Os estudos da linguagem na Idade Média: as ideias sobre sintaxe do Tratado sobre os modos de significar ou gramática especulativa, de Tomás de Erfurt

Tratado sobre os modos de significar ou gramática especulativa [The Treaty on the modes of signifying or speculative grammar], of Thomas of Erfurt, is the most comprehensive grammar text of the movement of the Modistae (1250-1350) and the most representative systematization of the ideas of this movement (BURSILL-HALL, 1971, 1972). It is a manual that selects and organizes much of the collection of original and mature ideas of the first two generations of this movement (MURRAY, 1998). The theories proposed in the Treaty on the modes of signifying reveal considerable efforts of theorizing and originality. For instance, in order to provide an adequate explanation of the Latin phrase, Thomas of Erfurt makes an analogy with the theory of the motus of Aristotelian Physics, uses the metaphysical notion represented by dichotomies such as "substance-accident" and "first-second" and employs the idea of otherness (quod est alterum) of Aristotle's Logics (ca. 384-322 BC), thus making a series of innovations based on concepts arising from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This article shows that the theories of Thomas of Erfurt not only represent a moment of continuity (ALTMAN, 2004) or a period of normal science (KUHN, 1987), but also present original contributions to the history of the studies on the notion of syntactic dependence and have a pragmatic view of language which complements their comprehension of syntax (COVINGTON, 1984; ROSIER-CATACH, 1997).