Variação linguística na expressão do sujeito pronominal no espanhol de Cuba / Linguistic Variation in the Expression of the Pronominal Subject in Cuban Spanish

Resumo: É costume considerar a região do Caribe como a mais compacta e uniforme das zonas do espanhol. No campo da sintaxe, uma das características de destaque que diferenciariam a variedade caribenha das outras variedades do espanhol é justamente a frequente menção explícita do sujeito pronominal, inclusive em contextos neutros. Neste trabalho, investigamos se o espanhol de Cuba, que recebeu pouca atenção da literatura até o momento, se comporta de forma análoga ou se distancia das demais variedades que compõem a zona caribenha, no que se refere à expressão do sujeito pronominal. Para tanto, a partir de uma orientação teórico-metodológica sociolinguística de base laboviana (WEINREICH; LABOV; HERZOG, 2006[1968]; LABOV, 2008[1972], 1994), o corpus utilizado consiste nas entrevistas disponibilizadas pelo projeto PRESEEA (Proyecto para el estudio sociolingüistico del español de España y América). Os resultados gerais indicam que o sujeito nulo é a estratégia preferida nessa variedade. No entanto, quando comparado com as taxas pronominais encontradas em outros trabalhos – sejam da variedade Cubana ou de outras variedades – nota-se que Cuba se comporta de forma semelhante a outras variedades da zona caribenha.Palavras-chaves: sujeito pronominal; variedade caribenha; PRESEEA; Havana; variação e mudança.Abstract: It is commom to consider the Caribbean region as the most compact and uniform of the Spanish areas. In the field of syntax, one of the outstanding characteristics that would differentiate the Caribbean variety from other varieties of Spanish is precisely the frequent explicit expression of the pronominal subject, even in neutral contexts. In this work, we investigated whether the Cuban Spanish, which has received little attention from the literature so far, behaves in a similar way or distances itself from the other varieties that make up the Caribbean zone, with regard to the expression of the pronominal subject. Therefore, based on a Labovian-based sociolinguistic theoretical and methodological orientation (WEINREICH; LABOV; HERZOG, 2006[1968]; LABOV, 2008[1972], 1994), the corpus used consists of the interviews provided by the PRESEEA project (Proyecto para el estudio sociolingüistico del español de España y América). The general results indicate that the null subject is the preferred strategy in this variety. However, when compared to the pronominal rates found in other studies – whether of the Cuban variety or other varieties – it is noted that Cuba behaves similarly to other varieties in the Caribbean area.Keywords: pronominal subject; Caribbean variety; PRESEEA; Havana; variation and change.

The Haunting Letter: Presence, Absence, and Writing in Sab

Written expression allows for communication across absences both spatial and temporal. In fact, Jacques Derrida argues in his essay “Signature Event Context” (1988) that absence is an element of every communication and, because of this absence, meaning shifts with new contexts and displacements. When the titular character of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda’s 1841 Cuban-Spanish Gothic novel Sab – a black slave in love with his white mistress – dies immediately after finishing a letter, he imbues the writing with his presence by way of his first-person expression and personal narrative, while simultaneously ensuring his irreversible absence from his text by death. That his letter outlives him allows for the reiteration of Sab’s final words and thoughts each time his letter is reread. This play between absence and presence inherent in Sab’s letter is the same essential paradox of the specter as described by Derrida in Specters of Marx (1993). Sab’s combined presence and absence in his letter turns him into a kind of ghost that haunts those who read his words.In this paper, I analyze Sab’s letter and its rippling effect throughout the story. The letter acts to identify Sab — and through him the institution of slavery that he both represents and protests against — as the haunting figure of the novel. This haunting, by its very existence, critiques the remembrance of history.