An Investigation into the Semantics of Instrumentality in Brazilian Portuguese

• Grant number: 25/03341-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Renato Miguel Basso
• Grantee: Caroline Ferreira
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project investigates instrumental meaning in Brazilian Portuguese (BP), focusing on the role of the preposition com in instrumental constructions. The initial analysis highlights that com exhibits a wide range of interpretations, potentially indicating comitativity, mediation, assistance, or agency, depending on the context and structure in which it appears. Additionally, we will examine other BP constructions, such as those involving verbs related to usar ('to use') and expressions like por meio de ('by means of'), which also convey instrumental meaning, albeit with differences compared to com, underscoring the semantic and pragmatic complexity of the topic. Despite its relevance, instrumental meaning in BP still lacks systematic studies addressing its specificities and semantic restrictions. Therefore, the goal of this research is to compile and systematize instrumental constructions in BP, assessing how existing theories-such as those on comitativity and event structure-account for these interpretative variations. If current theories prove inadequate, we aim to propose theoretical revisions that incorporate BP's specific characteristics. This study seeks to develop a unified formulation that compositionally explains the various instrumental interpretations of com, as well as to describe and analyze other instrumental constructions in BP, contributing to advancements in formal semantics and the understanding of instrumental relations in natural languages. (AU)