Causal Relations Signaled by the Connector porque [because]: Articulating functional-cognitive, and Interactional-discursive Perspectives

Abstract

In this work, we study how the connector porque [because] acts in signaling causality in the last presidential debate of the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaign. The objective was to verify if the connector is characterized by multifunctionality, not only signaling a cause-and-effect relationship but introducing arguments to justify speech acts and support opinions, beliefs, and judgments expressed in the sentence to which it is connected. Understanding these roles required articulating two distinct but complementary theoretical perspectives: the cognitive-functional and the discursive-interactional. Analyzing the 89 occurrences of the connector, we show that the agonizing nature of the debate genre makes the majority of occurrences of causal sentences with porque allowing the performance of a wide range of speech acts and to supporting (explaining or justifying) beliefs or judgments expressed in the main constituent.

Key-words:
Conjuntion porque; Causual relation; Argumentation