The predicate parecer in the history of Portuguese

the particular case of constructions with raising constituents

Abstract

The predicate parecer instantiates, in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) a rich typology of constructions, involving: (i) constructions with parecer1, as a full verb; (ii) constructions with parecer2, as a support verb of a predicative term; (iii) constructions with parecer3 as modal verb; (iv) constructions with parecer4, as an epistemic verb, marking indirect evidence for an event; and finally, (v) constructions with parecer5 also as a marker of indirect evidence, in process of grammaticalization, in which the use is similar to an epistemic modal adverb. This paper concerns constructions instantiated by parecer3 and parecer4, as they allow the arguments encoding of the subordinate clause in the subject position of the sentence matrix, a phenomenon that is commonly referred to in the literature as Raising. We intend to examine the pragmatic-discursive, semantic and morphosyntactic aspects of these constructions along the synchrony composed of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. For this purpose, we carried out a data collection in empirical corpus, based on the “Project for the History of Brazilian Portuguese”. We will bring, by way of conclusion, directions for continuing research of the theme in seeking for a more consistent definition of the phenomenon, expanding the investigated predicates and the delimiting components in order to investigate the sufficient and necessary criteria for a definition of the phenomenon in BP.