The function of the article in the modes of substantive nomination in Portuguese

Abstract

This paper presents a functional analysis of the grammar of the article in Portuguese. The article is seen as a morphological category that serves to differentiate the modes of substantive nomination in speech. A special status of the article in Portuguese, compared with the other grammatical categories, is underscored. Unlike other categories, that are mainly illustrative, serving to describe the object, the article characterizes the subjective mode of reference of the sign to the object. The function of the article has three aspects: true side (referential basis), pragmatic (communicational stress) and stylistic (cultural value). Several linguistic approaches to the article, covering these three functional aspects, are examined. Three modes of substantive nomination are pointed out: definite article nomination, indefinite article nomination and without article nomination (d/a-nomination, i/a-nomination, w/a-nomination). The functional meanings of the three nominative modes are correlated with all functional semantic aspects: referential, pragmatic and stylistic. The difference between the grammar of the article in substantive word-combinations and the grammar of the article in predicative constructions is outlined. On the one hand, it is an attributive and complementive grammar of the article within a substantive phrase. On the other hand, the article marks the function of a syntactic actant in the sentence. At this level, the article obtains the capacity to be an instrument to stress the rhema accent in linear structure of the utterance. At this level too, the article reveals its stylistic function. The paper presents a number of examples that show the use or omission of the article in the sentence according to its function. A brief summary presents the parameters of interpretation and differentiation of various types of substantive nominations in Portuguese with regard to the function of the article: reference, indication, quality, rhema-stressing, context newness. The paper may be of interest to the linguists specializing in the sphere of grammar of Portuguese and other Romance or German languages.