Funções da pontuação em construções relativas no português clássico: usos e normas
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Data
2020-09-16
Autores
Rodrigues, Aline de Azevedo
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Editor
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Resumo
Neste trabalho, investigamos os usos de vírgula em construções relativas no século XVIII, a fim de verificar quais funções do sinal estariam em competição e teriam sido decisivas para a configuração multidimensional do sistema de pontuação contemporâneo. Para tanto, contemplamos dois universos de investigação: a variação de usos de vírgula em manuscritos setecentistas e as normas de uso de vírgula em gramáticas e tratados de ortografia do período. Na análise dos manuscritos, partindo-se da hipótese de que os usos não eram aleatórios e de que, portanto, havia uma regularidade subjacente à variação, averiguamos quais características morfossintáticas, semântico-pragmáticas e prosódicas das construções relativas poderiam estar relacionadas com a presença ou a ausência da vírgula e se haveria prevalência de alguma função. Os resultados mostraram que, na escrita do século XVIII, o modo de pontuar parece responder ao funcionamento multidimensional das unidades linguísticas, uma vez que o emprego do sinal delimita, majoritariamente, unidades funcional e estruturalmente autônomas dos pontos de vista semântico, sintático, pragmático e prosódico, evidenciando que informações de diferentes níveis de análise parecem guiar os escreventes a pontuarem de uma forma em detrimento de outra. Na análise da tradição gramatical, partindo-se da hipótese de que a prescrição de uso de vírgula foi gradualmente ganhando novas bases, pautadas no funcionamento linguístico, interpretamos as doutrinas pontuacionais e as funções da vírgula a elas subjacentes, bem como comparamos as normas de uso de vírgula em construções relativas a fim de verificar se a norma padrão dava conta da distinção entre relativas determinativas e apositivas. Como resultado, evidenciamos que as regras de pontuação portuguesas vigentes ao século XVIII não davam conta da distinção entre os dois tipos de relativas, a qual parece ter sido incorporada à tradição gramatical apenas no início do século XIX, possivelmente por influência das obras francesas e da tradição filosófica. Ademais, mostramos que a mudança na prescrição de uso ou não de vírgula nas orações relativas parece ter ocorrido de forma gradual, o que se justifica, em parte, pelos descompassos e incoerências entre uso e norma encontrados nessas obras e, em parte, pela flutuação nas próprias regras e entre as gramáticas, haja vista a complexidade do objeto, evidenciada pela sua constituição multifuncional historicamente determinada.
In this work we investigate comma usage in relative constructions, focusing on the 18th century Portuguese, in order to identify which comma functions would be competitors during that period and decisive for the multidimensional configuration of the contemporary punctuation system. To achieve this, we analyze two different areas of research: the variation in the use of commas found in 18th century manuscripts written in Brazil, and the rules about comma usage postulated in manuals, orthography treaties and grammar books from this time period. In the analysis of the manuscripts, assuming that the use of comma was not arbitrary and, therefore, there was some regularity in the variation of its usage, we identify which morphosyntactic, semantic-pragmatic and prosodic aspects of the relative constructions could be related to the presence or absence of comma and we verify if there was prevalence of any function. The results indicate that, in the 18th century written Portuguese, the use of comma seems to respond to the multidimensional functioning of the linguistic units, since the employment of this punctuation mark delineates units that are functionally and structurally autonomous in terms of semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and prosodic features, showing that information from different levels of analysis seems to guide the way how writers use comma. In the analysis of grammatical discourses, assuming that the prescript for comma usage gradually gained new bases based on linguistic functioning, we interpret punctuation norms, as well as the functions assigned to comma, and we also compare the rules specifically applied to comma usage in relative constructions in order to verify if the grammar rules of the period researched succeeded in distinguishing restrictive from nonrestrictive relative constructions. As a result, we notice that the 18th century Portuguese punctuation rules did not achieve the distinction between the two types of relative constructions, which seems to have happened in the grammatical tradition only in the early 19th century, possibly due to the influence of French grammarians and philosophical concepts. In addition, we show that the change in the rules about the use of comma in relative constructions seems to have happened gradually, on one hand because of the inconsistencies between the usage and the rules about comma postulated in the grammars, and on the other hand because of the variation found in the rules themselves and among the grammars, given the complexity of the object, highlighted by its historically determined multifunctional constitution.
In this work we investigate comma usage in relative constructions, focusing on the 18th century Portuguese, in order to identify which comma functions would be competitors during that period and decisive for the multidimensional configuration of the contemporary punctuation system. To achieve this, we analyze two different areas of research: the variation in the use of commas found in 18th century manuscripts written in Brazil, and the rules about comma usage postulated in manuals, orthography treaties and grammar books from this time period. In the analysis of the manuscripts, assuming that the use of comma was not arbitrary and, therefore, there was some regularity in the variation of its usage, we identify which morphosyntactic, semantic-pragmatic and prosodic aspects of the relative constructions could be related to the presence or absence of comma and we verify if there was prevalence of any function. The results indicate that, in the 18th century written Portuguese, the use of comma seems to respond to the multidimensional functioning of the linguistic units, since the employment of this punctuation mark delineates units that are functionally and structurally autonomous in terms of semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and prosodic features, showing that information from different levels of analysis seems to guide the way how writers use comma. In the analysis of grammatical discourses, assuming that the prescript for comma usage gradually gained new bases based on linguistic functioning, we interpret punctuation norms, as well as the functions assigned to comma, and we also compare the rules specifically applied to comma usage in relative constructions in order to verify if the grammar rules of the period researched succeeded in distinguishing restrictive from nonrestrictive relative constructions. As a result, we notice that the 18th century Portuguese punctuation rules did not achieve the distinction between the two types of relative constructions, which seems to have happened in the grammatical tradition only in the early 19th century, possibly due to the influence of French grammarians and philosophical concepts. In addition, we show that the change in the rules about the use of comma in relative constructions seems to have happened gradually, on one hand because of the inconsistencies between the usage and the rules about comma postulated in the grammars, and on the other hand because of the variation found in the rules themselves and among the grammars, given the complexity of the object, highlighted by its historically determined multifunctional constitution.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Português clássico, Pontuação, Vírgula, Construções relativas, Eighteenth century portuguese, Punctuation, Comma, Relative clauses