A questão das perífrases verbais

Abstract

The present article focuses on the issue of verbal periphases as defined by currently accepted standards of Traditional Grammar and Linguistcs. Among the issue considered, I will look at the application accurracy and appropriatness of the term “verbal periphases” as it is found in several different referenced works. Specifically, I will question the correctness of “verbal periphases” against other more descriptive terms like “verbal locution”, “periphrastic conjugation”, or the “composite tense”, hereinafter referred to as “VL”, “PC” and “CT”, respectively. The position of gramarans and some linguistic schools, such as the Structuralist/funcionalist, as well as the gerativist and the lexicalist principles as defined by Miriam Lemle (1989) as regards these terms is presented. There are interesting points of view that deserve consideration. However, there are crucial points which have not yet been satisfactorily researched.