Resumo: Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is the examination of syntactic changes in the Portuguese Noun Phrase. The data on which it is based consist of successive texts which are taken as representative of consecutive periods of the Portuguese language, from the 14th c onwards. Some information about present-day Brazilian Portuguese also given. Firstly, the position of the Adjective with respect to the Noun in the Noun Phrase 15 investigated within a word order change framework. According to the statistical analysis of the Adjective, Old/Middle Portuguese has shown a predominant order adjective/Noun (AN) whereas Modern Portuguese is predominantly Noun/Adjective (NA). The data available show a sharp decrease in the use of of Adjectives around the 18th C. After that time Postposition replaced Anteposition as the preferred order...Note: The complete abstract is available with the full electronic digital thesis or dissertations

Palavras-chave: Linguistica