A gramaticalidade da expressão "foi quando"

Abstract

This paper analyzes the different usage patterns of “foi quando”. Adopting the concepts of Usage-based Functional Linguistics, we studied the hypothesis that the expression “foi quando”, in synchronic view, presents different degrees of grammaticality which the more grammatical use of the term is fairly integrated in the language, functioning as a connector. To verify our hypothesis, we conducted a synchronic investigation through news posted on the website www.g1.globo.com, since “foi quando” occurs frequently in this textual genre. Through this analysis, we identified three patterns that represent the grammaticality of “foi quando”: I) [foilinking verb(+)] e [quandointegrating adverb]; II) [foilinking verb(-) + quandorelative adverb] e III) [foiquandoconnector].