ALTERNATION BETWEEN FUTURE PERFECT AND IMPERFECT OF THE INDICATIVE IN THE FUNCTIONAL DOMAIN OF THE COUNTERFACTUAL CONDITION
Variation. Counterfactual condition. Functional domain. Sociofuncionalismo.
In this thesis, we deal the functional domain of the counterfactual condition encoded linguistically in constructions 'if p, then q', wherein the first sentence indicates the conditioning situation and the second sentence the conditioned situation. We aim to analyze the alternation of the verbal forms future perfect of the indicative (simple and composite) and imperfect of the indicative (simple and composite) in the coding of the situation referred in the conditioned sentence, evaluating influences exerted by social, structural and semantic-pragmatic factors about the use of these forms. Our theoretical and methodological background is based on the sociolinguistic variationist assumptions (cf. WEINRICH; LABOV; HERZOG, 1968; LABOV, 2008 [1972], 2001, 2010, among others) and the American linguistic functionalism, particularly in its typological aspect (cf. GIVON, 1995, 2001; LEHMANN 2011, among others). This theoretical and methodological interface can be called sociofuncionalismo (TAVARES, 2003, 2014; GORSKI; TAVARES, 2013, among others). The data sample of this research consists of 360 counterfactual conditionals constructions "if p, then q" extracted from the digital environment, which gives to our work a pioneering exploration of the phenomenon of counterfactual condition in a genre, the comment (specifically Facebook), in the context of Computer Mediated Communication (cf. CRYSTAL, 2013; TAGLIAMONTE, 2012; BARON, 2013; ANDROUTSOPULOS, 2011; PEERSMAN et al, 2016, among others). The analysis presented here is preliminary and exploratory, but it points out that some of the controlled factors seem to favor greater use of future perfect form at the expense of other forms.