On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese
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Sonia M. L. Cyrino
Abstract
I argue that morphological markings and richness of verbal tense paradigms might not be related to verb movement in the way proposed by Biberauer and Roberts (2010). I show that in Brazilian Portuguese there has been a partial loss of verb movement, although the language kept some synthetic forms. I assume Giorgi and Pianesi’s (1997) proposal for tense-aspect structure. Some synthetic forms for tenses such as the pluperfect and future are absent in BP and were replaced by periphrastic forms. I show that the residual synthetic forms in Brazilian Portuguese don’t convey their original tense meanings, indicating loss of verb movement to a higher functional head. In other words, residual synthetic forms have now only aspectual related features, and they do not move to a higher Tense head. Keywords: verb movement; richness of tense; Brazilian Portuguese; Romance languages
Abstract
I argue that morphological markings and richness of verbal tense paradigms might not be related to verb movement in the way proposed by Biberauer and Roberts (2010). I show that in Brazilian Portuguese there has been a partial loss of verb movement, although the language kept some synthetic forms. I assume Giorgi and Pianesi’s (1997) proposal for tense-aspect structure. Some synthetic forms for tenses such as the pluperfect and future are absent in BP and were replaced by periphrastic forms. I show that the residual synthetic forms in Brazilian Portuguese don’t convey their original tense meanings, indicating loss of verb movement to a higher functional head. In other words, residual synthetic forms have now only aspectual related features, and they do not move to a higher Tense head. Keywords: verb movement; richness of tense; Brazilian Portuguese; Romance languages
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Information structure, agreement and CP 1
- The complementiser system in spoken English 11
- ‘Phasing’ contrast at the interfaces 55
- The alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a restrictive relative 83
- Referentiality in Spanish CPs 117
- Binding at the syntax-information structure interface 141
- Deriving “wh-in-situ” through movement in Brazilian Portuguese 175
- On ‘focus movement’ in Italian 193
- Clause-typing by [2] – the loss of the 2nd person pronoun du 'you' in Dutch, Frisian and Limburgian dialects 217
- Degree phrase raising in relative clauses 255
- Low, high and higher applicatives 275
- On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese 297
- Vocalic adjustments under positional markedness in Catalan and other Romance languages 319
- On sloppy readings, ellipsis and pronouns 337
- Index 371
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Information structure, agreement and CP 1
- The complementiser system in spoken English 11
- ‘Phasing’ contrast at the interfaces 55
- The alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a restrictive relative 83
- Referentiality in Spanish CPs 117
- Binding at the syntax-information structure interface 141
- Deriving “wh-in-situ” through movement in Brazilian Portuguese 175
- On ‘focus movement’ in Italian 193
- Clause-typing by [2] – the loss of the 2nd person pronoun du 'you' in Dutch, Frisian and Limburgian dialects 217
- Degree phrase raising in relative clauses 255
- Low, high and higher applicatives 275
- On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese 297
- Vocalic adjustments under positional markedness in Catalan and other Romance languages 319
- On sloppy readings, ellipsis and pronouns 337
- Index 371
