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Ongoing change in post-independence São Tomé: The use of rhotics as a marker of national identity among young speakers of Santomean Portuguese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2019

Marie-Eve Bouchard
Marie-Eve Bouchard*
Affiliation:
Stockholm University
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Abstract

This paper examines variation in the use of rhotics in Santomean Portuguese. In Portuguese, the distribution of rhotics is determined by syllable structure (Bonet & Mascaró, 1997). However, the emerging variety of Portuguese spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe diverges from the standard norm and shows great variability in its use of rhotics; specifically, Santomeans often use a strong-R in positions that require a weak-r in European and Brazilian Portuguese. Sociolinguistic interviews with 56 speakers from the capital of São Tomé and Príncipe and its surroundings provide 5287 data points for analysis. Based on the apparent-time construct (Bailey, 2004; Bailey et al., 1991), variation patterns show a language change in progress in the use of the strong-R, with younger speakers using it more frequently. Results also reveal the emergence of rhotic fricatives in the speech of Santomeans born after the independence of the country.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 21 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

This research was supported by the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship #767-2012-1785 and the MacCracken Fellowship (New York University). I am grateful to the Santomean speakers who shared their language and time with me.

References

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