Uma descrição sintático-semântica de ‘sozinho’ em português brasileiro

Abstract

In this work, we provide a first syntactic-semantic description of the item ‘sozinho’ (‘alone’) in Brazilian Portuguese. Regarding its syntactic behavior, we observe that ‘sozinho’ is a multiparadigm modifier: sometimes modifying NP structures, and other times modifying VP structures. Furthermore, through the tools of Cartographic Syntax, we recognize that ‘sozinho’ can be ordered between the categories Asp Delayed and Asp Inceptive(II) of the Middlefield Hierarchy, as well as the Demonstratives and Size AP categories of the Extended Projection of Noun Hierarchy. Concerning its semantic behavior, we identify at least 7 distinct interpretations triggered by ‘sozinho’: spatio-temporal, emotional, behavioral, mereological, argumental modifier, anti-causal, and autonomous. We categorize these interpretations into 3 groups based on the semantic scope of ‘sozinho’ in the sentence: entities, events, or participants in an argumental role. We note, however, that in all cases ‘sozinho’ exhibits the same semantic mechanism, which is to disallow the expression of accompaniment across different levels of interpretation. Thus, we follow the analysis of Basso & Rodrigues (2024) that ‘sozinho’ is an anti-comitative modifier, i.e. a modifier that does not allow the expression of accompaniment. Finally, we relate the syntactic and semantic behavior of ‘sozinho’, showing how the different interpretations of ‘sozinho’ are achieved depending on its syntactic configuration. This is an original work that contributes both to the description of Brazilian Portuguese and to the advancement of the literature in Cartographic Syntax and Formal Semantics.