Coerência referencial e ordem oracional

Abstract

Based on the phenomenon of referential coherence as understood by Givón (1995; 2001b), we analyzed its syntactic consequences in the combination of clauses. Supported by functionalist theories that defend the articulation of clauses in terms of gradience (HAIMAN; THOMPSON, 1984; HOPPER; TRAUGOTT, 2003; GIVÓN, 2001b), we described and analyzed 596 Temporal Hypotactic Clauses of the Corpus Sociolingüístico de la Ciudad de México (CSCM) and we tested Givón (1995; 2001b)’s hypotheses regarding the greater referential continuity of clauses more integrated to those to which they are articulated. We observed the position of the clause (preposed, interpolated, postposed), its type (developed, reduced), and its subject (coreferential or non-coreferential to the nuclear clause’s subject). Our results show the role of the markedness principle along with its dependence on context (GIVÓN, 1995; 2001a) and the principle of expressiveness (DUBOIS; VOTRE, 2012) in the use of interpolated sentences, which are less marked forms in this context, as they express greater referential coherence than preposed and postposed clauses. We conclude that the combination of clauses has discursive purposes, mobilizing the discourse referential coherence, whose syntactic means are expressed in clauses more integrated to their sentential nucleus.