The quantifier 'tudo' in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

This article examines the word 'tudo' as a quantifier in Brazilian Portuguese. 'Tudo' is a complex expression, for it comprehends in its logical meaning a universal quantifier and its restriction. A possible paraphrase for 'tudo' is the expression 'todas as coisas'. However, we have found an interesting phenomenon in BP: the word 'tudo' being used as a pure universal quantifier, without an inherent restriction. An example of this kind of occurrence is the sentence 'Eu comi os bolo tudo', which cannot be paraphrased by '*Eu comi os bolos todas as coisas', but it can be paraphrased by 'Eu comi os bolos todos'. We call this phenomenon "tudoQ" and it is the subject of our research (we call "tudoI" the "traditional" sense of tudo, which has an inherent restriction). This article provides a description of syntactic and semantic aspects of the quantifier tudoQ.