Embedded questions vs. headless relatives: contributions from Functional Discourse Grammar
Keywords:
Embedded Questions, Headless Relatives, Functional Grammar.Abstract
This work deals with the distinction between embedded questions and headless relatives, that was already pointed out as problematic in several studies based on generative
approach. The purpose is to examine to what extent functional aspects, as proposed by the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (HENGEVELD; MACKENZIE, 2008) to describe the two types of clauses can contribute to the explanation of the differences and similarities between them. Based on representative occurrences of spoken Brazilian Portuguese, we demonstrated that the approach of Functional Discourse Grammar provides important parameters for defining
the nature of these two types of clauses, in both formal and functional (semantic-discursive) terms, contributing thus to the existing proposals for the distinction between these clauses.