Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil
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Gertjan Postma
Abstract
In this paper I discuss three properties of Brazilian Pomeranian, a Germanic language spoken in Espirito Santo, Brazil by descendents who emigrated in the 19th century. These three aspects of the verbal system are: 1. The relation between complex complementizers, a two-infinitive system, and split infinitives, previously discussed in van Gelderen (1993, 1998) and Schallert (2012, 2013), 2. Verb Projection Raising (VPR), as discussed by Riemsdijk 2002, Haegeman 2007, Salzmann 2011, and Brandner & Salzmann 2012, and 3. Verb-Second positioning of verbal clusters, previously discussed in Vos (2005). I discuss novel Pomeranian data from the perspective of the literature on these three topics, which have been thus far studied largely separately from one another. An integrated discussion sheds light on the nature and the proper analysis of these three phenomena. I argue that these phenomena are caused by the “weaknesses” of T. The weakness of T can be resolved “downward” by copying features onto T under selection by a higher head (agree), or can be resolved “upward” under head movement of T.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The vulnerability of the C-layer: introductory notes on German complementizers in contact
- Complementizers in the German-language Sprachinsel of Deutschpilsen/Nagybörzsöny (Hungary)
- Language contact and variation patterns in Walser German subordination
- The syntax of subordination in Cimbrian and the rationale behind language contact
- On asymmetric pro-drop in Mòcheno. Pinning down the role of contact in the maintenance of a root-embedded asymmetry
- From C-oriented cliticization to verbal agreement in Kansas Bukovina Bohemian
- Complementizer agreement in eastern Wisconsin: (Central) Franconian features in an American heritage language community
- On the variability of Texas German wo as a complementizer
- How interrogative pronouns can become relative pronouns: the case of was in Misionero German
- Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil
- Annual Index Volume 67 (2014)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The vulnerability of the C-layer: introductory notes on German complementizers in contact
- Complementizers in the German-language Sprachinsel of Deutschpilsen/Nagybörzsöny (Hungary)
- Language contact and variation patterns in Walser German subordination
- The syntax of subordination in Cimbrian and the rationale behind language contact
- On asymmetric pro-drop in Mòcheno. Pinning down the role of contact in the maintenance of a root-embedded asymmetry
- From C-oriented cliticization to verbal agreement in Kansas Bukovina Bohemian
- Complementizer agreement in eastern Wisconsin: (Central) Franconian features in an American heritage language community
- On the variability of Texas German wo as a complementizer
- How interrogative pronouns can become relative pronouns: the case of was in Misionero German
- Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil
- Annual Index Volume 67 (2014)
