Semântica das construções superlativas em português: subclassificação e análise de dados em corpora

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Semântica das construções superlativas em português : subclassificação e análise de dados em corpora

Publication . Pereira, Ana Rita Vargas Valadas; Móia, Telmo Lopes; Marques, Rui Ribeiro

This dissertation deals with the semantics of superlative expressions in Portuguese, comprising two main goals: first, the identification, classification and semantic analysis of the different Portuguese structures that can be grouped under the label “superlative constructions”, using both corpora and constructed data; second, the more detailed discussion of a few selected superlative constructions which are in some way problematic, or particularly interesting, for linguistic analysis, and whose meaning is influenced by other linguistic factors, such as the presence of certain adverbials or specific syntactic environments. The structures analyzed in this study are syntactically varied, although they have some (morphosyntactic and semantic) aspects in common, and they all express a semantic information we may call superlativeness. In the traditional Portuguese terminology, the notion of “superlative” occurs essentially in connections with adjectives; in more modern terms, this is tantamount to saying that a large part of the superlative expressions are nominal phrases containing an adjectival phrase, such as a montanha mais alta (the highest mountain). However, as this thesis will underline, there are many other (nonnominal and non-adjectival) superlative phrases, such as o mais rapidamente possível (as fast as possible) and o mais a sul possível (as far south as possible). I propose a semantic subclassification of superlative expressions in Portuguese, based on the type of entities those phrases identify. On one side, I will analyze the prototypical superlative phrases, that refer to entities which are not degrees (i.e., objects, situations, group entities, time intervals, living beings, places, etc.), such as a montanha mais alta (the highest mountain) or o monumento com mais visitantes (the monument with the most visitors); on the other side, I will describe superlative phrases that clearly refer to degrees (e.g., temperatures, heights, quantities, etc.), such as a temperatura mais alta (the highest temperature) or o mais rapidamente possível (as fast as possible). Although a full formal analysis is not the main goal of this dissertation, I will sporadically use the Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) language, as developed in Kamp e Reyle (1993), to better represent the compositional meaning of superlative constructions. The (final) DRSs I will present codify in a clearer way the components of the superlative meaning, such as comparison sets, individuals, degrees, and scales, as well as some more general semantic traces, as presupposition and vagueness. This dissertation focuses on the semantics of superlative expressions, rather than on its syntax. Its main goal is to show that the universe of superlative linguistic expressions is syntactically diverse, and — additionally — to discuss some expressions not yet treated on the linguistic literature about superlatives in Portuguese. Finally, I also intend to contribute to the (wider) semantic study of degree constructions, as well as to the study of nominal semantics and comparison structures in Portuguese.

2023-03-24Doctoral thesis

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