Semantic patterns in Portuguese analytic causatives microconstructions

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the analytic causative microconstructions in Portuguese, from the theoretical conception of Use-Centered Functional Linguistics. We aim to analyze causation patterns in microconstructions with fazer, deixar, mandar, permitir, levar and obrigar - the most frequent data found in the media sample of PEUL, composed of the newspapers O Globo, Jornal do Brasil, Extra and O Povo. From the analysis of the groups of factors causative subject’s agentivity, caused subject’s animacy, and verbal process of the verb-effect, we sought to verify whether these microconstructions are semantically equivalent or whether there is a polysemy regarding their use according to the theory of Construction Grammar (GOLDBERG, 1995, 2000; CROFT, 2001, among others). The results showed that there is a polysemic network with different forms of conceptualization of the causative structure, with selection dependent on the elements of the discourse.