Insubordinate Conditional-Concessive Constructions with 'nem que' in Brazilian Portuguese: a Cognitive-Constructional Analysis"

• Grant number: 24/08219-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Flavia Bezerra de Menezes Hirata Vale
• Grantee: Amanda de Lira Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This study seeks to examine insubordinated conditional-concessive constructions prefaced by "nem que". Insubordinated constructions are those that, despite appearing formally subordinate, are conventionally used as main clauses (Evans, 2007). The objectives of this research aim at the description and analysis of the formal and functional configurations of insubordinated conditional-concessive constructions from a holistic perspective of their usage (Croft, 2001). Through this investigation, the goal is to delve into these constructions, thereby expanding the understanding of their form and content, given the absence of studies that specifically explore the use of this insubordinated construction in Portuguese.To test the proposed hypotheses, we analyze examples of conditional-concessive clauses drawn from the Corpus do Português (Davies and Michael, 2007), aiming to capture potential trends or distinctions in the usage of these constructions when compared to their subordinated counterparts. Methodologically, both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods are employed, with a particular emphasis on the qualitative analysis of the data to test our hypotheses. The primary objective of this master's project is to demonstrate, beyond the formal and functional characteristics of these constructions-following the line of research already undertaken for Spanish (Martínez Caro; Alba-Juez, 2021; Royo-Viñuales, Van Linden, 2022), French (Royo-Viñuales, Van Praet, Degand, 2022), and Portuguese (Hirata-Vale, 2023, forthcoming)-that insubordinated constructions significantly differ from their subordinated counterparts, which fulfill a crucial intersubjective role.In other words, it is argued that this phenomenon is not merely a case in which the main clause has been omitted, but rather a distinct syntactic strategy, which, through inferential processes, is responsible for expressing procedural meanings in the terms defined by Traugott and Dasher (2002).