A correlação consecutiva tão/tanto... que, sob a perspectiva da Gramática Discursivo-Funcional

Abstract

This study investigates constructions in which two syntactic units are combined, which contains the word tão (so) or tanto (so much) in the first unit and que (that) in the second. Applying Functional Discourse Grammar theoretical framework (Hengeveld; Mackenzie 2008 and Keizer 2015), the present work identifies the types of basic syntactic configurations that characterize consecutive correlation in Portuguese. Two spoken language corpora are used as the research universe, i.e.  “Oral Portuguese” and NURC. Once the occurrences have been selected and analyzed according to criteria that cover the four levels of the Grammatical Component of the Functional Discourse Grammar model, the results show that the constructions formed by the operators tão (so)... que (that) and tanto (so much) ... que (that) constitute, at the Interpersonal Level, an emphatic Declarative Speech Act; at the Representational Level, they combine two States of Affairs, the first indicating the cause that triggers the consequence expressed in the second event; at the Morphosyntactic Level, the two units are mutually dependent, although neither is a constituent of the other, thus composing a single Linguistic Expression, which configures an Equiordination. The unit that expresses the consequence is always ordered after the cause. The type of semantic entity that each operator scopes differentiates the constructions: tão (so) scopes an adjective property and tanto (so much), a verbal property, varying the position according to scope.