Linguistic conditionality in the Portuguese and Brazilian Penal Codes

Abstract

This study denominated Linguistic conditionality in the Portuguese and Brazilian Penal Codes is a summary of a qualitative and quantitative linguistic investigation of the Portuguese and Brazilian Penal Codes concerning the conditional clauses. We focus on the internal structure of the clauses, mainly on the occurrence of different conditional connectors and the distribution of the verbal modes and times and their semantic interpretation. We verified that the linguistic formulation of the Brazilian and Portuguese Penal Codes present some common, but also divergent linguistic features. As for the common proprieties, first of all, we have to mention that from the linguistic and semantic point of view, the clauses in question are, in both of the varieties, typologically the same: both pertain to the mono-conditional and circumstantial type. This fact also substantiates the reason for the usage of the same linguistic conditional connectors (se) instead of the others (a, caso, no caso de, desde que, etc.). Nonetheless, the texts are completely divergent from the point of view of the distribution of the verbal modes and times. As we will see, in the Portuguese Penal Code, the only verbal mode is the subjunctive (se estiver), whereas, in the Brazilian Penal Code, the used one is the indicative (se está). We interpret this difference as the reflection of the dichotomy of factual versus hypothetic modality.

Keywords: Conditional clause, distribution of the verbal modes and times, Portuguese and Brazilian Penal Codes.