<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

DIADORIM

Revista Diadorim
e-ISSN: 2675-1216
v.25, n.3, e63624, 2023

DOI: 10.35520/diadorim.2023.v25n3a63624

Original Article

# A Collostructional and
Usage-based Contrastive
Analysis of Periphrastic
Causative Constructions in
Portuguese and French

Uma Análise Contrastiva Colostrucional e
Baseada no Uso de Construções Causativas
Perifrásticas em Português e Francês

Vanessa Meireles<fnref n="1" /> ID

Marcia dos Santos Machado Vieira<fnref n="2" /> ID

E-mail: vanessa.meireles@univ-montp3.fr

E-mail: marcia@letras.ufrj.br

**Editor-chef**

Marcia dos Santos
Machado Vieira

Recebido: 03/11/2023

Aceito: 04/12/2023

**Como citar:**

MEIRELES, Vanessa;
MACHADO VIEIRA, Marcia
dos Santos. A Collostructional
and Usage-based Contrastive
Analysis of Periphrastic
Causative Constructions
in Portuguese and French.
*Revista Diadorim*, v.25, n.3,
e63624, 2023. doi: https://
doi.org/10.10.35520/
diadorim.2023.v25n3a63624

**Abstract:**

In this paper, we will present a collostructional analysis of the peri-
phrastic causative construction *fazer* + Vinfinitive in Portuguese. To this
end, we used the theoretical assumptions of Construction Grammar
(Goldberg, 2006; Hilpert, 2014) to analyse data samples drawn from the
*Sketch Engine* platform. We used a methodology similar to that used by
Gilquin (2015) when exploring English data in contrast to French data.
Our analysis identifies the lexical items that are attracted to the non-fi-
nite verb slot in the construction under examination [FAZER + Vinf].
We then analyse the translation of the *faire comprendre* construction in

<footnote n="1">¹Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry. Montpellier, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. CNPq e FAPERJ.</footnote>
a parallel French-Portuguese corpus. Observation of the data tends to confirm related linguistic uses in the languages upon which our work has focused (French and Portuguese), with common properties of form and function, as well as idiosyncrasies.

**Keywords:**

Construction Grammar, collostructional analysis, periphrastic causative constructions, Portuguese, French

**Resumo**

Neste artigo, apresentaremos uma análise colostrucional da construção causativa perifrástica *fazer* + Vinf em Português. Para isso, usamos os pressupostos teóricos da Gramática de Construções (Goldberg, 2006; Hilpert, 2014) para analisar amostras de dados extraídos da plataforma *Sketch Engine*. Usamos uma metodologia semelhante à usada por Gilquin (2015) ao explorar dados em inglês, em contraste com dados do francês. Nossa análise identifica os itens lexicais que são atraídos para o *slot* do verbo infinitivo na construção em foco [FAZER + Vinf]. Em seguida, analisamos a tradução da construção *faire comprendre* em um corpus paralelo francês-português. A observação dos dados tende a confirmar usos linguísticos relacionados nas línguas focalizadas em nosso trabalho (francês e português), com propriedades formais e funcionais comuns, assim como suas idiossincrasias.

**Palavras-chave**

Gramática de Construções, análise colostrucional, construções causativas perifrásticas, português, francês.

**Introduction**

Cause and effect is a relationship in the biosocial or psychological world. States of affairs (events, situations, processes, happenings) in the world have their origins in other states of affairs. Languages therefore have morphological, lexical and syntactic mechanisms for expressing this interconnection of states of affairs/events (causation and resultativity). It's no surprise that linguistic literature has so many descriptions of this.

Causative constructions are linguistic expressions that structure predications in which the subject does not realise or experience a state of affairs (action, for example), but induces, instructs, directs or influences another to realise or experience a state of affairs (action). There are both formalist and functionalist descriptions (cf. Kayne,
1975, on French causatives; Gilquin, 2008, 2015, 2023, on French and English causatives; Aguilar, 1977, on Spanish; Burzio, 1986, on Italian; Gonçalves, 1999, on European Portuguese; Machado Vieira, 2001, 2018, 2020; Andrade, 2002, on Brazilian Portuguese, among others).

Interest in the regularity with which certain verbs – *fazer*, in Portuguese, or *faire*, in French, or *hacer*, in Spanish, or *fare*, in Italian, or *make*, in English – occur in the organisation of predications has mobilised researchers to seek generalisations regarding the network of causative constructions in language grammars. This is based on the conception of language as a grammar of constructions, or rather, as a complex of grammars of constructions, if we consider heterogeneity and multidialectalism in the organisation of linguistic knowledge.

The nomenclature ‘causative construction’ is usually attributed to constructional patterns that involve either a verbal form or a periphrastic morphosyntactic structure associated with a state of affairs that implies a sub-event of causation and a sub-event of resultativity. In the causation sub-event, a causative participant induces/initiates an event/state of affairs and in the caused sub-event, an induced/causee participant carries out the event by submitting to act or undergo a change of condition or state as a result of what the causative agent induces.

The type of causative construction we look at in this article is the periphrastic causative construction involving [FAZER + Vinf] and its different instantiations/ configurations. Below are examples taken from the Portuguese corpus, drawn from the Sketch Engine platform:

1. “A crise, porém, **fez ruir** o equilíbrio de forças e os dois principais partidos – o Partido Socialista e a Nova Democracia – foram soterrados” [correiocidadania.com.br] (The crisis, however, collapsed the balance of power and the two main parties - the Socialist Party and New Democracy - were buried)

2. “Não quer dizer que eu não erre ao contratar, mas os anos de experiência me **fizeram errar** bem menos.” [decisionmakers.com.br] (That’s not to say I don’t make mistakes when hiring, but years of experience have made me make far fewer mistakes)

3. “A rotina de todos os dias acordar muito cedo, realizar muitas tarefas ao longo do dia nos **faz perceber** como somos acomodados e perdemos tanto tempo com coisas inúteis e deixamos de fazer as tarefas importantes” [niten.org.br] (The routine of waking up very early every day and carrying out many tasks throughout the day makes us realise how complacent we are)

4. “Nasci em SP e percebi que sou bem mal agradecida :( Os comentários me **fizeram valorizar** um pouco o caos e as oportunidades da cidade. Coragem para todos que vierem, e MUITA paciência!” [saopauloparainiciantes.com.
br] (I was born in São Paulo (SP) and I've realised that I'm very ungrateful: (The comments have made me appreciate the city's chaos and opportunities. Courage to all who come, and LOTS of patience!)

5. “O Ministério do Trabalho deseja modificar o conceito de trabalho análogo ao de escravo do artigo no 149 do Código Penal **fazendo-se substituir** pelo legislador ordinário”. [conic.org.br] (The Ministry of Labour wants to modify the concept of work analogous to slavery in article 149 of the Penal Code by having the ordinary legislature replace it)

6. “Mel B teria afirmado à justiça que tentou deixar Stephen por diversas vezes, no entanto ele usava de violência para **fazê-la desistir** da separação.” [estrelando.com. br] (Mel B allegedly told the court that she tried to leave Stephen several times, but he used violence to make her give up on the separation)

In this article, we examine this construction to detect a functional (semantic) aspect, as well as generalisations that allow us to trace the representation of inheritance and similarity relations between microconstructions licensed from the constructional sub-schema that we look at here. Our approach involves the mapping of uses and constructional patterns, as well as their relationships in Romance languages as constructions that are pragmatically specific to these languages, given the objectives of the VariaR Project - Variation in Romance Languages - to which the research that gives rise to this text is linked (https://variar.wixsite.com/variar).

In the first section of this article, we present the theoretical framework used, Construction Grammar, and then the method chosen in this work, collostructional analysis (Stefanowitsch; Gries, 2003; Gries; Stefanowitsch, 2004a, 2004b; Gries, 2007). In the second section, we present the causative constructions that we have chosen to examine in French and Portuguese, and their particular characteristics. In the third section, we explain the extraction of the data from the corpus and the simple collostructional analysis applied to it. In the fourth section, we analyse the translation of the [FAIRE+Vinf] construction into Portuguese in a parallel French-Portuguese corpus. Finally, we summarise the main conclusions in the final section.

**Theoretical apparatus and methodology**

Our theoretical basis consists of the Construction Grammar approach in Functional-Cognitive Linguistics. Within the framework of Construction Grammar, language is conceived as a repertoire of constructions, i.e. pairings of form and meaning (Goldberg, 1995, 2006). The theoretical framework of Construction Grammar also makes it possible to analyse linguistic variation and change, for example in dialects (Östman & Trousdale, 2013), diachrony (Hilpert, 2014, 2018), Sociolinguistics (Hollmann, 2013) and second language acquisition (Gilquin, 2012).
Another advantage of the theory is, in our view, the fact that most constructionist studies are based on empirical data, i.e. corpus data (based on frequencies, probabilities, measures of association and multifactorial approaches) and are also compatible with a “usage-based” approach. In fact, frequency is often of crucial importance in defining constructions: “patterns are stored as constructions even if they are fully predictable as long as they occur with sufficient frequency” (Goldberg 2006: 5).

Within this theoretical framework, Gries and Stefanowitsch (Stefanowitsch & Gries, 2003, Gries & Stefanowitsch, 2004a, 2004b; Gries, 2007) have developed a method of collostructional analysis (collostruction < collocation + construction) which, based on corpus data and rigorous methodology, aims to determine the degree of attraction (or repulsion) between a construction and the words that fill a slot in this construction. Collostructional analysis comprises three different techniques:

I. simple collexeme analysis (Stefanowitsch & Gries 2003), which studies a slot in a given construction (for example, in [NPsubject-V-NPobject], the verb);

II. (multiple) distinctive collexeme analysis (Gries & Stefanowitsch 2004a), which studies a slot in two (or more) similar constructions, for example, the non-finite verb in [continuer à/de Vinf] in French; and

III. covarying collexeme analysis (Gries & Stefanowitsch 2004b, which studies two slots in one construction (in [plus Suj. V, plus Suj. V] in French).

By measuring the strength of the association between a construction and one or more words that appear in that construction, collostructional analysis makes it possible to investigate different constructions from different angles, providing new and complementary answers to other approaches. This technique has been applied to various branches of Linguistics for almost twenty years and has proved suitable for describing a number of languages (especially English) and comparing them with others. Despite this, it has not been widely applied to studies of Portuguese. We can cite the work of Travassos and Machado Vieira (2022) involving collostructional analysis and a contrastive perspective between Portuguese and French. Therefore, given the lack of use of collostructional analysis in the treatment of the question that interests us and in the field of contrastive linguistics in general, it is likely to provide new clues for a better understanding of the functioning of these structures.

## Causative constructions

In general, the causative construction is defined by its meaning and its form. In terms of meaning, one entity (the causer) causes another entity (the causee) to act in a certain way, potentially in a different way affecting a third entity (the patient), as in these examples in Portuguese:
a) Ele (causer) me (causee) fez rir. / Ele (causer) fez-me (causee) rir. ('He made me laugh')

b) Eles (causer) nos (causee) fizeram completar o teste (patient). / Eles (causer) fizeram-nos (causee) completar o teste ('They made us complete the test').

In terms of form, the causative verb and its subject are followed by a phrase expressing the result of the causation, which includes a complement that can be a verb, adjective or noun. Periphrastic constructions are attested in several languages, presenting syntactic peculiarities. This is possibly why most studies have concentrated on syntactic issues, as in Gonçalves (1999), Andrade (2002) and Araújo (2012), and why we won't dwell on this aspect in this article.

The basic form of the construction for French is [X FAIRE Vinf NP] (*Elle fait rire ses amis / elle les fait rire* ); in English it is [X MAKE NP Vinf] (She makes her friends laugh / she makes them laugh); and in Portuguese both configurations are attested, at least in Brazilian Portuguese: [X FAZER Vinf NP] (*Ela fez rir os seus amigos / Ela os fez rir*) or [X FAZER NP Vinf] (*Ela fez os seus amigos rir(em)*). In Portuguese, we note for example:

- the possibility of inserting the causee before and in the middle of the construction (with an object pronoun (me) such as “*Ele me fez rir* and *Ele fez-me rir*” (He made me laugh), or, in the Brazilian variant, even a subject pronoun (*ela*, ‘você’, *for instance*) such as “*Ele fez ela/você rir*” (He made her/you laugh) or noun phrase (‘a Maria’, ‘a classe inteira’) such as “*Ele fez a Maria/a classe inteira rir*” (He made Maria/the whole class laugh).

- the use of the personal non-finite verb tense, exclusive to Portuguese, (conjugated or not – ‘rir’ or ‘rirem’) such as “*Ela fez os seus amigos rir(em)*” (She made her friends laugh).

For this paper, we will analyse only cases where there are no intermediate elements between the verb *fazer* and the non-finite verb in Portuguese, except for cases with an enclitic pronoun, for the purposes of comparison with the French construction, since this is a structure common to both Romance languages (*il m'a fait vous suivre*), and absent in English (where at least one intermediate element is required between the verb *make* and Vinf). It could be argued that the comparison is not balanced and that the Portuguese construction cannot occur with all the variety of collexemes that French has. To address this issue, we intend to include, in future work, those constructions in Portuguese that have an intermediate element, so as to compare the results with those presented in this paper, and to check whether a comparison of all the models in the two languages would indicate more overlap.
One of the manifestations of the causative structure is what is commonly referred to in the literature as the ‘Romance causative’<fnref n="1" />, which is also found in other verbs such as *envoyer/mandar/mandare/mandar* (to send), *laisser/dejar/lasciare/deixar* (to leave) +Vinf in French, Spanish, Italian and European Portuguese, but, according to various studies, is rarely attested (or is even signalled as ungrammatical) in Brazilian Portuguese. According to Lima-Salles and Pilati (2014, p. 204), “The ‘Romance causative’ is crucially characterised by the absence of inflection in the non-finite verb, and by the realisation of the argument interpreted as the causee in postposition to the verb in the non-finite,”<fnref n="2" /> as illustrated by<fnref n="3" />:

c) La mère **a fait dormir** l'enfant (French)

d) La madre **hizo dormir** al niño (Spanish)

e) La madre **fece dormire** il bambino (Italian)

f) A mãe **fez dormir** o menino (European Portuguese)

g) A mãe **fez** a criança **dormir** (Brazilian Portuguese) (closer to English *The mother made the child sleep*)

Another work worth mentioning is that of Araújo (2012), specifically on **peri-phrastic causatives** with *faire/fazer* Vinf in French and Portuguese<fnref n="4" />, based on a bilingual corpus of original French texts translated into Portuguese. Araújo's work analyses a semantic-pragmatic aspect of the constructions (the degree of agentivity of the logical subject) but focuses mainly on the treatment of syntactic aspects such as the position of the clitic objects and the exclusive SVO order of French, compared to the more malleable order of Portuguese involving these constructions.

Another corpus-based study involving French, from a contrastive perspective with English and carried out within the framework of Construction Grammar, is that by Gilquin (2015). The author presents a comparative collostructional analysis of causative periphrastic constructions with *make/faire* in English and French in academic writing, analysing the phraseological aspects and semantic categories of the verbs most attracted by the construction. In addition to its contribution to contrastive linguistics, the study is a contribution to the mapping of causality:

<footnote n="1">¹ Cf. Zubizarreta (1985) on romance causative construction.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Our translation. In the original: “A ‘causativa românica’ caracteriza-se crucialmente pela ausência de flexão no infinitivo, e pela realização do argumento interpretado como o causado em posição posposta ao verbo no infinitivo”.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ The example given by the authors is “A mãe fez dormir o menino”. We translated into other languages for demonstration purposes.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ There are other contrastive works on Romance languages, such as Cerbasi (1997), on these constructions in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and Soares da Silva (2010) on Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian.</footnote>
[...] this contrastive collostructional analysis has hopefully demonstrated that contrastive linguistics has much to gain from the application of the different techniques of collostructional analysis which, by considering the collexemes of a construction, allow us to get a better grasp of the typical meaning(s) of this construction and thus help us compare it with similar constructions in other languages. (Gilquin, 2015, p. 15)

In order to help map the uses and constructional patterns of uses to express causation, we thought it pertinent to analyse both Portuguese and French using a similar approach, based on an authentic corpus, and the theoretical apparatus of Construction Grammar. Specifically, we employed the method of collostructional analysis (simple collexeme) which draws on the cognitive theory of Construction Grammar and the tools and techniques of Corpus Linguistics to identify lexical items that are statistically attracted to a slot (that of Vinf) in the construction that we have chosen to look at in each Romance language analysed: [FAIRE Vinf] and [FAZER Vinf] (with no elements between FAZER and its inflected forms and Vinf).

We will then present a contrastive analysis of the periphrastic causative constructions with *faire/fazer* in French and Portuguese to systematize the differences and similarities between the two languages in their use in the real context of instantiation of these constructions.

## Analysing the Portuguese periphrastic causative construction fazer + Vinf in the corpus

To select the data to be analysed, we chose to use the Sketch Engine platform<fnref n="5" /> [https://www.sketchengine.eu], which enables us to handle a large quantity of data from different languages, with various tools for automatic data processing. We chose the Portuguese Web 2018 corpus (ptTenTen18)<fnref n="6" />, which contains more than 7.4 billion words from the European and Brazilian varieties of the Portuguese language.

Using the “Word sketch” tool, we selected the lemma *fazer* and then selected its usage patterns. In Figure 1, we can see that a search for instances with the verb *fazer* + Vinf is quite productive, compared to other more frequent placements with the verb *fazer* in Portuguese (*fazer* + *preposition* + *que*, e.g. ‘*fazer com que*’; *fazer* + *conjunction*, e.g. ‘*fazer como*’; *fazer* + *gerund*, e.g. ‘*fazer passando*’ and *fazer* + *que*).

<footnote n="5">⁵ We thank Mariana Gonçalves da Costa (UFRJ, CAPES, http://lattes.cnpq.br/1485694235655537, Projetos Predicar, InCorpora e GRECO) for her advice and assistance with using the Sketch Engine platform and preparing the colostructural analysis.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ More information about the Portuguese Web Corpus (ptTenTen) is available at [https://www.sketchengine.eu/pttenten-portuguese-corpus].</footnote>
With regard to French, despite the large number of collocations analysed in relation to the overall result obtained, we can see in Figure 2 below that the collocation with the verb *faire* + Vinf is not among the most productive constructions with the verb *faire* in French (*pouvoir faire*, *devoir faire*, *aller faire*, *être en train de faire*, *venir de faire*), as was the case with Portuguese in the corpus extracted:

For our collostructional analysis, we selected the subcorpus referring to Brazilian
Portuguese (Brazilian national domain.br), because in the future we intend to analyse
whether there are distinct patterns in European Portuguese or in other varieties of
Portuguese. With a very high total of 612,356 instances of the verb obtained, we
then used the “Get a random sample” tool to obtain a smaller randomised sample
of 1,000 pieces of data, while preserving its representativeness. After sorting the

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1**: Usage patterns of fazer as verb 27,515,112×, the most frequent collocations that co-occur with the verb fazer in the corpus Portuguese Web 2018 (ptTenTen18), accessed on 03 April 2023, where "%W" corresponds to fazer</figcaption></figure>

**Source:** Sketch Engine

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 2:** Usage patterns of faire as verb</figcaption></figure>

**Source:** Sketch Engine
sample and eliminating the data that didn't really correspond to the *fazer* + Vinf construction, we obtained a total of 970 pieces of data<fnref n="7" />. The results details shown in Figure 3 below allow us to see, for example, the percentage of the data in relation to the whole corpus (0.00001145%) and the number of tokens (8,731,838,327).

To answer the question “which collexemes are most attracted to the non-finite slot in the *fazer* + Vinf construction in Brazilian Portuguese?” and to determine the extent to which the results differ from those obtained by Gilquin (2015) for French, we carried out a collostructional analysis (simple collexeme analysis) based on the data thus extracted from the Sketch Engine platform.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 3: Results details of the reduced sample, from the Word Sketch tool**</figcaption></figure>

**Source:** Sketch Engine

Firstly, we prepared an Excel file with the list of verbs occurring in the non-finite slot and their number of occurrences. Next, we considered the frequency of these verbs in the construction and in the entire corpus of Brazilian Portuguese on the Sketch Engine platform, which served as the basis for calculating the degree of attraction (collostructional force) with an Excel maths formula. Table 1 lists the verbs attracted to the infinitive verb slot in combination with *fazer*:

<footnote n="7">⁷ At this stage, we eliminated data such as “*fazer air maracas*, *fazer cover*, *fazer gamer*, *fazer glitter*, *fazer kefir*”, etc., where the slot after the verb *fazer* is not filled by a verb. These made up a small percentage of structures that did not correspond with the expected construction.</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 1:** Results of the collostructional analysis of the data collected from Portuguese</caption><thead><tr><th>Item analysed (Vinf)</th><th>Frequency of the item in the construction [lemma="fazer"] [word="Vinf"]</th><th>Frequency of the item [word="Vinf"]</th><th>Frequency of the construction [lemma="fazer"] [tag="V.N.*"]</th><th>Number of constructions (number of words)</th><th>Expected frequency</th><th>Item status in reaction to construction</th><th>Degree of attraction</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>valer (52)</td><td>24 319,00</td><td>90 504,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>6346,96</td><td>attracted</td><td>25761,65</td></tr><tr><td>sentir (43)</td><td>51 428,00</td><td>370 547,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>25986,13</td><td>attracted</td><td>16794,86</td></tr><tr><td>rir (13)</td><td>9 728,00</td><td>57 083,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>4003,18</td><td>attracted</td><td>5255,70</td></tr><tr><td>emergir (6)</td><td>2 388,00</td><td>8 769,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>614,96</td><td>attracted</td><td>2612,80</td></tr><tr><td>brotar (2)</td><td>1 998,00</td><td>6 909,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>484,52</td><td>attracted</td><td>2340,24</td></tr><tr><td>crer (12)</td><td>7 075,00</td><td>61 066,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>4282,50</td><td>attracted</td><td>1389,26</td></tr><tr><td>cessar (3)</td><td>2 798,00</td><td>17 286,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1212,25</td><td>attracted</td><td>1373,10</td></tr><tr><td>delirar (2)</td><td>881,00</td><td>2 276,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>159,61</td><td>attracted</td><td>1371,23</td></tr><tr><td>tremer (3)</td><td>1 895,00</td><td>11 001,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>771,49</td><td>attracted</td><td>1052,98</td></tr><tr><td>suspirar (3)</td><td>897,00</td><td>3 349,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>234,86</td><td>attracted</td><td>963,69</td></tr><tr><td>sorrir (8)</td><td>3 589,00</td><td>28 411,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1992,44</td><td>attracted</td><td>944,95</td></tr><tr><td>estremecer (1)</td><td>813,00</td><td>2 885,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>202,32</td><td>attracted</td><td>926,09</td></tr><tr><td>prevalecer (6)</td><td>3 136,00</td><td>25 198,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1767,11</td><td>attracted</td><td>788,66</td></tr><tr><td>corar (1)</td><td>677,00</td><td>2 462,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>172,66</td><td>attracted</td><td>750,06</td></tr><tr><td>ressurgir (5)</td><td>780,00</td><td>3 452,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>242,09</td><td>attracted</td><td>674,15</td></tr><tr><td>renascer (5)</td><td>1 287,00</td><td>8 024,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>562,72</td><td>attracted</td><td>620,64</td></tr><tr><td>surgir (8)</td><td>8 293,00</td><td>89 212,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>6256,36</td><td>attracted</td><td>551,47</td></tr><tr><td>vibrar (3)</td><td>1 318,00</td><td>8 787,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>616,22</td><td>attracted</td><td>548,62</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>**Table 1: Cont.**</caption><thead><tr><th>Item analysed (Vinf)</th><th>Frequency of the item in the construction [lemma="fazer"] [word="Vinf"]</th><th>Frequency of the item [word="Vinf"]</th><th>Frequency of the construction [lemma="fazer"] [tag="V.N.*"]</th><th>Number of constructions (number of words)</th><th>Expected frequency</th><th>Item status in reaction to construction</th><th>Degree of attraction</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>desaparecer (7)</td><td>3 354,00</td><td>31 899,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>2237,05</td><td>attracted</td><td>444,76</td></tr><tr><td>constar (4)</td><td>4 628,00</td><td>51 263,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>3595,03</td><td>attracted</td><td>250,92</td></tr><tr><td>frutificar (2)</td><td>319,00</td><td>1 812,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>127,07</td><td>attracted</td><td>184,92</td></tr><tr><td>presumir (1)</td><td>677,00</td><td>5 495,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>385,36</td><td>attracted</td><td>165,33</td></tr><tr><td>florescer (1)</td><td>744,00</td><td>6 719,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>471,20</td><td>attracted</td><td>123,72</td></tr><tr><td>arrepiar (2)</td><td>738,00</td><td>6 724,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>471,55</td><td>attracted</td><td>118,37</td></tr><tr><td>chover (5)</td><td>1 620,00</td><td>17 475,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1225,51</td><td>attracted</td><td>106,71</td></tr><tr><td>transbordar (1)</td><td>455,00</td><td>3 957,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>277,50</td><td>attracted</td><td>87,59</td></tr><tr><td>arder (1)</td><td>412,00</td><td>3 815,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>267,54</td><td>attracted</td><td>61,76</td></tr><tr><td>brilhar (1)</td><td>1 892,00</td><td>22 457,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1574,89</td><td>attracted</td><td>55,63</td></tr><tr><td>ruir (1)</td><td>410,00</td><td>3 933,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>275,82</td><td>attracted</td><td>52,44</td></tr><tr><td>chorar (8)</td><td>5 176,00</td><td>69 986,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>4908,06</td><td>attracted</td><td>13,30</td></tr><tr><td>coincidir (2)</td><td>559,00</td><td>7 283,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>510,75</td><td>attracted</td><td>4,12</td></tr><tr><td>sangrar (2)</td><td>475,00</td><td>6 321,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>443,29</td><td>attracted</td><td>2,07</td></tr><tr><td>reviver (1)</td><td>1 077,00</td><td>14 713,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>1031,81</td><td>attracted</td><td>1,82</td></tr><tr><td>biodisponibilizar (1)</td><td>1,00</td><td>3,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>0,21</td><td>attracted</td><td>1,36</td></tr><tr><td>retroceder (1)</td><td>504,00</td><td>6 836,00</td><td>612 356,00</td><td>8 731 838,00</td><td>479,40</td><td>attracted</td><td>1,16</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Source:** Authors
In column 1, the lexical item under analysis is accompanied by its frequency of occurrence in the randomised sample in brackets (verb under analysis). In the second column, the frequency of the item in the construction takes into account the total subcorpus. In the third column, the frequency of the analysed item corresponds to the number of times the verb appears in its non-finite form in the total subcorpus, including other constructions. In the fourth column, we have the total number of *fazer* + Vinf constructions. In the fifth column, we consider the number of constructions in the corpus to be equivalent to the number of words in the corpus (1 word = 1 construction). The last column shows the measure of association or degree of attraction in the verbs to the causative construction.

In the Portuguese corpus, Table 2, of the total of 296 verbs/lexical items analysed, 36 verbs appear as “attracted” by the construction, and 260 “repelled” (we present only the 36 most “repelled”):

In order to check what the semantic categories of the most attracted verbs reveal about the meaning(s) of this construction in Portuguese, we analysed whether the verbs in our corpus with a positive degree of attraction correspond to the results found by Gilquin (2015) for the construction in question in English and French. According to this researcher, in English the construction would particularly attract non-volitional verbs describing “mental processes” and “perception”, while the French construction also attracts verbs of appearance/(dis)appearance and verbs expressing a “change of state or location”.

The verb *valer* was both the verb with the highest number of occurrences (52) and the verb with the highest degree of attraction to the infinitive slot. Of the 52 occurrences, 14 correspond to the idiomatic expression “*fazer valer a pena* (‘make it worthwhile’), as in the last example below from the corpus:

7. É preciso realmente fazer valer a lei no Congresso. [ecod.org.br] (We really need to enforce the law in Congress)

8. E aqui vão algumas dicas: o diálogo entre pais e filhos é fundamental, sem-pre se fazendo valer a autoridade dos primeiros, estabelecendo os limites necessários, incutindo-lhes os valores éticos e morais [...] [crmpb.org.br] (And here are some tips: dialogue between parents and children is fundamental, always asserting the authority of the former, setting the necessary limits, instilling in them ethical and moral values)

9. Falam tanto em fazer valer a CONSTITUIÇÃO, que sujiro que a mesma se faça valer para o SALÁRIO MÍNIMO [acertodecontas.blog.br] (They talk so much about enforcing the CONSTITUTION that I suggest it be enforced for the MINIMUM WAGE.)

10. Porém, não se preocupe pois o sabor e valor nutricional permanecem intactos – o que faz valer a pena optar por esse modo de preparo. [tudogostoso.com.br] (Don't worry, though, as the flavour and nutritional value remain intact - which makes this method of preparation worthwhile)
<table><caption>**Table 2:** List of attracted and repelled verbs in the collected corpus</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Attracted verbs<br>(FAZER + <u>Vinf</u>)</th><th>Measure of association<br>(descending order)</th><th>Repelled verbs<br>(FAZER + <u>Vinf</u>)</th><th>Measure of association<br>(descending order)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>valer (52)</td><td>25761,65</td><td>ser (11)</td><td>1043719,65</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>sentir (43)</td><td>16794,86</td><td>ter (11)</td><td>462197,46</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>incidir (2)</td><td>5744,35</td><td>poder (2)</td><td>193880,75</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>rir (13)</td><td>5255,70</td><td>dar (3)</td><td>177440,25</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>emergir (6)</td><td>2612,80</td><td>saber (9)</td><td>125861,15</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>brotar (2)</td><td>2340,24</td><td>deixar (4)</td><td>109817,83</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>crer (12)</td><td>1389,26</td><td>ficar (14)</td><td>107454,29</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>cessar (3)</td><td>1373,10</td><td>realizar (3)</td><td>90832,68</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>delirar (2)</td><td>1371,23</td><td>ir (6)</td><td>86630,33</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>tremer (3)</td><td>1052,98</td><td>trabalhar (3)</td><td>82675,05</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>suspirar (3)</td><td>963,69</td><td>encontrar (2)</td><td>78997,97</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>sorrir (8)</td><td>944,95</td><td>comprar (2)</td><td>72926,10</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>estremecer (1)</td><td>926,09</td><td>participar (1)</td><td>72785,92</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>prevalecer (6)</td><td>788,66</td><td>conhecer (2)</td><td>64454,40</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>corar (1)</td><td>750,06</td><td>contar (2)</td><td>62421,88</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>ressurgir (5)</td><td>674,15</td><td>entrar (5)</td><td>61321,67</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>renascer (5)</td><td>620,64</td><td>tomar (1)</td><td>61251,00</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>surgir (8)</td><td>551,47</td><td>chegar (16)</td><td>59399,37</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>vibrar (3)</td><td>548,62</td><td>passar (15)</td><td>58777,06</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>**Table 2:** Cont.</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Attracted verbs<br>(FAZER + Vinf)</th><th>Measure of association<br>(descending order)</th><th>Repelled verbs<br>(FAZER + Vinf)</th><th>Measure of association<br>(descending order)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>20</td><td>desaparecer (7)</td><td>444,76</td><td>sair (11)</td><td>55335,61</td></tr><tr><td>21</td><td>constar (4)</td><td>250,92</td><td>obter (1)</td><td>51783,91</td></tr><tr><td>22</td><td>frutificar (2)</td><td>184,92</td><td>entender (10)</td><td>74519,46</td></tr><tr><td>23</td><td>presumir (1)</td><td>165,33</td><td>trazer (2)</td><td>48467,31</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>florescer (1)</td><td>123,72</td><td>olhar (3)</td><td>46023,25</td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>arrepiar (2)</td><td>118,37</td><td>jogar (2)</td><td>43133,27</td></tr><tr><td>26</td><td>chover (5)</td><td>106,71</td><td>buscar (1)</td><td>43093,25</td></tr><tr><td>27</td><td>transbordar (1)</td><td>87,59</td><td>abrir (4)</td><td>42327,06</td></tr><tr><td>28</td><td>arder (1)</td><td>61,76</td><td>aprender (3)</td><td>41390,60</td></tr><tr><td>29</td><td>brilhar (1)</td><td>55,63</td><td>mudar (5)</td><td>39411,76</td></tr><tr><td>30</td><td>ruir (1)</td><td>52,44</td><td>viver (4)</td><td>38969,24</td></tr><tr><td>31</td><td>chorar (8)</td><td>13,30</td><td>pedir (2)</td><td>38405,75</td></tr><tr><td>32</td><td>coincidir (2)</td><td>4,12</td><td>ocorrer (1)</td><td>36446,86</td></tr><tr><td>33</td><td>sangrar (2)</td><td>2,07</td><td>verificar (1)</td><td>36237,33</td></tr><tr><td>34</td><td>reviver (1)</td><td>1,82</td><td>gerar (1)</td><td>35695,61</td></tr><tr><td>35</td><td>biodisponibilizar (1)</td><td>1,36</td><td>responder (1)</td><td>33782,65</td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>retroceder (1)</td><td>1,16</td><td>aumentar (11)</td><td>31643,74</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Source:** Authors
We believe that the semantics of the verb *valer* in the corpus can be associated with a mental process, containing the meaning “to enforce” (to ensure that something is obeyed, to guarantee respect) or “to be worth the effort” in the case of the expression “valer a pena” (mental evaluation of the merit or value of something; to be worth it). As for the tendency of the construction to attract other verbs relating to “mental/cognitive processes” in English and French, the verbs *crer* (to believe) and *presumir* (to assume) were also attracted in Portuguese:

11. Os profissionais também foram ameaçados de morte e submetidos a torturas que os **faziam crer** que seriam executados. [uol.com.br] (The professionals were also threatened with death and subjected to torture that made them believe they would be executed)

12. A seguradora **fez presumir** no negócio que cobria também furto simples, “pois quem cobre o mais, cobre o menos”. [mca.adv.br] (The insurer assumed in the deal that it also covered simple theft, “for he who covers the most, covers the least”)

However, the expectation that other verbs relating to cognition and mental pro-
cesses involving reflection/pondering such as *saber/conhecer, entender/compreender,
aprender* (to know, to understand, to learn), among others, would be attracted to the
slot was not confirmed. This seems to be the biggest difference in relation to English
and Portuguese, as these verbs appear in the ranking of the verbs most repelled by
the construction according to the collostructional analysis carried out in Portuguese,
at least under the protocol we used.

The construction of Portuguese also seems to attract verbs of perceptual action,
and particularly verbs that express physical or sensory sensations, as indicated by
the examples below taken from the corpus (*sentir* ‘to feel’ (43), *rir* ‘to laugh’ (13),
*sorrir* ‘to smile’ (8), *chorar* ‘to cry’ (8), *suspirar* ‘to sigh’ (3), *tremer* ‘to tremble’ (3),
*vibrar* ‘to vibrate’ (3), *arrepiar* ‘to shiver’ (2), *delirar* ‘to rave’ (2), *sangrar* ‘to bleed’
(2), *arder* ‘to burn’ (1), *corar* ‘to blush’ (1), *estremecer* ‘to shudder’(1)):

13. Elmer sempre se preocupou por fazer sentir, a cada cliente, que era dono de sua agenda. [sdr.com.br] (Elmer was always keen to make every client feel that he was in charge of his diary)

14. Sem sequer perder tempo com o tema do Natal ser uma festa originalmente pagá, passo logo para o que isso significa e me faz sentir. [xr.pro.br] (Without even wasting time on the subject of Christmas being an originally pagan festival, I'll move on to what that means and makes me feel)

15. Eles podem nos fazer rir, ou até refletir sobre determinado ponto. [mdig.com.br] (They can make us laugh, or even reflect on a certain point)
16. Com certeza irei sentir falta de ler novos capítulos contendo momentos únicos que me **fizeram sorrir, rir e chorar**! [fanfiction.com.br] (I will definitely miss reading new chapters containing unique moments that made me smile, laugh and cry!)

17. Dor da indiferença, do desprezo, do abandono, da perda. Com certeza são dores que **fazem sangrar** mais que qualquer ferida. [culturaecomerçionovalima.com.br] (The pain of indifference, contempt, abandonment and loss. These are certainly pains that make you bleed more than any wound)

In these cases, the causative construction seems to evoke a sensory or emotional
response in the causee. Another strong tendency observed in Portuguese, and already
pointed out in French by Gilquin (but absent in English), is the attraction of verbs
linked to the idea of appearance or (dis)appearance. In our corpus, instances of this
occur with the verbs *surgir, ressurgir, desaparecer, emergir, renascer, brotar* (to appear
or to lead to, to reappear, to disappear, to emerge, to reborn, to spring up):

18. O aumento dos custos de exploração e produção **fará surgir** tensões extrema-
mente agudas. [jornalorebate.com.br] (Rising exploration and production
costs will lead to extremely acute tensions)

19. Verdadeiras transformações vão ocorrer, **fazendo desaparecer** indústrias e segmentos inteiros para dar lugar a novos projetos que por vezes não passam de um software. [glorinhacohen.com.br] (Real transformations will take place, causing entire industries and segments to disappear to make way for new projects that are sometimes no more than software)

20. Eles têm conseguido destacar e **fazer emergir** todo meu potencial, num trabalho que me leva a perceber globalmente as oportunidades [netsaber.com.br] (They have managed to highlight and bring out my full potential, in a job that makes me realise the opportunities globally)

21. Mas existe uma forma de amar que é impossível ensinar, ela surge de repente, e **faz brotar** na alma um sentimento único. [escrita.com.br] (But there's a way of loving that's impossible to teach, it comes on suddenly and makes a unique feeling spring up in the soul)

As in French, these verbs appear very high on the list of verbs most attracted to
the infinitive slot in the causative construction with *fazer*.

However, French attracts verbs that express “change of state or change of place”.
This tendency is absent in our Portuguese corpus.
Finally, two attracted verbs don't fall into any of these categories. The first one, the verb *biodisponibilizar*, occurs only three times in the Brazilian Portuguese subcorpus, and in one of these three occurrences it is found in the construction *fazer + Vinf* (meaning 'to make bioavailable'), which is why it has a strong degree of attraction to the slot of this construction. This result must therefore be put into perspective, as it is not a verb that is frequently used. The other verb that was attracted to the construction is a meteorological verb, *chover* (to rain), with 5 occurrences:

22. Ou ainda porque Manaus é uma espécie de Macondo que **faz chover** eternamente, como se tentasse lavar as mágoas e as lembranças dos personagens. [uol.com.br] (Or because Manaus is a kind of Macondo that rains forever, as if trying to wash away the sorrows and memories of the characters)

23. Poeira do deserto **faz chover** na floresta [ambientebrasil.com.br] (Desert dust makes it rain in the forest)

24. Eu sei que é tentar **fazer chover** no molhado [maikol.com.br] (I know it's trying "to rain in the wet").<fnref n="8" />

25. Bastou o patrono do Rio Grande abrir as porteiras, digo, as torneiras e **faz chover** por quatro dias sem parar, que os problemas começaram a aparecer Rio Grande afora, com alagamentos, pessoas [...] [ocariucho.com.br] (All it took was for the patron saint of Rio Grande to open the gates, I mean the taps, and make it rain for four days non-stop, and problems began to appear all over Rio Grande, with floods, people)

26. Disseram-lhe que, quando eles queriam **fazer chover**, ateavam então fogo à montanha e a chuva era inevitável. [ebah.com.br] (They told him that when they wanted to make it rain, they would set fire to the mountain and the rain was inevitable)

On the other hand, the 260 repelled verbs in the analyzed slot reveal semantic completion restrictions specific to Portuguese.

Let's consider the three verbs most repelled by the construction in our analysis: *ser*, *poder* and *dar* (to be, can and to give). The verb *ser*, despite being very frequent, had the highest repulsion rate. One possible explanation could be that the construction [X *fazer* Y *ser*] is more frequent than [X *fazer* *ser* Y] in Portuguese (*fazer alguém ser feliz* 'to make someone (be) happy'), which is why we intend to analyse these constructions with intermediate elements in the future too, as already mentioned.

The second most repelled verb is the verb *poder* (can/to be able to). We hypothesize that in this case, another structure is also preferred to indicate possibility instead of [X *fazer poder* Y]: *isso nos faz poder* / *isso nos possibilita* ('this makes it possible to us'), for example.

<footnote n="8">⁸ This is the idiom “chover no molhado”, meaning “something completely pointless” like “taking sand to the beach”.</footnote>
The third most repelled verb is the verb *dar* ('to give'), also characterized by a repulsion relationship in this structure in French (*donner*). According to Gilquin, this repulsion seems to be linked to the ditransitivity of the verb, which would require three arguments in a causative structure with *faire*, which would result in a very complex structure that would then tend to be avoided. We think the same explanation could apply to Portuguese.

For each of the other repelled verbs, it would be necessary to explore possible reasons for the repulsion relationship in this construction. One possibility would be to carry out another collostructional analysis that considers the number of possible intermediate elements in Portuguese (between 0 and 5 elements, as in the case of the verb *ser* ([X *fazer* + [0 - 5] + *Vinf ser*]), which we intend to do in the future. Another possibility would be to explore the possible translations in a parallel corpus, to see if other constructions are more common in Portuguese than the causative construction with *fazer*. This is what we will do in part in the next section.

Collostructional analysis and the subsequent categorization into semantic classes show the complexity of verbal semantics in the structure studied and the need to consider the context for a complete understanding. Although it has its limits, this type of analysis helps to determine the degree of attraction of the lexical item to the analyzed slot, going beyond simply checking the number of occurrences of an item or its frequency in a given corpus. It allows us to analyze the interaction relationships between a lexical item and a given construction, contributing to an understanding of the meaning and its idiosyncratic restrictions, thus allowing us to compare similar linguistic constructions between different languages. In our analysis, the degree of attraction of items from semantic classes in Portuguese corresponded more closely with the results found in French than with the results for English. The semantic similarity between French and Portuguese probably stems from the closer degree of linguistic kinship between these two Romance languages.

## Comparing the translation of the French periphrasis *faire + Vinf into Portuguese in an aligned corpus*

Despite the similarities found, the causative periphrasis in French, in many cases, simply has no constructional equivalent in Portuguese. For example, the French sentence *Je me suis fait couper les cheveux chez le coiffeur* is translated into Portuguese as *Eu cortei meu(s) cabelo(s) no cabeleireiro* (I had my hair cut by a hairdresser), without the causative with *fazer* + *Vinf*. In French, the use of this construction implies that someone other than the syntactic subject of the sentence (“*Eu*”, I) is the one who actually carried out the action of “cutting the hair”. A “word for word” translation
such as *Eu me fiz cortar meu(s) cabelo(s) no cabeleireiro* is perceived as ungrammatical or unnatural in Portuguese. Indeed, the experiential meaning of this construction in French seems to be absent from Portuguese. Another example of this impossibility is *“Je me suis fait voler ma voiture”* which we would translate into Portuguese as *Roubaram meu carro / Tive meu carro roubado* and not *Fiz-me roubar meu carro* instead of the causative construction (They stole my car / I had my car stolen).

In other cases, the “literal” translation from French into Portuguese seems to be possible, but is not the preferred or most commonly used construction, or even the one selected by professional translators, as Gilquin (2008) pointed out when translating the causative periphrasis with *faire* from French into English. Intuitively, we have the impression that the same would be true when translating this construction from French into Portuguese. For example, for the sentence *“Est-ce que je me suis fait comprendre?”*, some possible translations, depending on the context, would be: *Fui claro? / Fiz-me entender? / Eu me fiz entender?* (Was I clear? / Did I make myself clear?). In other words, the last two translations seem to be restricted to certain contexts of use. To test whether this hypothesis is also confirmed in the process of translation from French into Portuguese, based on real uses, as well as to establish what characterizes the use of the periphrastic construction, we used the “Parallel Concordance” tool from the Sketch Engine platform. We used the platform’s EUR-Lex parallel corpus because it is a collection of multilingual corpora in all the official languages of the European Union, which facilitates contrastive analyses of this kind. We extracted a parallel corpus of 322 data points from French into Portuguese, involving *faire compreprendre* (to make someone understand). We chose this verb because of the tendency highlighted by our collostructional analysis that the Portuguese construction most repelled those verbs that relate to cognition and mental processes and that involve reflection such as *compreender/entender, saber/conhecer* (to understand, to know), which is not the case in English or French.

In fact, the hypothesis was confirmed in the corpus obtained. Only in approximately 9% of cases (28 cases out of 322) was the construction *“faire comprendre”* translated into Portuguese as *“fazer compreender”*, and in 8 cases it was translated as *“fazer entender”*, a synonym. The other translations found are: *afirmar, conscientizar, fomentar uma (maior) compreensão, dar a entender, manter a consciência* (to affirm, to make aware, to foster (greater) understanding, to make known, to maintain awareness), as exemplified by some occurrences in Table 3.

Conversely, we also looked for the translation of *fazer compreender* from Portuguese into French. The use of the expression is lower in the Portuguese corpus, as expected, with 44 occurrences obtained, of which 29 were translated as *faire comprendre* and its inflected forms, indicating that this is the corresponding form of preference in French (65% of cases). The other 15 occurrences were translated into equivalents such as *faire valoir, (faire) prendre conscience, attirer l'attention, faire entendre, démontrer, comprendre, expliquer, signifier, donner à comprendre, introduire, initier, enseigner*
<table><caption>**Table 3:** Translation of the expression “faire comprendre” in the French-Portuguese parallel corpus</caption><thead><tr><th>Original in the EUR-Lex 2/2016 parallel corpus - French</th><th>Translation in the EUR-Lex 2/2016 parallel corpus - Portuguese</th><th>Our translation in English<fnref n="1" /></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>infoOutside Advocate Generals Opinion • 61987CC0377<br>Dans une résolution votée dès le 8 juillet 1987 (JO C 246 du 14.9.1987, p. 40), le Parlement a par ailleurs clairement fait <strong>comprendre</strong> « qu'il ne saurait accepter aucune décision budgétaire qui ne couvrirait pas entièrement les besoins financiers réels pour 1987 et 1988 ».</td><td>Numa resolução votada em 8 de Julho de 1987 (JOC246de14.9.1987, p.40), o Parlamento afirmou claramente "que não poderá aceitar quaisquer decisões orçamentais que não cubram na totalidade as necessidades financeiras reais para 1987 e 1988".</td><td>In a resolution adopted on 8 July 1987 (OJ C 246, 14.9.1987, p. 40), Parliament made it clear that "it could not accept any budgetary decision which did not fully cover the real financial requirements for 1987 and 1988".</td></tr><tr><td>infoOutside Advocate Generals Opinion • 61987CC0091<br>Loin d'inscrire les deux désignations dans une alternative (aut), "ou" vise à préciser la première par la seconde (sive) ainsi qu'à faire <strong>comprendre</strong> qu'elles s'équivalent (vel).</td><td>Longe de colocar as duas designações em alternativa (aut), "ou" visa precisar a primeira pela segunda (sive), bem como a fazer <strong>compreender</strong> que elas se equivalem (vel).</td><td>Far from placing the two designations in an alternative (aut), "or" is intended to specify the first by the second (sive) and to make it clear that they are equivalent (vel).</td></tr><tr><td>infoOutside conclusions • 41989X0722(02)<br>Il faut s'efforcer de faire <strong>comprendre</strong> à ces professionnels l'importance de leur rôle dans la modification des comportements à risque associés à la toxicomanie et des pratiques sexuelles.</td><td>Devem ser feitos esforços no sentido de <strong>consciencializar</strong> esses profissionais da importância do seu papel na alteração dos hábitos de risco associados à toxicomania e às práticas sexuais.</td><td>Efforts must be made to ensure that these professionals understand the importance of their role in modifying the risk behaviours associated with drug use and sexual practices.</td></tr><tr><td>infoOutside conclusions • 41991X1205(02)<br>l'organisation dans chaque État membre, si possible au début de la saison 1993/1994, d'une soirée « portes ouvertes », afin de mieux faire <strong>comprendre</strong> le monde du théâtre au public.</td><td>a organização, se possível no início da temporada de 1993/1994, em cada Estado-membro, de uma noite de portas abertas nos teatros europeus, por forma a fomentar uma <strong>maior compreensão</strong> do mundo do teatro por parte do público.</td><td>the organisation in each Member State, if possible, at the beginning of the 1993/1994 season, of an "open doors" evening, in order to give the public a better understanding of the world of theatre.</td></tr></tbody></table>

<footnote n="1">¹According to Fontenelle (2016), although French was the main working language of the Official Journal of the European Union (EUR-Lex) a few years ago, the majority of documents emanating from the various institutions are now drafted in English and translated into the other EU languages for distribution to European citizens. According to the same author, English is the most common source language, and it is also the most popular target language, closely followed by French.</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 3:** Cont.</caption><thead><tr><th>Original in the EUR-Lex 2/2016 parallel corpus - French</th><th>Translation in the EUR-Lex 2/2016 parallel corpus - Portuguese</th><th>Our translation in English¹</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>infoOutside Advocate Generals Opinion • 61990CC0308<br>Il semble que, par cette déclaration, la Commission voulait faire comprendre que l'incident l'avait empêchée d'accomplir la mission que lui impose l'article 77, sous a), du traité (disposition précitée au point 7 ci-dessus).</td><td>Parece que, com esta afirmação, a Comissão pretendia dar a entender que o incidente a tinha impedido de cumprir a missão que lhe incumbe nos termos do artigo 7., alínea a), do Tratado (citado supra non.7).</td><td>It seems that, by this statement, the Commission wanted to make it clear that the incident had prevented it from carrying out its task under Article 77(a) of the Treaty (provision referred to in point 7 above).</td></tr><tr><td>infoOutside Advocate Generals Opinion • 61993CC0359<br>Donc, le fait d'avoir délibérément omis la mention « ou équivalent » après la désignation d'UNIX aurait précisément eu pour but de faire comprendre aux fournisseurs intéressés que le NIC entendait se référer non à un produit déterminé mais à un produit possédant des caractéristiques bien définies.</td><td>Portanto, o facto de ter omitido deliberadamente a menção “ou equivalente” após a designação UNIX teria tido precisamente como objectivo fazer compreender aos fornecedores interessados que o NIC pretendia referir-se não a um produto determinado mas a um produto com características bem definidas.</td><td>Therefore, the deliberate omission of the words “or equivalent” after the UNIX designation would have been precisely intended to make it clear to interested suppliers that the NIC intended to refer not to a specific product but to a product with well-defined characteristics.</td></tr><tr><td>infoOutside Own-initiative opinion • 51994IR0171<br>Le plus grand défi auquel les responsables politiques seront confrontés sera de faire comprendre la nécessité de continuer d'appliquer des politiques macro-économiques et structurelles appropriées, même lorsque la récession aura été surmontée (page 67).</td><td>Contudo, o mais sério desafio a enfrentar pelos responsáveis políticos será o de manter a consciência da necessidade de implementar as políticas adequadas de natureza macroeconómica e estrutural, mesmo após ultrapassada a recessão. [pág. 68 da versão portuguesa (NT)].</td><td>The greatest challenge facing policymakers will be to communicate the need to continue to apply appropriate macroeconomic and structural policies, even once the recession has been overcome (page 67).</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Source:** Authors
(to value, to (make) aware, to attract attention, to make heard, to demonstrate, to understand, to explain, to signify, to give to understand, to introduce, to initiate, to teach). There are therefore several translation strategies in Portuguese that don't necessarily involve the causative construction because, despite the fsimilarities of form, its use differs in the two languages depending on the context.

## Final considerations

We based our comparative study of the periphrastic causative construction *fazer* + Vinf in Portuguese on the most frequent lexical combinations of verbs in causative periphrases with the verb *fazer* in Portuguese, compared to the results found for French through collostructional analysis. We directed our analysis towards the most frequent semantic categories in Brazilian Portuguese corpus data, rather than focusing on purely syntactic issues as has been done in other works, concentrating on the interactions between the construction and the infinitive verb slot and what these associations reveal about the semantic nuances of the construction. Comparative analysis reveals the existence of constructions common to both languages, and the existence of more pronounced semantic restrictions for filling the Vinf slot in Portuguese. There are semantic classes that typically occupy the slot in Portuguese, with nuances specific to the language. The construction analyzed in Portuguese, as in French, attracts non-volitional verbs describing mental processes and perception, and appearance/(dis)appearance constructions, although with a more restricted list than in French. However, the tendency of French to attract verbs indicating a change of state or change of place to the infinitive slot in the causative construction analyzed was not confirmed in our Portuguese corpus. We can thus see that collostructional analysis helps to identify generalizations and distinctions between languages.

In the second part of the study, we examined the extent to which this construction corresponds in French and Portuguese by checking whether or not it is possible to translate examples between these languages. Specifically, we looked at translation choices (by professionals) for these constructions in a bilingual French-Portuguese parallel corpus, focusing on *faire comprendre/fazer compreender*. Despite the similarities of form, the fact is that the construction is rarely translated by the corresponding construction in Portuguese, indicating a different usage. This corpus confirms the tendency for these constructions to be used more in French than in Portuguese, which points to a more grammaticalized level or greater interaction within the construction that we have chosen to examine in French. We consider that the comparison of possible translations between similar constructions from different languages has also contributed to a better understanding of the common meaning and intralinguistic peculiarities, and thus their contrastive study. For this reason, there is potential to extend this analysis to other Romance languages, something we plan to address in future work.
## Acknowledgment

We thank Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Marcia dos Santos Machado Vieira (UFRJ) thanks CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, projects 409043/2021-4 and 312423/2022-5) and FAPERJ (Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support in the State of Rio de Janeiro, project E-26/201.209/2022 (273339), SEI 260.003/003571/2022) for the research support.

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