ABSTRACT
Following Functional Discourse Grammar model principles (Hengeveld & Mackenzie, 2008Hengeveld, K., & Mackenzie, M. (2008). Functional Discourse Grammar: a typologically-based theory of language structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278107.001.0001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/978...
), this paper describes concessive constructions with the conjunction por mais que. Using contemporary Portuguese data, from Corpus do Português (Davies & Ferreira, 2016Davies, M., & Ferreira, M. (2016). Corpus do Português: 45 millionwords, 1300s-1900s. Disponível online em http://www.corpusdoportugues.org.
http://www.corpusdoportugues.org...
), this investigation pursues two specific objectives: (i) determining the status of por mais que considering a set of FDG proposals concerning the lexical/grammatical status of adverbial conjunctions; and (ii) mapping, based on FDG levels and layer, the different concessive relations signaled by this conjunction in articulating clauses. It is argued that por mais que is a Lexical Conjunction, analyzed, at Representational Level, as a one-place Configurational Property, and that it articulates three types of concessive relations: factual concessive, conditional-concessive and restrictive concessive.
Keywords:
concession; conjunction; lexical conjunction