LINGUISTIC CHANGES AND VARIATIONS: A STUDY ON LEXICAL RE-SIGNIFICATION IN POPULAR LANGUAGE

Abstract

This work is related to studies of linguistic changes, variations, and reinterpretations in the Portuguese and Spanish languages, seeking the starting point of a given word and its reinterpretations today. Thus, the objective of this research is to analyze regularities and irregularities that occur in variations of popular language, with regard to semantic aspects, in order to explain the reinterpretations of standard/popular language, based on the etymology of words, linguistic change, and variation. Our specific objectives are: 1- to analyze lexical reinterpretations in popular language; 2- to study linguistic variations in certain words from their origin (within the limits of the study of the origin of the word) to Portuguese/Spanish; and 3- to list cognates and false cognates in light of the study of semantic changes, variations, and re-significations, understanding that linguistic variation is a dynamic phenomenon that occurs due to various linguistic factors and is present in both standard and popular language(gem). For the theoretical basis, we used the studies by Alves (2002), Bagno (2006), Cançado (2008), De Assis (2011), Diéguez (2011), Faraco (2017), Leiva (1994), Marques (1990), Martelotta (2008), Terra (2018), Teysser (1982), Villava and Silvestre (2017), and Weedwood (2002) were used for the theoretical basis, and etymological websites and other websites were also used to verify some content. The result of this research was a table with fifteen words, thirteen of which underwent reinterpretation, while two remained unchanged in meaning in both languages compared.