The Use of Temporal Adverbs in News Reporting: Description and Analysis of Morphosyntactic Properties

Abstract

This study describes and analyzes the behavior of morphosyntactic temporal adverbs in ordinary news reporting run at the news A Tarde, in Bahia, and at O Globo, in Rio de Janeiro. It aims to demonstrate that there are differences in the use of these adverbs, mainly, in relation to their place in the sentences, as well as to prove that those adverbs do not belong to a homogenous class, as it is assumed at the normative orientation. It was taken into consideration the non-phrased temporal adverbs that occurred in the initial, medial and final positions in the sentences. These positions were also analyzed due to the form of the adverb (simple – a single word – and multiple phrases – more than one word) showing the influence of those factors in the variable positioning. The results showed that the initial peripheral position is more used at A Tarde and the final peripheral position, at O Globo; the adverbs in all their multiple ways were more used in the peripheral position, and the simple forms in the medial position. This investigation was based on Martelotta (1994), Neves (1999), Andrade (2004) and Costa Nunes (2009), studies that reveal the variable behavior of the temporal adverbs.