The processes by which “mais do que” construction takes part in the utterance construction
Mais do que; Locator; Identification; Differentiation; Theory of Predicative and Enunciative Operations.
This work, inscribed in the research line Studies of Meaning Processes of the Postgraduate Program Stricto Sensu in Linguistics at the University of Mato Grosso State (UNEMAT), intends to analyze utterances with the occurrence of MAIS DO QUE, in order to apprehend the enunciative processes of their functioning, focusing on the role of constructing the meaning and semantic value they stabilize. For this reason, in our analyses, we used the activity of manipulation and reformulation of utterances through the elaboration of epilinguistic glosses, which allow us to understand the functioning of these forms for the construction of predication and, consequently, of meaning, supported by the Theory of Predicative and Enunciative Operations (TOPE). The most robust theoretical framework is found in Culioli's three volumes (1990, 1999a, 1999b). Our goal is to observe the unfoldings of meaning of MAIS DO QUE in its different roles in clauses classified, by traditional grammar, as comparative. We worked with the hypothesis that MAIS DO QUE situates representations in relation to the particular situation of dialogue. We realized that the QUE marks the notion that operates as an abstract locator of a predicative content (predicative connection) while the MAIS marks a differentiation from the notion that precedes it, in relation to a determined enunciative situation in time-space. In other words, it does not mark an identification as presupposed by Traditional Grammar (GT). Our analysis material is composed of Grammar (GT). Our material of analysis is composed of utterances extracted from the compilation of texts denominated Corpus do Português.