From time to condition: contributions to the study of constructions with the connector "desde que" in European Portuguese

Abstract

In the first part of this paper, I analyse the syntactic and semantic properties of the constructions that involve the connective ‘desde que’ in contemporary European Portuguese. This synchronic polyfunctional connective introduces subordinate temporal and conditional clauses. It is possible to distinguish two sub-types of conditional clauses introduced by ‘desde que’, in accordance with the semantic entity type involved in its interpretation and taking into consideration the degree of integration of the subordinate in the matrix clause. The study is dominantly based on a newspaper corpus available online, CETEMPúblico (http://acdc.linguateca.pt). In the second part of the paper, and aiming to provide an integrated account of this intracategorial polysemy case, I assume the temporal reading of the connective as its basic meaning, and I argue that the process of semantic extension may be explained in terms of the conventionalizing of a conversational implicature. I support my claim on historical empirical data, collected by Fiéis & Lobo (2007).