A configuração argumental dos verbos dicendi na conversação

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the behavior of verbs of utterance (VU) in natural conversation. The goal is to analyze the configuration of these verbs to investigate how this type of verb and its arguments are manifested in real language usage. The research focuses the morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of the external and internal arguments of VU. Therefore, I examine i) the syntactic-semantic relationship of these arguments with the VU, ii) the level of integration between the matrix sentence and the reported speech (introduced by a VU), iii) the factors that determine the selection and arrangement of the internal argument, iv) if there is a preference for certain types of argument structure over others, v) if the direct object is new or old information, and vi) if the object occurs on the figure or background portion of the text. The VU are considered by Munro (1982, apud FURTADO DA CUNHA, 2006) unique in syntax as they differ from typical transitive verbs as well as typical intransitive verbs. This feature alone has motivated several studies about the behavior of this verb; however, much of the knowledge produced is not based on spontaneous speech data. Hence, the justification for the development of this study, which aims to analyze the configuration of VU based on utterances produced in spontaneous situations of language usage. This work is grounded on theoretical and methodological principles of Linguística Funcional Centrada no Uso - Usage-based Theory, in English - (FURTADO DA CUNHA et al., 2013; MARTELOTTA, 2011; BYBEE, 2010), which argues for the analysis of language in use, that is, in spontaneous communicative situations. Therefore, this approach takes into account that the communicative situation directly affects the language. The database is Banco Conversacional de Natal (FURTADO DA CUNHA, 2011), which is a sample of natural speech. Since it examines actual data of spontaneous speech, this research allows observe how speech verbs and their arguments are used by speakers engaged in communicative interactions.