinho (92.2% – 94/102) compared to the suffix -ito (7.8% – 8/102). In the context of roots belonging to both languages (e.g., boca - boquinha), there was also a predominance of the suffix -inho (87.5% – 28/32) over -ito (12.5% – 4/32). The data also reveal that there are 12 Spanish roots with a Portuguese diminutive suffix (e.g., botellinha), but there are no Portuguese roots with a Spanish suffix. For comparison purposes, these evaluatives were also observed in other available data sources on the variety. The results corroborate previous work that points to the presence of a Brazilian grammar.