The Portuguese Language Continuum in Africa and Brazil

Our aim is to contrast number expression in nominal phrases (NPs) and in verbal phrases (VPs), taking into consideration variationist analysis of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), European Portuguese (EP), and Portuguese spoken in São Tomé (STP) and in Mozambique (MP). Building on sociolinguistic principles, the analysis shows that two patterns of agreement characterise varieties of Portuguese: a variable rule of plural marking, even if in differing degrees, in the non-European urban varieties versus a