Dei uma olhada na playlist: a construção de atenuação ((SN) Dar Uma V-DA (SP)) em perspectiva funcional-construcionista

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is the construction [(NP) dar uma V-da (PP)], which licenses constructs such as dei uma olhada na playlist ‘I had a look at the playlist’. The objective of this study is to analyse the morphosyntactic, semantic-pragmatic, and cognitive aspects of this construction and to specify the structure of the constructional network by making reference to the subschemas and constructs licensed by this construction. This construction is a complex predicate in which the verbal slot is filled by a light verb dar ‘give’ and an NP slot which is filled by a deverbal noun ending in the suffix -da (e.g. dar uma olhada ‘have a look’). This study stands on a Usage-based Linguistics framework, looking closely at some of the assumptions of Construction Grammar. This study is mainly qualitative in nature, though it does draw on some quantitative methodology. The data analysed in this study is in the written medium and consists of internet blogs, which are informal in nature. The thesis supports the hypothesis that this construction connotes attenuation, by which I mean a reduction in intensity and duration of the action denoted by the verb, and that the effects of this reduction vary depending on the aspectual properties present in the semantics of the deverbal noun. The results of the study show that the verb slot of the NP DAR uma V-da construction can be filled by a verb denoting an action verb, an action-process verb, or a process verb (CHAFE, 1979; BORBA, 2002) and can take at most two arguments, which fill the NP and PP slots. These types of verbs are dynamic, and can represent either an accomplishment or an achievement. The analysis of the data supports the existence of a constructional network consisting of three subschemas centred around the type of verb that fills the V slot, and eight microconstructions based on the aspectual properties of the predicate. As well as aspect, the DAR uma V-da construction also involves a subjective evaluation on the part of the speaker and processes of subjectification and intersubjectification, negotiation of meaning via ‘invited inference’ (TRAUGOTT; DASHER, 2002), as well as cognitive processes such as categorisation, chunking and metaphor. Finally, analysing language as an inventory of constructions, it is shown that the DAR uma V-da construction exhibits multiple inheritance from the ditransitive construction and other constructions with the verb dar (e.g. dar um beijo ‘give a kiss’).