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Abstract(s)
The main goal of the research reported here was the development of an integrated
syntactic and semantic analysis of reciprocals. Along the lines of the MA course
which this dissertation corresponds to, the integrated syntactic and semantic
analysis was shaped up as an analysis in which, without neglecting the widely
accepted autonomy both of Syntax and Semantics, the syntactic and the semantic
components played a decisive role as to enforcing the plausibility of each other.
Directed by that goal, this research elicited the following major result: there is
enough empirical evidence for acepting with a high level of plausibility the hypothesis
that, at least in Portuguese, reciprocals are variants of constructions which were
termed as branchlng predication constructions or zoom constructions (ZCs).
This result was obtained through the concatenation of different subtasks. After
a brief introduction (Chap. 1), an assessement of previous proposals concerning
reciprocals was compiled (Chap. 2). Next (Chap. 3), the generic syntactic and
semantic properties of ZCs were drawn up: it was shown that reciprocals exhibit
these same properties and that the specific properties of reciprocals result from the
interaction of those ZCs'generic properties and the specific properties of the elements
which are canonical parts of reciprocals. Finaly, a formal syntactic analysis of ZCs, in
general, and reciprocals, in particular, was build up using the Government and
Binding Theory (Chap. 4). Paralell to this syntactic analysis, a formal semantic
analysis was constructed in the Discourse Representation Theory (Chap. 5).
The execution of these subtasks led to the accomplishement of the starting goal
of coming up with an integrated syntactic and semantic analysis of reciprocals. It led
also to the accomplishement of an aditional result - secondary as regards the main
obJective of the research but nonetheless interesting and important -. namely the accomplishement of an lntegrated syntactic and semantic analysis oÍ ZCs, a sui
generis type of constructions which have been disregarded in the literature.
Description
Keywords
Língua portuguesa Reciprocidade Sintaxe Semântica Teses de mestrado - 1993