OS TRAÇOS TEMPORAIS E AS SENTENÇAS DE ALTERNÂNCIA ERGATIVA DO PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO

Ergative Alternation Sentences (EAS) are those which alternate from the transitive to the intransitive (unnacusative) uses of the same verb. As many other languages, Brazilian Portuguese exhibits this phenomenon in sentences such as O menino quebrou o copo (The boy broke the glass), O copo quebrou (The glass broke) or Quebrou o copo (There broke the glass). It is well established by the specialized literature that the thematic properties of the object are essential for the formation of EASs: affected objects and patients allow for this alternation, while other theta roles, like beneficiary, experiencer, objective, value or locative, do not. In spite of the evidence, we believe that there are still other semantic restrictions which may affect the formation process of EASs. We pursue here the hypothesis that not all kinds of eventualities allow for the ergative alternation, suggesting that the kind of eventuality denoted by the sentence seems to be another restrictive factor for the production of EASs. We assume Smith (1991) and try to make clear the nature of the semantic restrictions imposed to the formation of EASs, pointing out the important role that the aspectual nature of their predicate plays in this process. The exact nature of the semantic restriction on the formation of EASs seems to be a combination of the aspectual nature of the predicate with the thematic properties of its complement. Key-words: aspect; transitivity; ergative alternation.