THE COMBINATION OF THE TERM MUITO WITH PURE AND DETERMINING SYNTAGMAS: A SEMANTIC CONTRIBUTION TO BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

Abstract

Results obtained by applying tests for grammatical judgment to analyze hypothesis by Pires de Oliveira & Souza (2018) are provided. The test investigated the combination of the term ‘muito’ with masculine and feminine nouns, with or without the definite article. Results show that sentences structured by the combination of ‘muito’ plus the pure feminine syntagma and ‘muito’ plus the feminine determining syntagma are sentences which are not properly evaluated by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. On the other hand, the combination of ‘muito’ with the determining masculine or feminine syntagma is evaluated as non-marked or a-grammatical by participants. Against the authors´ expectations, the combination of ‘muito’ with a pure feminine syntagma had a negative evaluation. As expected, the combination of ‘muito’ with the pure masculine syntagma was evaluated as good by speakers. The negative evaluation of sentences with determinants is due to inadequate semantic formation, whilst inadequate formation with the pure feminine is due to syntax.