Um estudo descritivo-comparativo sobre os padrões [SN HAVE Vpp] no inglês e [SN TER Vpp] no português do Brasil

Abstract

The research presents a descriptive-comparative study based on a standard argument structure, [SN HAVE Vpp] in English and [SN TER Vpp] in Brazilian Portuguese. To analyze and describe the discursive behavior of this construction, through data analysis, we considered its structural and pragmatic characteristics of use. Since the two languages have coincidental formal aspects concerning the formal pattern [SN Vaux Vpp], we verified which semantic-pragmatic characteristics would be convergent and divergent between them. To carry out this analysis, the sample consists of 100 sentences that instantiate the [SN Vaux Vpp] pattern in each language. The data was collected in specialized corpora: the Portuguese Corpus and the COCA in English. Based on the literature review and research on aspects in English and Portuguese, we sought to analyze the patterns found in each sentence, the semantic characteristics of the noun phrase (SN) and the verb and the aspectual functions, according to Travaglia (2014). The study was developed by crossing data collected from the factors chosen for analysis. We adopted the Usage-Based Construction Grammar (UBCG) as a theoretical basis for the development of the work, since through the analysis of sample data, we sought to identify in these patterns, characteristics of form and meaning that associated use with certain functions within the construction. The analysis resulted in a tendency for collocational adherence to the construction slot of each of the languages, where NPs in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) tend to be [- animate], [- human], and [+ concrete] and those in LI tend to be [+ animate], [- human] and [+ concrete] and the Vpp slot to be occupied by material verbs. Regarding the verbal aspect, there is a greater incidence of occurrences in its main grammatical uses in the original languages, in BP being the unfinished and LI being the finished. The results demonstrated semantic and aspectual propensities of constructions in both languages, which highlight the importance of contextualized analysis of sentences for the production of Present Perfect by native BP speakers.