The variation of the verbs colocar and botar in the oral modality of language

This study aims to examine the linguistic variation in the use of the Portuguese verbs colocar and botar. Two representative corpora of the nonstandard oral variety of the language were used: Projeto Mineirês (UFMG) and Projeto NURC (UFRJ). The quantitative analysis of the data was based on the software program VARBRUL, which allowed us to find statistical results on the most relevant factors in fostering the variation between these two verbs. In an attempt to understand the phenomenon as discursive variation, a brief qualitative analysis was also made.