Object-verb order in Brazilian Portuguese: a mechanism for the expression of subjectivity

In this paper, based on the theoretical interface between Functional Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics, we intend to demonstrate that the relationship between word order and subjectivity, which can be observed in several languages, also occurs in the use of the object-verb order (OV) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). By analyzing the occurrences of OV order in the speech of 12 participants from the city of Rio de Janeiro, we noticed that: (i) the principal function of OV order in Brazilian Portuguese is that of resuming a topic, or an aspect of a topic, in order to predicate about it; (ii) this function is composed, in fact, of three subfunctions: to establish contrast, to mitigate a previous statement, and to reinforce a topic that is being discussed; (iii) the principal function, mentioned above, and its subfunctions are mechanisms for expressing subjectivity in BP.