Testing the role of temporal reference in the imperative in Brazilian Portuguese

Imperatives in Brazilian Portuguese can be expressed either by the indicative (come!) or the subjunctive (coma!) forms. Prior research has explained this variation in terms of regional differences and as a change in progress toward more use of the indicative. Our experimental research shows that speakers from several different regions share a strong preference for the subjunctive form in distant temporal contexts, while the indicative is favored when the temporal context is more immediate. Statistical analysis of our data reveals that a potential change in progress toward greater indicative use can only be found in the more immediate contexts. The use of the subjunctive is stable in more distant contexts. We conclude that an adequate explanation of the variation must take into account the temporal reference of the imperative in its discourse context.