The discursive properties of ‘and’ - a jack-of-all-trades connector

Abstract

This work analyses the connection mechanism of conjunction, focusing on the syntatic-semantic behaviour of “and”. It aims at identifying its polysemic values in different contexts (Neves, 2000; Charaudeau, 1992; Quirk, 1985). Therefore, discontinuous meaning relations between the conjoined elements due to pragmatics implications are introduced: starting from its primary addition value (formula A+B), other semantic notions are involved, being the temporal one the first, in the associative semantic field to widen its linguistic scope, since when dealing with enumeration, the notion of addition is normally subordinated to those of time, succession, accumulation and concomitance. On the other hand, the addition term may not only contradict the one that precedes it (opposition value), but also introduce a conclusion or a consequence of the previous proposition. The work still deals with symmetrical/asymmetrical concepts (Van Dijk, 1977; Lakoff, 1971)  and with  the functioning of conjunction in the content, epistemic and speech-acts domains (Sweetser, 1990),  concluding that “and” is a neuter connector, argumentatively weak, what, in turn, gives it  its functional permeability.