Eckhard Bick - VISL

the quantifying adverbs mais and menos which denote the comparative degree of
Portuguese adjectives and adverbs, and as equalitative hooks the adverbs tão, tanto and
the determiners tanto, tal. There are restrictions as to which hook can be combined with
which relational particle, for instance mais/menos - que/do=que, tal - qual, tanto -
quanto, tão - como.
Like relative adverbs, also the conjunction que can, in certain contexts, head a
direct comparandum, as in (i) and (ii). Though traditionally classified as a comparative
subordinating conjunction, this type of que could, in fact, be classified as a relative
adverb itself, and there are other constructions deserving this analysis, with adverbial
"hooks" for the relative n-comparative) link, cp. (iii) and (iv).
(i) forte que nem um urso ('strong as not even a bear').
(ii) Bom que seja o rapaz não é nenhum santo ('Good as he might be, the boy is no
saint')
(iii) no ano que nasci ('in the year when I was born)
(iv) Ainda que ('though')
(v) Desliga, amor, que tem gente na linha ('Hang up, dear, as there's somebody on the
line')
Etymologically, such a word class distinction would make sense, since que in these
examples is derived from Latin 'quam' [how], itself a relative adverbial, while
"ordinary" completive, NP-producing, que is rooted in a Latin pronoun, 'quod' [what].
Like the relative adverb como, adverbial que occurs in causal constructions, too (v),
with yet another Latin relative adverb etymology, 'qua' [where] 164 .
When an equalitative hook (tão, tanto, tal) is combined with the conjunction que
as relational particle introducing a finite subclause, this subclause will have a
consecutive meaning, sometimes - when used with the subjunctive mood in the
subclause - implying finality. This construction, though not a comparison as such, does
measure the "degree" of a predication or modifier, affecting the mental image of the
comparative base in much the same way a real comparandum does. The fact that que
here can be replaced by de tal maneira/modo que ('such as to'), with que relating back to
an adverbial PP expression, again suggests a relative adverb reading.
Expressions like ..., como dizem ('according to what they say'), como já disse
('like I said') or ..., conforme vi ('as [far as] I have seen'), involve what I call relative
adverbs, too, and are vaguely related too (hook-less) comparisons, though the
relativisation expressed, relates to a statement (and most likely its truth-value), not to a
measure.
164 A last kind of adverbial que is the insensifier, as in que lindo! ('How beautiful!'), going back to Latin 'quid'.
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