Relative constructions in Portuguese varieties: a functional-discursive interpretation

Abstract

This work examines relative constructions in Portuguese varieties based on the principle that Portuguese has a set of relativization strategies that are recognized in typological linguistics as constructions that define related groups of languages. It is postulated that these different strategies, when employed by the same linguistic system, do not really constitute variants of the same syntactic variable, but they are the speaker’s actual choices facing the necessity to perform different social and discursive functions.