Análise cognitivo-funcional da ironia construcional [só que XAdv] no português brasileiro: expressão de ponto de vista por meio de ironia

Abstract

The present study investigates, based on both formal and functional factors, irony as a marker of viewpoint in the construction [só que XAdv] within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics, more specifically according to the Construction Grammar paradigm (Goldberg, 1995, 2006). By applying the properties of schematicity, productivity, and compositionality, proposed by Traugott and Trousdale (2013), this work characterizes [só que XAdv] with respect to its form and function. Moreover, drawing on the insights of Lehmann and Bergs (2021), it asserts its status as a construction irony, whose ironic interpretation, once embedded in the collective imagination, is immediately recognized. Furthermore, owing to the inherent irony in [só que XAdv], this construction emerges as a prototypical case of perspectivization, based on the Theory of Viewpoint (Tobin; Israel, 2012). To that end, adopting a methodology that, with synchronic and qualitative data, accounts for that actual use of contemporary Brazilian Portuguese, we make use of O Corpus do Português (Davies; Ferreira, 2016), specifically the NOW and Web/Dialects subcorpora, and conduct two search rounds. In this context, using the tag só que ADV and the Brazil filter, the findings indicate that the construction is (i) more schematic, evidenced not only by the presence of constructions such "só que não", "só que nunca", and "só que sim", but by "só que jamais", along with variations incorporating some type of intensifier/reinforce or modalizer; (ii) more productive, since, beyond the diversity of adverbs that may fill the slot X, combinations such as "só que infelizmente não", with an evaluative modalizer, reveal the schema’s capacity to continue licensing new instances; and (iii) less compositional, as the mere sum of the parts constituting the constructions instantiated by the relevant schema is insufficient to establish their full meaning. Moreover, [só que XAdv] should be analyzed as a constructional irony, insofar as it involves a schematic formal structure, a conventionalized association with an ironic effect, and an interpretive shift away from literal meaning. From a discursive standpoint, the construction also exhibits a scalar pattern of negation, ranging from more mitigated to more categorical forms, in the following gradation: só que talvez não < só que não = só que também não < só que não mesmo < só que nunca = só que jamais. Finally, the analysis highlights the perspectival shift brought about by the irony encoded in the schema, which involves a movement from a lower semantic level to a higher pragmatic one. However, such perspectivization, unlike what is elucidated by Tobin and Israel (2012), occurs automatically, requiring no extra inferential effort on the part of the interlocutor, since it constitutes a case of constructional irony, as proposed by Lehmann and Bergs (2021). Thus, this study aims to contribute to the advancement of linguistic studies in written Brazilian Portuguese variation, insofar as, by investigating and documenting a construction that has become established across different registers and contexts, it seeks to reveal irony as a sophisticated component of everyday communication. This is because it exceeds predictable meaning by dissimulating literary, rhetorical, and social effects and, therefore, functions as an essential tool for shaping and expressing viewpoints.