From modal or conditional clause to argumentative additional operator: the role of intersubjectivity in the emergence of [sem falar] in Portuguese

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the uses and the emergence of the argumentative operator [sem falar] in Portuguese, used in the textual flow to include new convergent arguments. At the same time, we seek to identify the possible cognitive motivations underlying its origin. To this end, we resort to the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Functional-Cognitive Linguistics (Rosário, 2022), especially regarding the notion of intersubjectivity (Traugott; Dasher, 2002) and also the notion of general cognitive processes (Diessel, 2019). The research was carried out based on 301 tokens, extracted from two corpora (one synchronic and the other one diachronic), analyzed from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. The synchronic data show that [sem falar] has been used preferably as an argumentative strategy to add convergent arguments, which can be attributed the status of a knock-out argument (cf. Koch, 2004). At the same time, diachronic data suggest that [sem falar] appears in Portuguese through the analogization of a construction with an analogous function: [sem contar]. In the process of change, we suggest, from our analyses, the new categorization was motivated by the action of the cognitive mechanism of intersubjectivity, since this innovative use leads the listener or reader to attribute, contextually, a new meaning to the construction: addition, instead of negative or conditional mood.