Uses of the conector ‘except’: a panorama under the perspective of usage-based functional linguistics

Abstract

The objective of this work is to outline the uses of the connector except (and compound forms - except that, except if, except when), its main morphosyntactic features and semantic values. The analysis of the subject takes place in the perspective of Usage- Based Functional Linguistics, adopting the theoretical assumptions of CROFT (2001), GOLDBERG (1995, 2006), GOLDERG; CASENHISER (2010), KORTMANN (1997) and TROUSDALE (2008). Based on a real language corpus of Brazilian Portuguese, we attested seven different patterns for the exception construction instantiated by the connector except: three non-clausal patterns (except + NP, except + preposition and except + adverbial) and four clausal patterns (except + when, except + if, except + that and except + infinitive). Based on these statements, we postulate the existence and productivity of constructions of exception in Brazilian Portuguese.