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

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.

Heritage Tagalog Phonology and a Variationist Framework of Language Contact

“…For example, in Spanish, the realization of the trill may be conditioned by phonological context (Bradley 2006) and word position (Henriksen and Willis 2010). In Santomean Portuguese, Bouchard (2019) found an on-going change whereby younger speakers demonstrate greater use of fricative variants in all positions of a word compared to their older counterparts. Finally, in English, the presence or absence of rhotics in coda position may be associated with region, formality, socioeconomic status, and gender (Labov 1966).…”

Expansão do léxico português em São Tomé e Príncipe : fauna e flora

“…Adicionalmente, no período de 1890 a 1960, a importação de mão-de-obra para o trabalho nas lavouras de café e cacau também acresceu ao ambiente linguístico de STP os falantes do português dos tongas -grupo formado por trabalhadores contratados e seus descendentes, outrora confinados às propriedades rurais até pelo menos a década de 1980de (Baxter 2018Rougé 1991), usuários de uma variedade de português inicialmente adquirida como segunda língua. No último quartil do século XX, a oficialização do português como língua oficial, a migração campo-cidade, a escolarização em massa, a mídia, e um processo contínuo de urbanização alteraram o quadro multilíngue de STP a favor da língua portuguesa, às custas das demais línguas, promovendo a obsolescência das línguas crioulas (Araujo 2020c;Bouchard 2017). Até 1975, ano da independência política de STP, a população portuguesa nunca superou 3% da população geral.…”

“…A hipótese da simples coincidência é descartada baseada na regularidade dos padrões entre os termos de uma língua e outra. Ademais, a origem comum também não se sustenta posto que a presença massiva da língua portuguesa em STP é um fenômeno dos últimos setenta anos, posterior à difusão do santome no território e ao estabelecimento imemorial dos itens lexicais no santome (Araujo 2020c;Bandeira 2017a;Bouchard 2019). Mesmo que a língua portuguesa gozasse de prestígio por ser o idioma da potência colonial, os dados demonstram que, de 1807 até 1975, o contingente de portugueses nunca ultrapassou 3% da população (Araujo 2020c;Nascimento 2000).…”

“We have that strong R, you know”: the enregisterment of a distinctive use of rhotics in Santomean Portuguese

“…She had become aware of her distinctive use of r-sounds, mainly because the Portuguese in her surroundings had told her repeatedly that she used them differently (as she mentioned in the interview excerpt above). This is not surprising, since for non-Santomeans, one of the most distinctive features of the variety of Portuguese spoken on São Tomé Island is the pronunciation of /r/ as a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] (or sometimes a trill [r]) in contexts where, phonologically, a flap [ɾ] is expected in most other varieties of Portuguese spoken in Brazil and Portugal ( Bouchard 2019a ). Even though the rhotics show great variability in the Portuguese-speaking world (cf.…”

“…The same can be said about the use of a strong-R in weak-r positions; although the strong-R is not the most frequently used rhotic in consonant clusters (15%) and intervocalically (34%), it is often favoured by Santomeans. Based on the interchangeability of the r-sounds regardless of their position in the word, Bouchard (2017 , 2019a ), Pereira et al (2018) , and Agostinho et al (2020) have argued that Santomean Portuguese might not have a phonological distinction between the weak-r and the strong-R.…”