Eckhard Bick - VISL

3.7.2 Making the most of the lexicon
3.7.2.1 Level interaction: The secondary tags of valency
In my system, valency proper is defined as the power of a dependency head to govern
optional or obligatory dependents in a functional way. For this kind of valency
Portuguese obeys the linear precedence principle (i.e. heads precede dependents),
though it is obligatory only in the case of nominal valency (the valency of nouns and
adjectives) and adverbial valency. For verbs, there are numerous exceptions with
fronting of valency bound material, like subjects of non-ergative verbs, relative
pronouns and focusing. The most important valency classes are listed below, with a list
of examples, and of the constituents involved 116 :
for verbs:
monotransitive SUBJ V ACC comer ac., amar alg.
monotransitive SUBJ V DAT obedecer, agradar, convir
monotransitive SUBJ V PIV contar com, gostar de
monotransitive SUBJ V ADV durar TEMP, custar QUANT,
morar LOC, ir DIR
copula SUBJ V SC estar, ser, parecer, chamar-se
intransitive inergative SUBJ V trabalhar, nadar, dançar, correr
intransitive ergative V SUBJ desaparecer, chegar, desmaiar,
(= inaccusative) cair, crescer, desmaiar, nascer
ditransitive SUBJ V ACC DAT dar ac. a alg., mostrar, vender
ditransitive SUBJ V ACC PIV confundir ac. com, trocar por,
transformar em, afastar de
ditransitive SUBJ V ACC ADV pôr ac. LOC, collocar ac. LOC,
mandar alg./ac. DIR
transitive prædicative SUBJ V ACC OC achar alg./ac. ac., considerar
impersonal V chover
[abbreviations used for verbal valency: SUBJ = subject, V = verbal constituent, ACC = direct
(accusative) object, DAT = indirect (dative) object, PIV = prepositional object, SC = subject
predicative complement, OC = object predicative complement, ADV = adverbial object, TEMP = time
quantity adverbial, QUANT = quantity adverbial, LOC = place adverbial, DIR = direction adverbial]
for nouns:
116 Verb-dependent valency bound constituents, i.e. clause level arguments, need not necessarily come in the order given in
the third column of the table. Portuguese allows (almost) free positioning of subjects, predicative complements and objects
(with the exception of clitic object pronouns that always come in DAT ACC order).
- 160 -