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Domínios de recursividade na morfologia avaliativa do português brasileiro

Introduction

Domínios de recursividade na morfologia avaliativa do português brasileiro. Explora a morfologia avaliativa recursiva no português brasileiro, analisando interações semânticas e morfofonológicas de diminutivos e aumentativos. Descobre padrões de intensidade em posições externas.

Abstract

Neste artigo, investigamos dados de morfologia avaliativa recursiva no português brasileiro (livr-equ-inh-o, film-ão-zaç-o), retirados da rede social X, de modo a observarmos, de maneira geral, quais interações semântico-pragmáticas e morfofonológicas são possíveis nesses casos e, de maneira específica, qual tipo de leitura semântica e quais expoentes formais são passíveis de ocorrer em posições mais externas. Após o levantamento e a análise de dados com formas de diminutivo (-uch, -ec e -(z)inh) e com formas de aumentativo (-(z)aç e –(z)ão), nós pudemos observar que: a) semanticamente, enquanto as posições internas podem contribuir com leituras semântico-pragmáticas diferentes, as posições mais externas contribuem com um significado de intensidade que tem escopo sobre a avaliação anterior; b) morfofonologicamente, o sufixo -(z)inh ocupa a posição mais externa em contextos de diminutivo, enquanto, para os aumentativos, a ordem entre -(z)aç e -(z)ão é variável.

Review

This article presents a valuable investigation into recursive evaluative morphology in Brazilian Portuguese, a complex and often under-explored area of linguistic inquiry. By drawing empirical data from the social network X (formerly Twitter), the authors offer novel insights into how multiple evaluative suffixes interact both semantically-pragmatically and morphophonologically. The study focuses specifically on diminutive (-uch, -ec, -(z)inh) and augmentative (-(z)aç, -(z)ão) forms, contributing significantly to our understanding of the generative capacity and constraints within this specific morphological domain of Portuguese. The chosen methodology of leveraging naturally occurring social media data is particularly commendable, providing an authentic context for analyzing these intricate linguistic phenomena. The findings reveal distinct patterns for internal and external suffix positions. Semantically, the paper convincingly demonstrates that while internal positions can carry varied semantic-pragmatic readings, external suffixes consistently contribute an intensifying meaning that scopes over the preceding evaluation. This observation is crucial for theories of semantic compositionality in morphology. Morphophonologically, the analysis highlights that -(z)inh invariably occupies the outermost position in diminutives, establishing a clear hierarchy. For augmentatives, however, the order between -(z)aç and -(z)ão is noted as variable, which presents an interesting contrast and prompts further thought on the factors governing such flexibility. The detailed analysis of specific examples like "livr-equ-inh-o" and "film-ão-zaç-o" helps ground these theoretical observations in concrete linguistic instantiations, making the arguments clear and compelling. Overall, this article makes a substantial contribution to the fields of Brazilian Portuguese linguistics, morphology, and semantics. The empirical rigor and detailed analysis of recursive structures provide a solid foundation for future research, potentially inspiring comparative studies with other Romance languages or typological investigations into recursive morphology across different language families. While the reliance on social media data is a strength for capturing natural language use, future work might explore the generalizability of these findings across different registers or speech communities within Brazilian Portuguese. The theoretical implications regarding the fixed vs. variable ordering of suffixes and the scope of evaluative meaning are particularly noteworthy and warrant further theoretical discussion within a broader framework of morphological theory. This is a well-executed and insightful study that significantly advances our knowledge of evaluative morphology.

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