Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in conditionals: temporal backshifiting strategies in Brazilian Portuguese

Authors

  • Lilian Ferrari UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Faculdade de Letras – Departamento de Linguística. Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil
  • Paloma de Almeida UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Faculdade de Letras – Departamento de Linguística. Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5794-1502-4

Keywords:

Cognitive Linguistics, Mental spaces, Conditionals, Tense, Subjectivity,

Abstract

This work takes a Cognitive Linguistics perspective on Brazilian Portuguese conditional constructions. Based on mental spaces theory (FAUCONNIER, 1994, 1997; FAUCONNIER; SWEETSER, 1996) and on mental spaces work on conditionals (SWEETSER, 1990; DANCYGIER, 1998; DANCYGIER; SWEETSER, 2005), the research relied on recent contributions on subjectivity and intersubjectivity (LANGACKER, 1990; TRAUGOTT; DASHER, 2005; VERHAGEN, 2005), and its developments based on the notion of Basic Communicative Space Network (BCSN) (SANDERS; SANDERS; SWEETSER, 2009; FERRARI; SWEETSER, 2012). Drawing on written corpus data, which includes journalistic and literary texts, we focus on conditionals which may alternate between the future of the subjunctive and the present of the indicative, in the protasis, and between the present and the future of the indicative, in the apodosis. Four groups of conditionals that displayed distinct relations between mood/tense selection and cognitive motivations were identified. The main contribution of the paper is that it provides a unified framework for relating mood/tense alternations in conditionals to the speaker’s subjective and/or intersubjective perspective.

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Author Biography

Lilian Ferrari, UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Faculdade de Letras – Departamento de Linguística. Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil

Membro do Departamento de Linguística - UFRJ

Membro efetivo do Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística - UFRJ

 

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Published

23/02/2015

How to Cite

FERRARI, L.; ALMEIDA, P. de. Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in conditionals: temporal backshifiting strategies in Brazilian Portuguese. ALFA: Revista de Linguística, São Paulo, v. 59, n. 1, 2015. DOI: 10.1590/1981-5794-1502-4. Disponível em: https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/alfa/article/view/6210. Acesso em: 17 jul. 2024.

Issue

Vol. 59 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Papers

License

Manuscripts accepted for publication and published are property of Alfa: Revista de Linguística. It is forbidden the full or partial submission of the manuscript to any other journal. Authors are solely responsible for the article's content. Translation into another language without written permission from the Editor advised by the Editorial Board is prohibited.