In this work, we will investigatethe alternation of the diminutive forms -inho/-zinho, delineating the factor that determines the choice of the speaker towards one or another formative in Brazilian Portuguese. More specifically, based on the assumptionsofthe VariationistSociolinguistics, we will analyze the productive aspect of diminutive formation in order to verify if we have one or more than one diminutive suffix, giving rise to two distinct processes, which are, respectively, X-inho e X-zinho formations. In this paper, we used multi-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA Multi Way) for repeated measures with 95% confidence limits, in order to evaluate if the choice of either suffix is determined by the effect of social factors (sex, age and regional dialect) and if there is convergence between the diminutive forms -inho and/or -zinho, measured by judgment test. The results reveal that there is evidence to admit the existence of two distinct diminutive forms in Brazilian Portuguese, -inho and -zinho. Besides, the results indicate that there is an interaction among regional dialect, sex and age in the both choice of diminutive suffixes.
Diminutive suffixes in Brazilian Portuguese; Word formation; Alternation; Linguistic variation
