A importância das tradições discursivas para a análise da evolução de conectores no português medieval

Abstract

In medieval textual analysis, which is aimed at the study of the mode of functioning of discursive connectors and their semantic and pragmatic derivations, it is important to take into account texts belonging to different discursive traditions. Given the pluri-functionality of linguistic elements, forms can assume different values within discourse when they are in different contexts. There is, therefore, a historical specificity in the processes of grammaticalization: the changes do not take place in an isolated way, but in particular contexts of use. The present discussion follows on from the author's previous research on the values and uses of causal conclusive and contrastive connectors in argumentative texts in the legislative discourse of the first period of Medieval Portuguese and constitutes an extension of this analysis to texts of the same period belonging to other discursive traditions (i.e. of narrative, historical, philosophical and poetic texts). This enlargement has permitted the verification of the extent to which the same connectors are present, in the same synchrony, with differences of use and evolution in texts of different typologies. This analysis contributes to the establishment of parameters of the evolution of connectors in different discursive traditions, thus relating historical evolution to the typology of the texts and their history.