Advérbios em -mente no português brasileiro: uma análise baseada na morfologia distribuída

Abstract

This work investigates the internal structure of adverbial forms in -mente in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The theoretical model assumed in this investigation is the Distributed Morphology framework (HALLE & MARANTZ, 1993; MARANTZ, 1997), henceforth DM, as we are aligned with the idea that category is not a previously defined lexical information, but the result of the combination of functional heads and roots in the syntactic generative component. Adverbs are subject of constant debate in literature and authors differ in their views on how to define this class of words. Thus, adverbs are often analyzed in the literature as a subclass of other categories, such as prepositions (LEMLE, 1984; EMONDS, 1976; LEE, 1999), pronouns (BOMFIM, 1988) or adjectives (BAKER, 2003; BASÍLIO, 2007; LOBATO, 2008), for example. However, under the argument that adverbs present morphosyntactic properties that distances them from other categories, some authors (JACKENDOFF, 1977; PAYNE ET. AL, 2010) propose that such elements constitute their own independent categorial class. Inserted within this controversial scenario, this research revisits the debate about the categorical nature of adverbs in -mente, seeking to investigate what is the minimum sequence of functional heads, as well as the necessary and sufficient formal features for an adverb to be syntactically formed. In BP, adverbials in -mente are characterized by including a feminine adjective in their internal structure. Considering the morphosyntactic behavior of these formations, we propose that the -mente formative is the result of a grammaticalization process (ROBERTS and ROUSSOU, 1999; HOPPER and TRAUGOTT, 2003) of a noun that became an adverbial syntactic categorizer (an adv, in DM terms). We also propose that this categorizer still preserves some properties of its lexical origin, notably valued features of gender (feminine) and number (singular), which it shares with the adjective to which it is concatenated in syntax. In this way, -mente simultaneously presents nominal and adverbial characteristics, configuring itself as a mixed category (ALEXIADOU, 2001; PANAGIOTIDIS and GROHMANN, 2005).