Eckhard Bick - VISL

4.5.4.4 Complementiser adverbs:
Interrogatives, relatives and comparatives
semantico-syntactic distinctions:
INTERROGATIVE FUNCTION como, onde, quando, quanto
RELATIVE POSTNOMINAL FUNCTION como, onde, quando
COMPARATIVE FUNCTION
EQUALITATIVE como, quanto, quão, qual
REFERENTIAL 185 conforme, consoante, segundo
semantic distinctions:
QUANTIFIER FUNCTION (INTENSIFIERS) quanto
SPACE: onde, TIME: quando, MODE: como
syntactic distinctions:
CONJUNCTIONAL FUNCTION POSTNOMINAL RELATIVES and EQUALITATIVE
COMPARATIVES: como, onde, quando, quanto, qual, quão, REFERENTIAL COMPARATIVES:
conforme, consoante, segundo, COMPLEX ADVERBIAL “ABSOLUTE” RELATIVES:
a=proporção=que, ainda=quando, ao=passo=que, ao=tempo=que, apenas, assim=como, assim=que,
bem=como, cada=vez=que, da=mesma=maneira=que, enquanto, logo=que, na=medida=em=que,
sempre=que, senão=quando, tal=como, toda=a=vez=que, todas=as=vezes=que, tão=como, tão=logo,
à=maneira=que, à=medida=que, à=proporção=que
PREPOSITIONAL FUNCTION como, conforme, consoante, qual, segundo
Complementiser adverbs are those adverbs that can subordinate a subclause. The
prototypical, non-complex members of the class are adverbial pronouns (como, onde,
quando, quanto, qual). Within the class, functional and semantic distinctions can be
made. Most common is the semantico-syntactic distinction between interrogatives
(primarily semantic) and relatives (primarily syntactic), which for non-polylexicals 186 is
functional rather than lexical, since the list of interrogatives is a virtual subset of the set
of the list of relatives. Another semantico-syntactic distinction is that between two types
of comparatives, which semantically compare either degree or quantity (como, quanto)
or assertions (conforme), and syntactically link to comparative hooks (tanto ... quanto,
tão ... como) or refer to out-statement source (segundo, conforme). Both interrogative
and comparative relatives can be semantically subdivided in space, time, manner and
quantitiy adverbs.
185 Referential comparatives like segundo and conforme are relative to a whole statement, somewhat like the sentence
apposition o que in ‘apareceram - o que muito me surpreendeu. The category can be syntactically defined by the fact that
subclauses headed by this type of complementiser adverb do not allow direct objects: ‘... segundo denunciava no congresso
*a sua opinião.’ Note that in ‘... segundo o que denunciava’ the relative pronoun o que functions as direct object of a lower
level subclause, itself governed in its entirety by segundo.
186 The parser recognized som interrogative preposition+adverb compound (aonde, donde) and polylexicals: por=que,
por=quê, há=quanto=tempo, a=que=propósito.
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