Morphological status of the sequences -alhão and -arrão

Abstract

The present study aims to characterize the morphological status of -alh- and -arr- in the sequences -alhão and -arrão, the most prototypical of similar constructions involving, for example, -alhaço, -alhote, -alhaz, -arraz. The affixes -alh- and -arr-, poorly represented in contemporary Portuguese language, have been considered infixes, suffixes or segments of composite suffixes -alhão and -arrão. The data from 'popular' European Portuguese of the 20th century contribute to clarify the course of these suffixes in the Portuguese language (European and Brazilian varieties). The hypothesis that is placed is that these initially unproductive suffixes have been reanalyzed as constituents of composite suffixes, in which the formatives kept, crystallizing them, the inherited matrix values. The theoretical framework that supports this reflection is multidimensional, involving reference names of morphological and lexical studies such as Aronoff e Fudeman (2005), Basilio (1999, 2004), Bechara (2004), Booij (2007, 2010), Cunha e Cintra (1984), Nunes (1989), Rio-Torto (1993, 2020), Vasconcelos (1914). Data from different synchronies and different socio-dialectal universes contribute to clarify the conceptual representations that may be the basis of changes in the status of certain suffixes, through reanalysis processes that affect them.