From concessivity to causality: the singular evolution of posto que

• Grant number: 24/17282-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Historical Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Sanderléia Roberta Longhin
• Grantee: Natalia da Silva Basaglia
• 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

Abstract

The aim of this project is to research aspects of the semantic change undergone by constructions with posto que in the light of theoretical assumptions of Grammaticalization (NARROG; HEINE, 2021; BYBEE, 2010, 2015; TRAUGOTT, 2012). The main issue at hand is the historic transition from concessivity > causality, which seems exceptional in view of phylogenetic tendencies, according to which concessivity presents itself as the meaning which emerges at a later point (KORTMANN, 1997). Assuming a constitutive relation between the expression of cause and concession, we follow the hypothesis that characteristics which are inherent to concessive constructions with posto que, especially the type of concession expressed herein, along with contextual properties, may have enabled the causal reading, which reinforces expectations, instead of the concessive reading, which breaks expectations. The research is carried out from a diachronic perspective, based on data extracted from texts in different genres which have been written over a time frame of five centuries (16th to 20th century) The analysis combines a quantitative and qualitative approach, essentially taking into account the formal and functional properties of constructions with posto que and the properties of their usage contexts.