O uso variável das formas “mas” e “mais” na escrita e na oralidade de alunos do Ensino Fundamental – Janaúba/MG

Abstract

In this dissertation it was researched the variable use of the mas and mais forms in the writing and speaking of secondary school students. The theme is justified because the students have written the conjunctionmaswith the insertion of the semivowel ‘i‘ mais, which goes against the normative grammar. The research based on the Sociolinguistic approach, on Educational Sociolinguistics, on linguists and grammarians who study the researched aspects, and on textbooks used by these students. In relation tometodology, from the approch to the problem, it was used Labovian proposal and, as for technical procedures, the research-action was used. The following hypotheses were elaborated a) the adversative conjunction mas is undergoing a process of change in relation to its use in speaking and its registration in writing. That is, mas is performed as mas and as an innovative form mais, without changing the meaning. This is a case of linguistic variation; b) the process of paronymy present in the adversative conjunction mas and the adverb mais can interfere with the speaking and writting of students at the school where we work; and c) according to Soares (2018), teaching practices related to metalinguistic awareness and learning of written language favor the teaching and learning of the linguistic aspect in its standard form. Data showed that the conjunction mas is performed as mas and with the insertion of the semivowel ‘i‘[majs] in the spokenlanguge. It was noticed that, in writing, mas and mais perform the function of an adversative conjunction, established formas. However, the adverb mais has not changed in use. In the analysis of structural factors, there were considered: orthography; position in the sentence and meanings of the conjunction mas and the adverb mais. Thus, it was possible to explain syntactically and semantically the realizations of the mas and maisforms in the writing and speaking of the students selected for the research.The real possibilities of using the words in question in the vernacular of brazilianportuguese were pointed out: mas and mais (variant) as an adversative conjunction; mais, indicating time "after" in non-negative phrases, besides the functions and meanings cited for these forms in dictionaries andgrammars. Based on thoseresults and on the theoretical foundations about the linguistic aspects under study, the 2nd stage of the research was carried out,: suggest a proposalmade up of teaching practices so that the uses of the mas and mais forms can be worked on, according to the standard norm. Besides the proposal, a mini-course and a workshop were carried out with with the teachers of the school where the research was developed and with the undergraduate students of Letters course/Unimontes, respectively. These three intellectual productions are indexed to the dissertation and are called Virtual notebook indexed to the dissertation – Teaching proposal, Virtual notebook indexed to the dissertation – Minicourse and Virtual notebook indexed to the dissertation – Workshop.