Por uma releitura das nominalizações em infinitivo do português

Abstract

Morphologists usually acknowledge the existence of three derivational operations responsible for converting nouns into verbs in Portuguese, namely, suffixation, zero affixation and backward formation. In addition to these operations, this squib assumes the existence of a fourth process, the infinitive nominalization ”” [ligar]V → [ligar]N (“turn something on”) ”” O ligar das maquinas ´ e a etapa menos complicada ´ (roughly, “the turning on of the machines is the least complicated step”). The hypothesis is that infinitive nominals in Portuguese resemble gerundive nominals in English (CHOMSKY, 1970; SPENCER, 1991; BRINTON, 1995). This comparison is possible because both operations are phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, and semantically regular, and are ultimately available to any verb. Moreover, this fourth process is distinct from zero affixation, which derives lexicalized nominals such as dever and jantar from infinitive verbs (BASILIO, 1987). The same occurs in English with certain lexicalized gerundive nominals, such as building and drawing (BRINTON, 1995).