Control of the semantic features of “nós” and “a gente” in variationist studies

Abstract

The first person plural has different possible semantic interpretations expressing broader and narrower referents. Sociolinguistic research indicates that the semantic value assigned to the referential contexts expressed by the first person plural is significant for the variation of the Brazilian Portuguese forms nós and a gente. In order to present generalizations about the use of a gente according to the semantic features of the referent, we performed a meta-analysis of seventeen variationist studies which analyzed the semantic interpretation of these forms of the first person plural. A chi-squared test was conducted for each study independently. Overall, the results of the univariate analysis revealed an association between the choice of variant (nós or a gente) and the semantic features of the referent. Next, in order to be able to generate some generalizations about the probability of a gente being used with a specific semantic feature, a generalized logistic regression was performed for each study. The results indicate that specific/determine referential contexts were more likely to be expressed by a gente, which indicates a loss of specific/generic semantic distinction between the variants nós and a gente.