As estruturas reflexivas no português afro-brasileiro: uma análise da comunidade de Helvécia

Several linguistic studies about the reflexive structures present in the Portuguese spoken in Brazil have revealed some characteristics that seem to be typical features of Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese, especially when considering rural dialects. Most of these studies, however, do not take into account linguistic contact during the colonization of Brazil - principally contact between Portuguese and African Languages - as a likely explanation for the effect on the reflexivization processes used in the vernacular speech of the language that developed in Brazil. Taking as a starting point the community of Helvécia, located in the extreme south of Bahia state, the analysis presented here represents part of the research developed about the presence of such features in the speech of rural Afro-Brazilian communities, and aims to contribute to a better understanding of the possible influence of contact between languages in the formation of Brazilian Portuguese, especially in its vernacular varieties.