Concessiveness in Portuguese: a constructional description based on the uses of ainda que

Abstract

This article analyzes the uses of the clausal construction introduced by ainda que in contemporary Portuguese, based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Usage-Based Linguistics, which brings together contributions from North American Functionalism and Construction Grammar. Within this analytical framework, language is conceived as a large inventory of linguistic constructions that emerge from speakers’ actual language use. For the analysis of 180 data, the NOW (2012-2019) section of the Corpus do Português was used. Based on the adopted analytical factors, the results reveal that clauses introduced by the connective under study show preferences regarding their position in the sentence (preposed, interpolated, or postposed in relation to the main clause), the pragmatic-discursive context, particularly with respect to presupposition, as well as the clause’s semantics and the verbal mood that accompanies it. This analysis contributes to the description of contemporary Portuguese by revealing usage patterns and discursive preferences of the connective, offering an empirically grounded view of clausal constructions and their pragmatic functions in language use.