The realization of subject by the São Paulo elite in the beginning of the twentieth century

Abstract

This paper analyses the trajectory of empty subjects and overt subjects in the standard language of the São Paulo elite from the late twentieth century to 1930s, when that city received a large influx of immigrants, who were speakers of languages characterized by the use of null subject. The analysis of the linguistic corpora led us to conclude that the elite, despite making more use of empty subject, was already boosting the use of overt subjects, a phenomenon well advanced in the caipira dialect. This behavior is explained by structural factors internal to language, and also expressed, from the social-historical standpoint, a clear choice of a linguistic form, which was opposed to the standard language of immigrants, as established by the habitus of the elite.