International Journal of Language & Linguistics

ISSN 2374-8850 (Print), 2374-8869 (Online) DOI: 10.30845/ijll

A Study of the Use of Prepositions [a] and [para] in contexts with Triargumental Verbs in Western Santa Catarina/Brazil
Aline Peixoto Gravina, GreiciMoratelliSampaio

Abstract
Several studies show some variation in the use of the prepositions [para] and [a] and defend the loss of categorical dative constructions in Brazilian Portuguese. From theoretical assumptions of generative grammar, this research sought to broaden this discussion by presenting the description of results and analyses of the use of these variants in constructions with tri-argumentative verbs. The corpus of analysis was made up of two television programmes with speakers from Chapecó and other regions of western Santa Catarina. The data analysed indicated a preference for the preposition [para] over the preposition [a] in constructions with internal argument prepositioned with tri-argumentative verbs. There was a change in the Brazilian pronominal scenario, and now the 3rd person clitic pronoun no longer belongs to the grammar of the western Santa Catarina speaker; instead, there are constructions with the preposition [para] and the pronouns [ele / ela], [você], [a gente], among others, causing the loss of dative constructions in the language. Another important factor would be the fact that the prepositions [a] and [para] share the beneficiary thematic role in tri-argumentative contexts, enabling the preposition [para] become categorical.

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