The pejorative suffixes: relations between semantics and syntax

• Grant number: 15/24906-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Dias Minussi
• Grantee: Caroline da Silva Oliveira
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

We seek to investigate the relationship between the semantic and syntactic factors by focusing on the formation of derivational names by suffix derivation, reflecting on bases, affixes, products, and the relationships established between them. Following the theoretical model of Distributed Morphology (Cf. HALLE; MARANTZ, 1993; MARANTZ, 1997), we propose an investigation and description of the syntactic-semantic interface (Cf. MINUSSI; NÓBREGA, 2014) in which the pejorative formations can be inserted. Based on Frota (1985) and especially on the Phase Theory (MARANTZ, 2001; ARAD, 2003), we aim to select our corpus through oral and written texts collected in various types of media, with the fundamental concept of the speaker's intuition (about language?). Furthermore, we also seek to analyze the syntactic changes around these formations, so we investigate the syntactic context in which the pejorative forms are found, in order to contribute to the establishment of derivational patterns, investigate the semantic contribution of syntactic context and reflect on what would be the place of pejoratively in a model of architecture of grammar such as that proposed by the Distributed Morphology. (AU)