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| Author(s): |
Paulo Ângelo de Araújo Adriano
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem |
| Defense date: | 2023-02-28 |
| Examining board members: |
Sonia Maria Lazzarini Cyrino;
Adam Ledgeway;
Aroldo Leal de Andrade;
Juanito Ornelas de Avelar;
Marcus Vinicius da Silva Lunguinho
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| Advisor: | Sonia Maria Lazzarini Cyrino |
| Abstract | |
This dissertation investigates the shift from a verbal system with synthetic to analytic tendencies that occurred in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) between the 18th and 21st centuries. Anchored in the most recent model of Generative Grammar, the Minimalist Program, more specifically, the present dissertation examines the analyticisation process of the present Tense in BP. To conduct the research, this study created a morphologically annotated corpus of comedy plays from the 18th to the 21st centuries, which are now part of the digital platform of Corpus Tycho Brahe – Unicamp. The present analysis shows that until the end of the 19th century, the synthetic present in BP conveyed several readings, among which the reading of present Tense per se, that is, of concomitance in relation to speech. Differently, after the end of the 19th century, temporal reading ceased to be used by BP speakers via the synthetic present forms when the analytic form estar.prs + gerund, always present in the system, became the preferred form to convey Tense per se, reflecting an analytic tendency for the present Tense. In light of recent developments of the Minimalist Program and assuming an ordered hierarchy of adverbs, this dissertation proposes that lexical verbs in the synthetic present Tense moved to the Tense zone by the end of the 19th century, as did the auxiliary estar of the analytic form estar.prs + gerund. After this period, however, some acting force, viz. linguistic contact or principles of economics, triggered the preference for the analytical form to convey present Tense per se, restricting temporal notions to just auxiliaries. Anchored in the Parameter Hierarchy approach, this dissertation argues that the change from a system with a synthetic tendency to a system with an analytic tendency for the present Tense was a parametric change from meso- to microparameter: The functional projection T, which previously established relationship with any finite verbal class, was restricted to only auxiliary verbs, becoming inert concerning lexical verbs, which no longer trigger temporal notions, but only aspectual ones. Presenting data from other Tenses, this thesis is not restricted to just the analyticisation of the present Tense and argues that the change illustrated in this case study is also attested in other Tenses, which reflects a generalised analyticisation process in BP (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 19/17443-9 - Aspects of the syntax of the present tense in BP: a diachronic approach |
| Grantee: | Paulo Ângelo de Araújo Adriano |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |