Lexical identity, enunciative functioning and semantic variation for the Theory of Enunciative Operations

Abstract

This work proposes a differentiated semantic approach of the relations that the verbal lexemes maintain with the contexts in which they are inserted and whose enunciative construction they support. It is based on the principle that the compositional models of constitution of the sense of an utterance are insufficient to explain, on the one hand, the interactions among the linguistic units which give them form and, on the other hand, the observed semantic variations and discursive productivity. Taking the analysis of the semantic nature of the verbs romper and quebrar in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as an illustration, it is intended to evidence into what extent the semantic processes of these units approximate and distance themselves from the enunciative scenes they build. The theoretical and methodological framework adopted is the Theory of Enunciative Operations, referential inscribed in the fi eld of Linguistics of Enunciation and whose analytical functioning is the practice of elaboration of glosses. As an operation sustained by the epilinguistic activity which constitutes language, the gloss is established by the controlled manipulation of the empiric material, which exposes circumstances and restrictions referred to the employment of the verbs articulated with their contexts of insertion.

Keywords: identity and semantic variation, verbal lexemes, enunciative approach, Brazilian Portuguese, contrastive analysis of romper and quebrar.