Abstract
Previous studies of the historical development of partial interrogatives have postulated a change from contexts in which the proposition of the interrogative has been explicitly mentioned in the previous discourse, to contexts in which the proposition is discourse-new. The present paper explores whether the historical increase in the usage frequency of Brazilian Portuguese in-situ wh-interrogatives represents the same process. Using data from a large corpus of BP theater texts dated between the 19th and 21st century, several discourse functions of InSituWh are identified, the most frequent of which are cataphorical questions, which serve to either open up a question unrelated to the current question under discussion, or raise further questions about the current question under discussion, and rhetorical questions, which question the validity or relevance of a previously mentioned proposition. Rhetorical questions typically do not trigger a response by the interlocutor and are used with psychological verbs and morphologically simple interrogative pronouns. A statistical analysis of the diachronic distribution of InSituWh in the data reveals an increase in the usage frequency of InSituWh especially in contexts in which the proposition is discourse-new. However, the results also indicate that this increase is not due to a grammatical change of InSituWh but rather reflects a consolidation of the rhetorical question function of InSituWh within the genre of theater plays.
Highlights
The Portuguese system of partial interrogatives has undergone dramatic changes over time
These changes have been documented both for European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), Lopes Rossi’s (1996) results suggest that the change was implemented to a stronger degree in BP than in EP
In the specific genre of theater texts, a process of conventionalization of the rhetorical question function has taken place. This genre-internal conventionalization process is not likely to reflect the historical development of InSituWh in spoken BP, which is why the results demonstrate the importance of considering genre-specific tendencies in language use when analyzing language change
Summary
The Portuguese system of partial interrogatives has undergone dramatic changes over time. Regarding InSituWh, Larrivée’s (to appear) analysis suggests a slight increase of the usage frequency of French InSituWh between the 20th and 21st century He documents a decrease of the use of InSituWh in contexts involving explicitly mentioned propositions. While cataphorical readings can arise both in contexts in which the proposition is discourse-new or discourse-old, rhetorical question readings most typically occur in contexts in which the proposition is discourse-new This difference is of crucial importance for the interpretation of the historical changes in the distribution of InSituWh attested in the corpus data. In the specific genre of theater texts, a process of conventionalization of the rhetorical question function has taken place This genre-internal conventionalization process is not likely to reflect the historical development of InSituWh in spoken BP, which is why the results demonstrate the importance of considering genre-specific tendencies in language use when analyzing language change
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