Some Particularities of the Use of Definite Articles in Proper Nouns (Antroponyms and Toponyms): A Semantic Approach in a Comparative Perspective Between Mozambican Portuguese and European Portuguese

Abstract

The present work, entitled Some peculiarities of the use of definite articles in proper nouns (anthroponyms and toponyms): a semantic approach in a comparative perspective between Mozambican Portuguese and European Portuguese, has as main objective to analyze the use of definite articles in proper nouns ( anthroponyms and toponyms) in Mozambican Portuguese. In this sense, we try to describe the different contexts in which the presence/absence of definite articles in proper names (anthroponyms and toponyms) occurs in European Portuguese (EP), we also try to compare the use of definite articles in proper names (anthroponyms and toponyms) in Mozambican Portuguese (PM) with European Portuguese (PE). The study is of a descriptive nature and to carry out the data analysis, a written corpus was built that resulted from the application of two linguistic tests, namely a provoked production test (filling in empty spaces in Portuguese sentences), composed of thirteen ( 13) sentences and a test of grammaticality and/or acceptability judgments, consisting of twenty-six (26) sentences. The inquiry was directed to eighty (80) students of the 10th Grade of the Secondary School of Tete. The analyzed data allowed us to verify that in the variety of Mozambican Portuguese, speakers constantly omit the definite articles in sentences with simple anthroponyms in different positions and contexts, thus creating a difference with European Portuguese; they omit definite articles in contexts where simple toponyms occur (referring to place names that designate landforms), in a predicative syntactic position of the subject; in short, the study allowed us to verify several differences in the two varieties of Portuguese, with regard to the use and/or omission of definite articles in different contexts.