GMHP Grupo de Morfologia Histórica do Português
versão em português Coordination: Prof. Dr. Mário Eduardo Viaro
Presupposition
The GHMP, according to its own model, investigates words and their components through the diachronic and morphological points of view. Part of the presupposition accepted by the entire group is, namely, the one of the triple meaning that occurs in inflectional languages like Portuguese. Simultaneously with the meaning of the radical and of the remaining formative elements (especially affixes), there is the meaning of the word as a whole (VIARO 2005). Thus, the GHMP is concerned, above all, with the meaning of the formative affixes and with the other grammatical morphemes (inflective morphemes, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns). Related sciences, with which it has frequent dialogues, though never losing sight of its objectives, are Historical Semantics, which is concerned with the meaning of the word as a whole and Historical Lexicology, which is concerned with the meaning of the radical. On the other hand, from the point of view of form, the most intense dialogue occurs with Etymology. Aspects of Philology in general are especially important in the treatment of data and their discussion cannot do without the studies of General Semantics, Lexicology, Stylistics and other studies of synchronic nature of General Linguistics, especially when it involves past synchronies (reconstruction of vocabularies from past centuries). The problem with interfixes and thematic vowels is also considered in order to avoid an ad hoc solution of allomorphy, even if they are a boundary situation between the full morpheme (with signification and signal) and phoneme.
For such, the GHMP has developed a specific methodology, independent from syntax, for an understanding of the
phenomenon of affixal polysemy. It has been suspended momentarily in our analyses the Saussurean concept of langue, as we research several systems in search of specific solutions. These systems can, therefore, belong to the same language (drawing to itself, thus, problems of Dialectology and Sociolinguistics), of related languages (making use of Philology or Romance Philology) or of other languages involved (be it in the diffusion of the etymon or be it in the borrowing of the word or of grammatical morphemes,
making use of General History). Not dealing with Portuguese as a langue, but as a panchronic result of lexical legacies, but it is assesses in several synchronies the origins of the elements studied, as well as the relation systems, the legacies and the analogies that explain the present polysemy of the formants at each moment. Thus, it is possible to make a very considerable review of the
diachronic methods (mainly in what concerns the reconstruction and the degree of certainty), its tools, and, based on Historiography, the adequate moment of its implementation.
With this, the diachronic study indirectly promotes a reflection on the synchronic method at the time that it
questions, in our method, especially the capacity of the native speaker to provide right impressions about his/her
mother tongue that fit the formation of the structure studied as well as the present synchronic system. For this, we
completely do without deductive rules of word formation - be it the traditional, be it the WFR (Word Formation Rules) –
or any other tacit suppositions, like the one that derived words from the simple ones, cf. the case
colação and colar grau, in which the former is older than the second one: in that case,
“simple” and “derived” is merely terminological and does not have referentiality. Also, the speaker’s
competence to decide issues of grammaticality is substituted, with no loss of objectivity, for the interpretation of
the event, based on data, once leaving left langue aside, it is not possible for any speaker to be able to see
the entirety and, thus to decide on issues of grammaticality or compositionality. Such a stand is also to be found in other sciences, as in zoological taxonomy. However, the parallel is inaccurate, for linguistics does not yet have a model that matches the Darwinian one, which has transformed biology into a deductive science, thus skipping a very important step for its scientificity.
Thus, in order for us to get answers we preferred to follow the inductive route (with roots in Aristotle, Bacon and Locke), instead of the deductive one (with its roots in Plato, Descartes and Leibniz), at the same time that it recognizes the advances of the Cognitive Linguistics (with its roots in neurosciences, which contradicts Locke), which has shown important facts in the field of Language Acquisition, thus explaining with more accuracy the present synchrony. The preference of GHMP for suffixation is due to the fact that it has been – so far - little understood diachronically in comparison with prefixation, although it is a phenomenon of much more importance than all the other morphological resources of the Portuguese language.
Besides, derivation by suffixation has generally been shown as a more productive method in the formation of words in Portuguese, be it for the great number of suffixes that exist in Portuguese, be it for the flexibility that they show in their distribution and combination with the other suffixes partly because of the semantic variety that they acquire in the process over time. Also, on the other hand, the process of suffixation involved in the lexical formation is also a reflex, not only of the semantics of suffix developed in each period and/or in each region, but also of the wearing out suffered by the suffixal particle when it is of high frequency and/or productivity. Thence, the study of productivity of suffixes, linked to the frequency of use and to the observation of semantic changes are fundamental parts of a diachronic process. Only then can we detect which meanings of the suffix are older and form “genealogical trees” of suffixes with a basis on their semantics and on their diachrony and why they influence the formation of similar words.
Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas
Grupo de Morfologia Histórica do Português