The indefinite quantifier “algum” like a Negative Polarity Item (IPN) in the history of the Portuguese language: a diachronic study of the negative polarity in the noun phrase

Abstract

This research contributes to diachronic studies on the indefinite ones and none in the Portuguese language, starting from the theoretical framework of generative grammar. Our reference is the research by Martins (2015, 2016) that analyzes the negative indefinite in European Portuguese (EP) in a diachronic perspective, describing that the indefinite ‘some’, in the [N + some] structure, derives from the incorporation of the name and of the indefinite quantifier in an abstract negative nucleus internal to the DP (Determiner Phrase).This incorporation occurs as a result of the movement from the nominal head to the head of the numeral phrase (NUMP) in which, according to Martins (2015), is the indefinite “some”, forming the amalgam [N + some]. Due to this syntactic structure the [N + some] would not allow the presence of a noun complement or adjective to occur between the noun and some postnominal, and the number inflection would be blocked, as the structure becomes an Item with negative polarity (IPN), which behaves like an invariant word, like the indefinite pronouns “nobody”/”nothing”. We start from the descriptions of Martins (2015), in order to verify the phenomenon in another diachronic corpus of Portuguese replicating the research in the Tycho Brahe corpus (CTB) and DOViC corpus (Documents of the 19th century of Vitória da Conquista), we conjecture: the structure [ N + some] cannot be analyzed as an IPN in Classical Portuguese (PCl), and we have, in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) documents of the 19th century, a behavior similar to that of PCl, in relation to the indefinite inversion structures for valuing trait of negation. In this sense, we question the status and nature of the inversion [N + some] in the 19th century PCl and BP and the possibility of identifying the moment of change in time. To arrive at the answers, we target to raise, to analyze, to describe and to compare the structures formed with the indefinites pronouns “algum” and “nenhum” (“some” and “none”, in English) in the research corpora, adopting the following criteria: the position of the indefinite pronoun in the noun phrase; the function of the noun phrase in relation to the verb of the sentence; the position of the noun phrase in relation to the verb of the sentence; the existence of negation marker preceding or succeeding the phrase with the indefinite pronoun, and the positive (non-negative) or negative value of the noun phrase. The research methodology for the description and analysis of the NPI phenomenon involves the automatic search for data, through the Corpus Search tool, at the CTB, with a period limit that covers the 16th to the 19th centuries, as well as the use of the E-Dictor tool (PAIXÃO DE SOUSA; KEPLER; FARIA, 2009) and the WebSync Web Application (COSTA, 2015) for research in the DOViC corpus. Finally, we found that the results allow the perception that the indefinite pronoun “algum”, in the posnominal position, in the 16th and 17th centuries, was not yet incorporated into the name, characterizing an NPI, but we located clues in the data from the 18th century that improves the grammaticalization of the [N + algum] structure as an NPI. Regarding the BP (Brasilian Portuguese), we found that the structure in the DOViC corpus is always attested with a negative value and in a context of independent negation, which may suggest that the negative value is valued by the superior negation, together with an inversion of some, as in CP.