As formações x-inho nas modalidades oral e escrita: um estudo contrastivo baseado na lingüística de corpus

Abstract

The items ending in -inho are described in the majority of grammars of Portuguese as conveying two notions, namely affect and dimension. However, the same grammars do not seem to include either the extralinguistic or contextual factors in which speakers are inserted when they opt for a word ending in -inho. The aim of the present work thus is to investigate the productivity of such items in two electronic corpora: one of an oral nature which is further subdivided into two sub-corpora containing narratives and descriptions and a second one compiled exclusively from the various sections of a widely read quality newspaper. The dissertation quantifies the various instances of items ending in inho in each of the corpora. Next, each of these occurrences is analysed and classified to check which notion (dimentio,positive affect, negative affect, intensification) they convey. Last the results of both frequency and dispension counts are contrasted for each of the corpora. The methodology of our analyses is centered on the area known as Corpus Linguistics, which provides a basis for the data to be compiled and interpreted.