A study on the construction [por X tempo] in the light of Cognitive-Functional Linguistics

syntax and aspect

Abstract

In this work, we aim to define the properties of form and meaning of the construction [por X tempo], a Brazilian Portuguese subschema in which X is a slot filled by the indefinite pronouns tanto, muito, pouco and algum. Our particular interest in this object has to do with its immanent aspectual value. Even in cases where the verb is telic and perfective, the use of [por X tempo] adds a cursive or iterative trajectory, as we can see, for example, when we compare the sentences a) “Ele leu o livro” (He read the book) and “Ele leu o livro por muito tempo” (He read the book for a long time); b) “Eu sonhei com isso” (I dreamt about it) and “Eu sonhei com isso por muito tempo” (I dreamt about it for a long time). For our research, we selected 400 tokens from Corpus Now (www.corpusdoportugues.org/now/) and analyzed them in the light of the theoretical assumptions of Cognitive-Functional Linguistics (OLIVEIRA; ROSÁRIO, 2016; CUNHA; BISPO; SILVA, 2013; TRAUGOTT; TROUSDALE, 2013; among others). The results show us that cursivity/iterativity should be interpreted as gradient categories, in which the constructions can assume a more or less durable/iterative aspectual value, depending mainly on the following factors: a) the semantic value of the indefinite pronouns that occupy the slot X; b) the actional classes of verbs (that involve the notions of teliticity, durativity and staticity); the immediate linguistic context where the event occurs.