The causal construction [POR + SN + DE + X] in a functional perspective
Causal Construction. Functional Linguistics. Construction Grammar.
In this work, we investigate the causal construction [POR + SN + DE + X] in functional perspective. We aim to analyze this construction focusing on structural, semantic-cognitive and / or discursive-pragmatic aspects related to it. We intend to examine it, with a view to describing it in formal and functional terms, considering its instances of use in real communication situations. Assuming a functional perspective, the research is theoretically-methodologically based on Functional-Centered Functional Linguistics (LFCU), in terms of Furtado da Cunha et al. (2013). This approach assumes the assumptions of North American Functional Linguistics, as defined by Givón (1979, 1995, 2011), Traugott (2011), and Bybee (2010, 2011) and Cognitive Linguistics, represented by Lakoff (1987), Langacker 1987) and Hopper (1991). In addition, we add contributions from the Grammar of Constructions represented by Goldberg (1995), Croft (2001) and Traugott and Trousdale (2013). The database used is the discourse corpus Natal (FURTADO DA CUNHA, 1998) and Rio de Janeiro, (VOTRE; OLIVEIRA, 2014), which present speech and writing samples. The research presents a qualitative-quantitative approach, with a predominance of the first one. It also has an explanatory and descriptive character. The hypothesis that guides the study is that the causal construct [POR + SN + DE + X] exhibits specific morphological and semantic-pragmatic characteristics regarding the elements that occupy the positions SN and X and about the communicative function that it performs in the process of Verbal interaction. Based on the results, we identified that the causal construction under study represents an abstract scheme that allows different microstructures on depending on the filling of the SN slot. We also find that the core of slot X may be filled with a SN (lexical or pronominal) or a sentence.