Nominal definite phrase dislocation with focus function in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

This paper investigates the semantic-pragmatic characteristics of sentences in Brazilian Portuguese (PB) which presents focus phrases dislocated. This research also intends to compare the following concepts: contrast x non-contrast; exhaustivity x non-exhaustivity. From the analyzed data, we conclude that in PB focus phrases can be dislocated to the left periphery of the sentence. We also conclude that contrast itself is not an obligatory in sentences with dislocated phrases. We also show that exhaustivity is an implicature in some cases, but cannot be canceled in others, mainly in the ones in which the elements of the set are not explicitly given.

Keywords

• deslocamento de foco
• contraste
• implicatura.
• estrutura informacional.