Uses and functions of mesmo in the Amazonian Portuguese and its contribution to the construction of meanings

• Autor(a) principal: Abraçado, Jussara
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: da Silva Nascimento Cavalcante, Marcilene
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Confluência
• Texto Completo: https://revistaconfluencia.org.br/rc/article/view/1315
• topic: mesmo; português amazonense; Gramática Cognitiva; Mesmo; Amazonian Portuguese; Cognitive Grammar

This paper aims to analyze the uses and functions of “mesmo” in oral and written examples of Amazonian Portuguese in order to answer the following questions: What are the uses of “mesmo” in Amazonian Portuguese? Can some of these uses be considered characteristic of Amazonians? What contribution does “mesmo” make to the construction of the meaning of the predicates in which it occurs? Theoretically, the study draws on cognitive grammar, while in terms of data collection and analysis procedures, it is supported by contributions from variation-oriented sociolinguistics. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data show that in Amazonian Portuguese: (i) “mesmo” is used as a demonstrative pronoun (to indicate similarity/dissimilarity) and anaphorically (in nominal reference), as an adverb (to reinforce inclusion, exclusion, and affirmation), as an adjective (to reinforce identity), and as a concessive conjunction (to indicate concession); (ii) the most characteristic use of “mesmo” is as an affirmative intensifier; (iii) “mesmo” contributes as an intensifier to the construction of meanings, as it emphasizes a nominal predication, a process-related predication, or a timeless relational predication.