Functionality and values of the future subjunctive in Portuguese relative clauses

Abstract

In Portuguese subordinate relative clauses, the indicative and subjunctive modes can be used depending on whether or not the speaker assumes the existence of a specific or unspecific reality in relation to the referent. By virtue of these elements, the indicative is usually associated with the specific interpretation and the subjunctive with the unspecific. Unlike modern Spanish, Portuguese tends to use the Present subjunctive in relative clauses associated with the unspecificity of the referent, but in definite nominal groups headed by the definite article o/a(s). In turn, he uses the Present subjunctive for referents that are also unspecific, but indefinite, such as um/a(s). In this paper we intend to establish which elements are functional in current European Portuguese, mainly for the use of the Future subjunctive in relative clauses by means of a functionalist modal-temporal analysis and the application of the concepts of (in)definiteness and (in)specificity. We also tried to ascertain the vitality of the Future subjunctive in current Portuguese and to verify its use in relative clauses by consulting the Corpus do português by Mark Davies (2006).

Keywords

• future subjunctive
• relative clauses
• in(definition)
• in(specificity)
• virtuality