Combinando peças: o efeito semântico de 'junto(s)' e 'sozinho(s)' na combinação com predicados distributivos e coletivos

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the functioning of sentences combining distributive and collective predicates with the items ‘junto(s)’ (together) and ‘sozinho(s)’ (alone) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Initially, one might think that such combinations would generate infelicitous sentences in the language, since the expressions ‘junto(s)’ and ‘sozinho(s)’ could be understood as anti-distributivity and anti-collectivity modifiers, respectively, which would result in redundant or contradictory readings when combined with distributive and collective predicates. Seeking to understand whether this initial intuition would be confirmed, we first proposed an investigation into the semantic characteristics of distributive and collective predicates – as well as those that are ambiguous between these two readings – in BP, based on studies by Araújo and Lardapide (2025), Champollion (2019; 2020), Müller, Negrão, and Gomes (2007), Ritchie (2017), Winter (2001), among others. Furthermore, we present initial inventories with examples of the different types of predicates. We also analyze the semantics of the items ‘junto(s)’ and ‘sozinho(s)’ in BP, drawing from the works of Araújo, Palmieri, and Basso (2026), Basso and Araújo (2024), and Basso and Rodrigues (2024). Having described the behavior of the predicates and modifiers in question, we proceeded to analyze the sentences generated by combining collective and distributive predicates with the items ‘junto(s)’ and ‘sozinho(s)’. To this end, we selected four distributive, four collective, and four ambiguous predicates to be combined with the modifiers under study in affirmative and negative control sentences following this structure: (it is not true that +) argument + predicate + modifier. The tests performed not only showed that the generated sentences were semantically well-formed, but also that, contrary to what had been initially argued, the role of the items ‘junto(s)’ and ‘sozinho(s)’ was not that of anti-distributivity and anti-collectivity modifiers. In the case of ‘junto(s)’, the combination with the predicates showed that the expression functions as a collectivizing item, as previously suggested by Araújo, Palmieri, and Basso (2026), which can take scope over individuals when combined with collective and ambiguous predicates, or over events when combined with distributive predicates. On the other hand, the expression ‘sozinho(s)’ functions, as pointed out by Basso and Rodrigues (2024), as an anti-comitative item that excludes the company of other individuals when combined with different types of predicates. In this sense, the combinatory exercise carried out in this study allowed us not only to better understand the behavior of distributive and collective predicates but, above all, to advance the descriptive analysis of the items ‘junto(s)’ and ‘sozinho(s)’, which have only recently become objects of study in Brazilian Portuguese.