O uso do verbo ser em narrativa de experiência pessoal: um estudo sob a ótica da linguística funcional

Abstract

In this work, a study was conducted on the verb to be from the perspective of functional linguistics, in order to demonstrate its classification in the narratives of personal experience, taking into account its discursive function. We studied its trajectory as a linking verb in different grammars: historical, traditional, and functional. In this aspect, we analyze the verb to be in its conjugated form, and within the narratives of personal experience, we count its occurrences and classify it into linking verbs and discursive markers. In this sense, we direct our study to the functioning of this lexical item, in order to investigate its use in orality, since it is more spontaneous, natural, and consequently, less monitored. We used the assumptions of Classical Functional Linguistics, specially Furtado da Cunha and Tavares, 2018; Givón, (1984); Oliveira and Votre, (2009). From this moment forward, we analyze the phenomena that constitute the object of a functional study, the verb to be, in its conjugated form, among which the occurrences of use in the narratives of personal experience are analyzed in more detail, we explain the procedures used. We collected occurrences that could evidence, in a systematic way, the use of the verb to be as a grammatical item, taking into account its discursive function. More broadly, we present the most recurrent function in the use of the verb to be in the narratives of personal experience. In the specific objectives, we analyzed whether these occurrences/use of the verb to be, as a discursive marker, exert the function of a functional item. We researched the trajectory around grammar in order to understand the various definitions presented for the item studied within different aspects from etymology to understanding the status of linking verb and as a main factor we directed the analysis to the view of functional linguistics. We established a journey through the theoretical foundation of functionalism and an explanation of some themes of this theory that were used more closely in our analyses, such as “prototypicality”, “grammaticalization”, “functional cycle” and “unidirectionality”. The results presented in this item were obtained from excerpts from narratives of personal experience extracted from Corpus Discurso&Gramática: the spoken and written language in the city of Natal (FURTADO DA CUNHA, 1998), aiming to analyze the recurrences of the linking verb ser/ it is under the approach of functional linguistics. This research is classified as quali-quantitative, as it is quantifiable, and brings information for analysis using resources and techniques for such an approach. That said, we also emphasize the presence of the quantitative approach, which is justified by the use of data extracted from the Corpus Discurso&Gramática that were studied in an environment without any manipulation by the researcher. To summarize, we conclude that the analyzes obtained through the functionalist study on the verb to be in the narratives of personal experience are dissonant from the constructions foreseen in the normative and historical grammars, we affirm that the lexical item studied, within the analyzed oral narratives, presents a new categorization grammatical: a discursive marker.