Usage-based functional approach to the subschema [DENTRO DE X]
Semantic multifunctionality. Usage-based Functional Linguistics; Construction; inside of.
In this research, we investigate uses of the subschema [dentro de X] in Brazilian Portuguese in a synchronic perspective, which licenses types such as dentro de casa, dentro da cultura, dentro do prazo. We aim to analyze the morphosyntactic configuration and semantic multifunctionality of this subscheme, as well as cognitive and pragmatic aspects implied in its constructs. Our theoretical support is the Usage-Based Functional Linguistics, as outlined in Furtado da Cunha, Bispo and Silva (2013) and in Bispo and Lopes (2022), which implies contemplating contributions from Construction Grammar in the terms of Goldberg (2003, 2006), Croft (2001), Traugott and Trousdale (2013), among others. The research is quali-quantitative, and the empirical database is composed of oral and written texts, compiled by Lacerda (2019) and made available by the Núcleo de Pesquisa em Abordagem Construcional e Tradução (NUPACT). This compilation contemplates material from the following oral corpora: "Projeto Mineirês: a construção de um dialeto", "Programa de Estudos sobre o uso da Língua - PEUL" and "Projeto Norma Urbana Oral Culta do Rio de Janeiro - NURC/RJ". The written texts come from blogs, from informal magazines such as Ana Maria and Marie Claire, and from formal magazines such as Exame and Veja. The results reveal that, from a structural point of view, the slot X of the subschema [dentro de X] can be filled by nominal (lexical or pronominal) syntagma or by clause, with lexical SN being the most frequent. Semantically, [dentro de X] has circumstantial value and its instances convey the following senses: concrete place, virtual place, time and mode-conformity. In the uses of this subschema, metaphorical and metonymic processes are at work, as well as pragmatic aspects, such as subjectivity and intersubjectivity. In terms of constructional properties, [dentro de X] can be further characterized as partially schematic, highly productive and partially compositional.