Os quantificadores universais no português dos séculos XVI e XXI: uma análise sob a perspectiva funcional

Abstract

This paper develops a descriptive study on the linguistic behavior of the quantifiers “todo” (every) and “tudo” (everything) in the written form of the Portuguese language. It also conducts a comparative analysis of this behavior based on data collected from two distinct periods: the European variation from the 16th century and the Brazilian variation from the 21st century. To this end, the following works encompassed in the travel literature genre were chosen as corpora: Peregrinação (1614), by the Portuguese explorer Fernão Mendes Pinto, and five works by the journalist from Rio Grande do Sul Airton Ortiz, namely Pelos caminhos do Tibete (2001), Expresso para a Índia (2003), Egito dos Faraós (2005), Vietnã pós­guerra (2009), and Jerusalém (2011). Grounded on Givón's (2001) typological­functional model, this research aimed to map the functioning of the universal quantifiers “todo” and “tudo,” using Oliveira's (2006) feature matrix as an analytical instrument. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate the potential advent of new linguistic facts regarding this category. It also aimed to identify to what extent communicative intentions affect the positions of these qualifiers in the sentence. The database analyzed comprises a total of 2,000 occurrences: 1,000 collected from Peregrinação, and the other 1,000 collected from Airton Ortiz’s works. Two hypotheses guided this study: (a) in the preterite variety, the form “tudo” would be used only for referents with the [­ANIMATED] feature, in competition with the conservative neutral form “todo”, but, in the contemporary variety, the form “tudo” would be used for referents with the [­ ANIMATED] or [+ANIMATED] feature, there being semantic differences in the use of the quantifier “tudo” in the 16th century compared to the 21st century; (b) the grammaticalization undergone by the neutral form would have offered new expressive possibilities, which would lead to a modification of the contexts of use of this form, therefore existing discursive differences in the use of universal quantifiers in both synchronies. The findings showed that, in fact, the item “tudo” can be linked to inanimate referents or living beings in contemporary Portuguese; although, this fact does not represent a semantic innovation, because the same type of use was observed in one of the occurrences of the past variety. Finally, there was not only an increase over time in the multiple uses of the quantifiers, but also the emergence of functions not found in the 16th­century data. Some of these differences occurred due to stylistic characteristics in each author's writing, which highlights changes resulting from the communicative needs of Portuguese speakers.