Ad libertatem: Portuguese insubordinate concessive-conditional constructions with nem se and nem que in diachrony

Abstract

Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) has become one of the leading theoretical frameworks for understanding language change as a cognitive and usage-based phenomenon, providing analytical tools to investigate how constructions emerge, evolve, and are reinterpreted over time (Traugott & Trousdale, 2013; Hilpert, 2013; Smirnova and Sommerer, 2020; Diessel, 2019). This paradigm is therefore particularly well suited to the theoretical and methodological analysis of insubordinate conditional-concessive clauses, since their regularity and productivity, already attested in synchronic studies across several languages, including Portuguese, result from processes of innovation, emergence, and conventionalization that originated diachronically. Within the framework of DCxG, this pilot study aims to investigate the use of insubordinate conditional-concessive constructions introduced by the conjunctions nem se and nem que in Portuguese, covering the period from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. By combining formal and functional parameters, the study seeks to demonstrate whether and how a Diachronic Construction Grammar approach can reveal patterns of continuity and innovation in these constructions over time, identifying processes of schematization and constructional change motivated by language use. The study is expected not only to address gaps in the description of non-prototypical connectives and constructions in Portuguese but also to provide an analysis of the formal, cognitive, and pragmatic mechanisms underlying insubordination.