Relativas reduzidas de gerúndio - uma análise funcional centrada no uso

Abstract

This study investigates the restrictive and appositive relative gerund constructions in Brazilian written Portuguese. The main objective is to verify the functional properties of these constructions and to point out some aspects that explain the more 'independent' form of the appositive relative clauses. Taking the different logical-semantic relations which emerge in the periods with relative clauses, morphosyntactic, semantic and discursive parameters are analyzed, such as the equivalence between non-finite and finite relative constructions, the co-referentiality between the subjects of the relative construction and the matrix clause, time and verbal mood of the matrix clause and semantic type of the verb of the relative construction. The relative gerund constructions are analyzed with emphasis on their functional aspects, considering the interdependence between semantics and syntax and also from a perspective of studying the language in a continuum point of view. The theoretical support of this paper is the Usage-based Functional Linguistics approach, which associates the theoretical and methodological assumptions of authors such as Givon (1995), Decat (2001), Oliveira (2001), Bispo (2009), Bybee (2010), Traugott and Trousdale (2013), Rosario (2016), among others. As regards the methodological procedures, the theoretical instrument is used to analyze the Portuguese language data, extracted from the Brazilian Portuguese corpus. This research has a quantitative and qualitative character, with emphasis in this last modality. 114 data were analyzed. Regarding the results, the research showed that the use of the gerund in relative clauses is quite productive in writing, and the appositive relative clauses can be characterized as a more autonomous structure