An empirical study

UIDB/03213/2020 UIDP/03213/2020The central topic of the paper is clitic-verb non-adjacency (interpolation) in Classical and early Modern European Portuguese (EP). Throughout that period, the negative marker não was the only expression likely to disrupt the continuity of clitic-verb sequences. The aims of the study are twofold. First, previous assumptions on the syntax of this pattern are matched against data retrieved from the texts stored in the Biblioteca Nacional Digital. The present analysis demonstrates, first, that clitic-verb adjacency and non-adjacency had divergent distributions depending on whether they occurred in obligatory proclisis contexts or in X-V-cl/X-cl-V variation ones. Whereas interpolation was the default choice in the former, clitic-verb adjacency was prevailing in the latter in the period under discussion. The second aim is to account for the overrepresentation, underpinned by corpus data, of 3rd person accusative pronouns in clauses with interpolation. In previous works, the origin of clitic-verb non-adjacency was couched either in semantic terms (the contribution of não to the meaning of the VP) or in terms of clitic movement and increasing constraints on the status of Neg (Neg and clitic are both assumed to be affixes). In the present paper, interpolation is shown to have had an interface nature, with phonological factors playing a central role. The discontinuity of clitic-Verb sequences is thought to have helped speakers to get rid of the affixal attachment of the o, a, os, as series to the preceding non-verbal sound material (nasal diphthongs in não, quem, ninguém, etc, coercing preverbal pronouns into taking a nasal onset quem no, não no, etc.). As a consequence, in present day standard EP, clitic-specific allomorphy has become earmarked for enclisis.publishersversionpublishe

The case of Italian learners of European Portuguese

UIDB/03213/2020 UIDP/03213/2020 UIDB/00022/2020.publishersversionpublishe

Input variability and late acquisition: clitic misplacement in European Portuguese

This paper reports a study on the acquisition of clitic placement by European Portuguese children aged 5, 6 and 7, using an elicitation task. Contrarily to what has been found for other languages, where children correctly place clitic pronouns from a very early age, our results show that European Portuguese children still misplace clitics at age 7, although there is a developmental effect from 5 to 7: they overuse enclisis in proclisis contexts, but not the other way round. This confirms previous studies based on spontaneous production. Our study shows, however, that: i) the rates of clitic misplacement are not identical in all proclisis contexts; ii) proclisis is acquired earlier in some contexts; iii) the contexts that are harder to acquire are the ones where we find more variability in the adult control group, and where diachronic data are not so categorical. We argue that, since clitic placement in European Portuguese is not linked to the finite/non finite distinction, there is a slower developmental path, reflecting the complexity of the input and the specific properties of lexical items and syntactic contexts

Microvariation in the resolution of pronominal subjects in romance: European Portuguese vs. Italian

The present study investigates how adult native speakers of two null subject Romance languages, European Portuguese (EP) and Italian,interpretnull and overt pronominal subjectsin intrasentential contexts. Participants were 30speakers of EP and 30of Italian. Each language group was administered two multiple-choicetasks (speeded and untimed), whichcrossedthe following variables: 'animacy of the matrix object'([+ human]vs. [-human]) and 'type of pronominal embedded subject'(overt vs. null). Our results showthat there is microvariation in the resolution of overt pronominal subjects in EP and in Italian: the position of the antecedent is the most relevant factor in EP, whereas, in Italian, the animacy of the antecedent is the preponderant factor. Moreover,our results reveal that the resolution of null subjects is an area of microvariation: the bias for subject antecedents is weaker in Italian than in EP. Possible reasons for the observed microvariation are discussed in detai

Controlo e infinitivos flexionados em português L2

UIDB/03213/2020 UIDP/03213/2020It is known that knowledge of the interpretative properties of the standard inflected infinitive develops late both in L1 and L2 acquisition, and that subject control with most verbs is acquired early in L1. In this study we focus on a context which has not been addressed so far, and investigate how the interpretation of the null subjects of inflected infinitival complements of subject control verbs develops in the interlanguage of Englishand Spanish-speaking learners of L2 European Portuguese. We applied a selection task to intermediate and advanced learners in order to understand whether they differentiate between inflected and uninflected infinitives in these contexts and whether they assign control properties to the inflected infinitive. Our findings show that, although learners accept the occurrence of inflected infinitives with subject control verbs and assign a controlled reading to the infinitival null subject, knowledge of some of the properties of these constructions is delayed, namely, which verbs allow inflected infinitives and what are the interpretative properties of inflected infinitival subjects under different control verbs.publishersversionpublishe

efeitos de transferência?

UID/LIN/03213/2013This study investigates how knowledge of the interpretative properties of strong object pronouns develops in L2 European Portuguese. We focus on the anaphor si, which, in biclausal domains, may take either a local or a long-distance antecedent. Previous studies have shown that L2 learners show delays in the acquisition of non-reflexive pronouns in monoclausal domains (Kim et al 2014), but not of anaphors; however, knowledge of the locality constraints on anaphors in biclausal sentences has been shown to exhibit transfer effects and develop late (Domínguez et al 2012). In this study we investigate whether the learners’ L1 influences the development of the interpretative properties of pronouns by considering two groups of learners whose L1s differ regarding long-distance binding: Spanish, where it is disallowed (Otero 1999), and Italian, where, according to Napoli (1979), it is allowed. Moreover, we investigate whether learners attain full knowledge of these properties, and, if so, whether development of this knowledge is delayed, by comparing learners at different proficiency levels (intermediate and advanced). Results of two truth-value judgement tasks indicate the presence of L1 effects in learners’ interpretation of non-reflexive pronouns, but not of si in biclausal contexts, where a local interpretation is preferred over a long-distance one. Moreover, a comparison between the intermediate and the advanced groups reveals a developmental effect in the Spanish group (but not in the Italian group), indicating that the interpretative properties of si may be fully acquired, albeit subject to delays.publishersversionpublishe

A estratégia da posição do antecedente em línguas românicas de sujeito nulo

This study investigates the interpretation of pronominal subjects in European Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. 30 native speakers of each language completed two multiple-choice tasks (speeded and untimed), which elicited their interpretation of null and overt subject pronouns in intrasentential contexts with the order matrix-subordinate. The tasks had a 2x2 design, crossing the following variables: animacy of the matrix object (+ animate vs. - animate) and type of pronominal embedded subject (overt vs. null). Results indicate that the PAS is consistently followed in EP but not in Italian or Spanish. In these languages, this strategy is adopted in overt subject resolution only in contexts where the antecedents are [+ animate]. In the resolution of null subjects, Italian and Spanish exhibit optionality between subject and object antecedents. Hence, there is microvariation in the resolution of pronominal subjects in these languages. Possible reasons for this are discussed in detail

Resolução anafórica em português europeu L2: efeitos de animacidade e a posição do antecedente

This study investigates the interpretation of subject pronouns in L2 EP by Italian native speakers, to examine the following questions: In overt subject resolution, do L1 Italian - L2 European Portuguese learners behave like L1 EP speakers regarding antecedent animacy (a property at the syntax-semantics interface) at L2 developmental stages and at the near-native level?; When the antecedent in object position is animate, do L1 Italian - L2 EP learners exhibit permanent optionality in the interpretation of overt subject pronouns but not of null subjects, as claimed by Sorace (2016), a.o.? Participants were 15 adult EP native speakers, 10 intermediate, 10 advanced and 10 near-native Italian adult learners of L2 EP. They were administered two multiple-choice tasks (speeded and untimed) with a 2x2 design crossing the following variables: animacy of the matrix object (animate vs. inanimate) and type of embedded pronominal subject (overt vs. null). Results indicate that L2 learners show problems only in the areas where the L1 and the L2 differ (Madeira, Fiéis & Teixeira, this volume), namely: the resolution of overt subjects in the presence of [-animate] object antecedent and the resolution of null subjects. Learners' performance in these areas remains unstable even at the near-native level. These findings challenge the ideas that internal interfaces (syntax/semantics) are not persistently problematic and that null subjects are unproblematic in L2 anaphora resolution (cf. Sorace, 2011, 2016). They moreover point to the importance of L1 influence in L2 anaphora resolution, a factor generally played down in previous studies (e.g., Sorace, 2016)

português europeu vs. italiano

UIDB/03213/2020 UIDP/03213/2020The present study investigates the resolution of null and overt subject pronouns in intrasentential contexts, considering the role of animacy in antecedent assignment. Participants were 15 native speakers of EP and 14 of Italian. Each language group was administered two multiple choice tasks (speeded and untimed), which had a 2x2 design, crossing the following variables: animacy of the matrix object (animate vs. inanimate) and type of pronominal embedded subject (overt vs. null). Results indicate that there is microvariation in the resolution of overt pronominal subjects in EP and in Italian: the position of the antecedent is the most relevant factor in EP, whereas, in Italian, the animacy of the antecedent is the preponderant factor. Results also show that there is microvariation in the resolution of null subjects (contra previous claims in the literature): the bias for subject antecedents is weaker in Italian than in EP. Possible reasons for the observed microvariation are discussed in detail.publishersversionpublishe