A emergência dos marcadores de especificidade aí/lá no português brasileiro: uma proposta a partir da análise e da descrição de línguas africanas no espaço Atlântico

Abstract

In this study, I describe the syntactic properties of 'aí' and 'lá' as specificity markers (SpMs) in the nominal phrase (DP) of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) within the generative theory in the cartographic model (Giusti, 2002; Aboh, 2004; Laenzlinger, 2017). I seek to explain how this phenomenon emerges as a result of linguistic contact processes in the Atlantic space, employing the hypothesis of competition and selection (Mufwene, 2001; Aboh, 2015). The central questions were: 1) What are SpMs?; 2) Why do 'aí' and 'lá' act as SpMs in BP? Therefore, I conducted a bibliographic review on: (i) specificity in human languages, especially African languages that have been in contact with Portuguese; (ii) socio-historical factors involving the participation of various social and linguistic groups in the Atlantic, which involves slavery and colonialism and were crucial for the emergence of an Atlantic creole culture. After the review, I described SpMs in BP based on generative literature and analyzed their semantic, pragmatic, and syntactic properties, assuming it as an interface phenomenon. When speakers use 'aí' or 'lá' in an indefinite DP, they express their pragmatic intention to specify a discourse-anchored subset. I discuss the pragmatic properties and how these markers are used in contexts of referential specificity, scope, and epistemic reading. SpMs can indicate type reading, with mass nouns, or degree reading, with abstract nouns, they can also co-occur with bare nouns, indicating a type reading, and with indefinite pronouns, but in this last case, specificity may be annulled. Regarding syntactic properties, I argue that 'aí' and 'lá' occupy the position of Topo, tending to be post-nominal, except when there are relatives. I present tree representations of DP using specificity and move operations. Then, I discuss how BP emerges in a contact situation, presenting socio-historical facts to delineate the contact ecology. I demonstrate that the main African languages spoken in Brazil were the Gbe languages, Yoruba, and Bantu languages. I describe the use of SpMs in these languages. In Gbe languages and Yoruba, there are post-nominal SpMs that mark specificity and occupy the position of Topo. I argue that SpMs occupy the position of Topo and emerged in BP in indefinite contexts because they are selected in a process of competition of features since they are related to the syntactic-discursive interface (Aboh, 2015). I systematize four arguments to support this thesis of different orders: historical, descriptive, theoretical, and comparative. I demonstrate that the forms 'aí' and 'lá' were selected due to their deictic syntactic-discursive properties and that the emergence of SpMs, in defined contexts, was blocked by demonstratives and possessives that were more competitive in terms of interfaces.