Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese
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Jairo Nunes
Abstract
This paper discusses constructions in Brazilian Portuguese in which a null subject is adequately licensed only if the clause containing it is preceded by the dummy preposition de. Assuming that referential null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese are traces of A-movement (see Ferreira 2000, 2004 and Rodrigues 2002, 2004), I argue that the presence of de signals whether or not the embedded clause has received inherent Case and this ultimately determines whether the embedded subject is allowed to move from within its clause and whether it should undergo upward or sideward movement (see Nunes 2001, 2004).
Abstract
This paper discusses constructions in Brazilian Portuguese in which a null subject is adequately licensed only if the clause containing it is preceded by the dummy preposition de. Assuming that referential null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese are traces of A-movement (see Ferreira 2000, 2004 and Rodrigues 2002, 2004), I argue that the presence of de signals whether or not the embedded clause has received inherent Case and this ultimately determines whether the embedded subject is allowed to move from within its clause and whether it should undergo upward or sideward movement (see Nunes 2001, 2004).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Tense domains in BP and EP – vP, CP and phases 1
- Variable-behavior Ps and the location of PATH in Old French 25
- Hebrew and Arabic children going Romance 51
- Adjectives and deleted nominals in Spanish 67
- On the nature of covert operations 87
- Ellipsis and Restructuring in European Portuguese 109
- The early steps of modal and negation interactions 131
- Structural patterns blocking plural in Romance nominalizations 145
- On the distribution of adjectives in Romanian 161
- Subject doubling in European Portuguese dialects 179
- On the Quebec French interrogative particle tu 201
- Autonomous typological prosodic evolution versus the Germanic superstrate in diachronic French phonology 223
- Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese 243
- OV sequences in early child Catalan and English 267
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Tense domains in BP and EP – vP, CP and phases 1
- Variable-behavior Ps and the location of PATH in Old French 25
- Hebrew and Arabic children going Romance 51
- Adjectives and deleted nominals in Spanish 67
- On the nature of covert operations 87
- Ellipsis and Restructuring in European Portuguese 109
- The early steps of modal and negation interactions 131
- Structural patterns blocking plural in Romance nominalizations 145
- On the distribution of adjectives in Romanian 161
- Subject doubling in European Portuguese dialects 179
- On the Quebec French interrogative particle tu 201
- Autonomous typological prosodic evolution versus the Germanic superstrate in diachronic French phonology 223
- Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese 243
- OV sequences in early child Catalan and English 267
- Index 287
