Complexo oracional subjetivo sob a abordagem construcional da mudança

Abstract

In this thesis, based on the constructional approach to language change, proposed by Traugott (2008a, 2008b) and Traugott and Trousdale (2013), we are dedicated to investigate main clauses, composed of the verb to be and predicative, and its embedded clauses, which work syntactically as a subject. We aim to understand how the subjective clausal complex consisting of verb be and predicate in the matrix is organized and developed in the Portuguese language. In this scenario, we undertake, specifically: (a) to identify schematic levels, namely macroconstruction, mesoconstruction, microconstruction and construct (TRAUGOTT 2008a, 2008b); (b) to describe, accurately, the microconstructions of the subjective sentence complex in the Portuguese language; (c) propose a constructional network for the subjective sentence complex consisting of the verb be and predicative in the matrix in the Portuguese language. We work with data from the thirteenth century to the twenty-first century, in a panchronic approach (NEVES, 1997), by means of a synchronic study with diachronic evidence. The synchronic corpora are constituted by texts of the written and oral modality of the language. The written modality consists of texts taken from blogs and online magazines of national circulation, namely "Revista Veja", "Revista Isto é", "Revista Época", "Revista Caras", "Revista Cláudia" and "Revista Ana Maria". The orality is composed of interviews selected from three distinct corpora: "Projeto Mineirês: a construção de um dialeto", project "PEUL - Programa de Estudos sobre o Uso da Língua" and project "NURC / RJ - Projeto da Norma Urbana Oral Culta do Rio de Janeiro". The diachronic data were collected from the project "CIPM - Corpus Informatizado do Português Medieval" and project "Tycho Brahe". From the data analysis, we identified 9 microconstructional patterns of the subjective sentence complex composed by the verb to be and predicate in the matrix, which present specific functional and formal characteristics and, at the same time, similarities that allow them to be grouped in intermediate constructional levels. In addition, we have identified a hierarchical, highly schematic level that encompasses all observed constructs. In this sense, the accomplished analysis, conducted by a qualitative and quantitative methodology, allows us to defend that the subjective sentence complex composed by the verb to be and predicative in the matrix presents constructional patterns that serve different communicative purposes.