Cliticization of the suffix -mente in the Eighteenth-Century Portuguese

• Autor(a) principal: Duchowny, Alexia Teles
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Couto da Costa, Júlia Maria
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Confluência
• Texto Completo: https://revistaconfluencia.org.br/rc/article/view/1046
• topic: item -mente; português do século XVIII; advérbios; cliticização; gramaticalização; element -mente; 18th century Portuguese; adverbs; cliticization; grammaticalization

The element -mente, from Latin mens, mentis ”spirit, soul,” is involved in the formation of adverbs in the vast majority of Romance languages. In Brazilian Portuguese, written in the 18th century, the element is graphically connected to the preceding noun in three ways: with a space, with a hyphen, or without a space at all. We test the hypothesis that the cliticization of this item was already completed in the 18th century, using as corpus statutes and obligations of fraternities and ”devassa terms” from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. For this purpose, it is necessary to use the theoretical and methodological framework not only of cliticization, but also of grammaticalization. It is concluded that the Portuguese -mente in the 18th century was at the end of its cliticization process. However, this process was still ongoing, as there were a small but still present number of adverbs where there was a graphic separation between the element and the noun it refers to.