Word order syntax in the corpus of letters and acts produced by good men from the Municipal Chamber of Salvador

• Grant number: 17/16581-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2017
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Historical Linguistics
• Principal researcher: Charlotte Marie Chambelland Galves
• Grantee: Williane Silva Coroa
• Home Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/06078-9 - Portuguese in time and space: linguistic contact, grammars in competition and parametric change, AP.TEM

Abstract

This project studies the evolution of portuguese syntax in the unexplored corpus of letters and acts produced by good men from the Municipal Chamber of Salvador between the 17th and 18th centuries. We will compare the texts written by Brazilians and Portuguese, born between 1580 and 1719, in order to verify if the texts produced by Brazilians show some change in relation to Modern European Portuguese and Classical Portuguese. The phenomena considered for comparative purposes are those considered more relevant from the diachronic point of view: position of the subject in relation to the verb, clitics placement, null subject and object. The theoretical framework adopted will be the theory of generative grammar, minimalist program (CHOMSKY, 1995, among others). Regarding diachrony, the theoretical contribution will be Lightfoot (1999 and 2006), Roberts (2007), and Kroch (1989, 1994 and 2001), through the notion of grammar competition. (AU)