Feedback

Some people have commented to me about the entries that so far I have written. Following here, I will include the most relevant of these in regards to the post titled "Modern Estar and Para in Portuguese", and my responses to them.

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From a Brazilian community forum, in which I regularly participate, Raquel, in Northern Brazil, says the following:
OI EDDIE PARABÉNS PELO BLOGGER E PELAS PESQUISAS SOBRE AS VARIAÇÕES LINGÜÍSTICAS. COMO VOCÊ DEVE SABER O FENÔMENO DE ABREVIARMOS AS PALAVRAS QUANDO FALAMOS É NATURAL. ISSO OCORRE EM TODAS AS LÍNGUAS!PARABÉNS PELA PESQUISA E PELO INTERESSE PELA NOSSA LÍNGUA!!!!
Translation: Hello, Eddie. Kudos on the Blogger and the research about linguistic variation. As you might know, the phenomenon of abbreviating words when we speak is natural. This happens in all languages! Congratulations for the research and the interest in our language!!!
Here is the reply I gave to her: Tens muita razão com isto, Raquel. Este fenomeno realiza-se em todas as línguas. Mas, neste 'artigo' que escrevi, falava da aceitação social que têm algumas formas em português... em comparação com o espanhol, que é a língua mais perta histórica e linguisticamente. Comparei o estado destas formas na sociedade hoje em dia com o que dizem os livros de gramática.
Se houvesse tomado em conta todas as outras línguas, jamais teria terminado. Vês, falei alí do português em comparação, em tempo e espaço, ao espanhol... nada mais.
You're quite right on that, Raquel. This phenomenon is realized in all languages. Only that, in this 'article' that I wrote, I spoke of the social acceptance that certain forms have in Portuguese... in comparison with Spanish, which is the closest language both historically and linguistically.
I compared the status of these forms in society today with what the grammar books say. If I had taken in consideration all other languages, I would have never finished. You see, I spoke there of Portuguese compared, in time and space, to Spanish... nothing more.

That is quite so. I am not saying that such thing does not occur in other languages. As a matter of fact, it does. Syncopating words and leaving out entire ones are particular features of some languages, features not conforming to the standard grammar rules. Simply put, I talked there solely about Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as the social views on the respective forms.

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Wallace, from Rio De Janeiro, remarked of one comment that Marisa wrote in which she says: Pena que aqui no Brasil, muitos não respeitam o idioma como em Portugal >:E It's a shame that here in Brazil, many people don't respect [the rules of] the language like in Portugal. [angry emoticon]

To this, Wallace said to me that that isn't quite true; that even in Portugal, people use «gírias», or slang. I said to him that that is correct. In that particular entry, I stated that the non-standard forms discussed are found in Brazil, as well as in Portugal. Nonetheless, there are many other forms, in both of these countries, not just in Brazil, that deviate themselves from the standard language.

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Roberta, from Rio de Janeiro also, says that to use those forms discussed, «é bonitinho», or, that it is cute. She reminds me that on the internet everyone uses shortened word forms, in all languages. I tell her that that is very true. However, in this particular case, it has gone a step further. I told her that in my analysis, I had simply done a comparision between the two languages (Spanish/Portuguese). I added that though I have indeed found on the internet the syncopated forms in Spanish (e.g. toy, tás, tá), I have in no way found them as frequently or abundantly as I have in Portuguese. In Spanish, I said, these forms are often used as a play on words; in Portuguese, they have become quite the spoken, non-marked standard, that is, I added, without being socially disregarded. I finished by saying that not once in my entry did I say that the mentioned realizations were 'wrong'. I said that I would tell her something that she probably had heard many times before: Quem faz a língua é o povo, a gente... jamais os livros de gramática (Those who make the language are the masses, the people... never once the grammar books).