Complement clauses of Portuguese under a cognitive-functional approach

• Grant number: 16/01839-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: August 15, 2016
• End date: February 14, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Cássia de Sousa
• Grantee: Gisele Cássia de Sousa
• Host Investigator: Augusto Soares da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Braga (UCP), Portugal

Abstract

In previous research about complement clauses, we identified three ways in which they can be simplified by transforming the complex sentence into simple sentence: (i) grammaticalization of the matrix verb, which become an adverb; downgrading of the subordinate clause; and reanalysis of the complementizer "que" (that) or "se" (if/whether) as part of matrix verb. This last process forms grammatical markers with different pragmatic values. The aim of this research is to analyze these results under a cognitive-functional approach, by comparing dates of Brazilian and European Portuguese. (AU)