On Complex Predicates in Brazilian Portuguese

I analyze Romance syntactic complex predicates (faire-infinitive causatives, periphrastic tenses and restructuring), and propose the unification of these phenomena usually thought to stem from different structures by showing that one single analysis is possible: the non-finite verb phrase moves to the specifier of the upper V. This movement enables the verbs to be close enough to each other, and it allows for a configuration where clitics can climb and long object movement can occur. Crucial for this movement is either the presence of a defective C-T or its total absence. I account for the lack of Romance syntactic complex predicates in Brazilian Portuguese as well as for other phenomena in the language.Analizo predicados sintácticos complejos (estructuras causativas con infinitivo, tiempos perifrásticos y reestructuración) y propongo la unificación de estos fenómenos, que normalmente se asume que derivan de estructuras diferentes, demostrando que un único análisis sintáctico es posible: el sintagma verbal no finito se mueve al especificador del V superior. Este movimiento permite que los verbos estén lo suficientemente cerca el uno del otro para permitir una configuración en la que los clíticos pueden subir y se puede producir el movimiento de objeto a larga distancia. Para este movimiento es crucial tanto la presencia de un C-T defectivo como su ausencia total. Doy cuenta de la ausencia de predicados complejos sintácticos románicos en portugués brasileño además de otros fenómenos de esta lengua.Analiso predicados sintácticos complexos românicos (causativos de faire-infinitivo, tempos perifrásticos e reestruturação), e proponho a unificação destes fenómenos geralmente tomados como resultantes de estruturas diferentes demonstrando que uma análise única é possível: o verbo não-finito move-se para o especificador do V mais alto. Este movimento permite que os verbos se aproximem e admite uma configuração na qual os clíticos podem subir e o movimento longo de objecto pode ocorrer. Para este movimento é crucial a presença de um C-T defectivo ou a sua total ausência. Explico a ausência de predicados sintácticos complexos românicos em Português do Brasil assim como outros fenómenos na língua

Null Objects and VP ellipsis in European and Brazilian Portuguese

Null Object and VP ellipsis share the property of involving the omission of the complement selected by the verb. Their occurrence across languages does not fully overlap. In Portuguese, both constructions coexist, some sentences being ambiguous between the two constructions. In this section we will outline the scope of our study, in sections 2 and 3 we will respectively analyze the properties of Null Object and VP ellipsis in European and Brazilian Portuguese, (henceforth, EP and BP). Null Object (henceforth, Null_Obj) designates the absence of the phonological expression of the necessary nominal internal complement of a verb and corresponds to a silent DP that could be recovered from a situational or linguistic context. This construction has been the topic of various studies since the eighties, in the Principles and Parameters framework. The issue emerged in the discussion of empty categories and the Null Subject Parameter, from the observation that some languages allow the complement of transitive verbs to be phonologically null. The seminal work on Null_Obj was published by Huang (1984) and it focus on Chinese, a language that allows both subjects and objects to be null. In Chinese, null subjects can be pronominal or variables, but null objects are variables bound by a discourse topic.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

ON THE EXISTENCE OF NULL COMPLEMENT ANAPHORA IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

A Anáfora do Complemento Nulo (ACN) ocorre em algumas línguas como o espanhol, italiano e inglês (Depiante, 2000; Brucart, 1999), e foi primeiramente estudada por Hankamer e Sag ( 1976). Certos verbos selecionam a ACN e o conteúdo do complemento nulo está expresso ou em um antecedente lingüístico ou no contexto pragmático. Depiante (2000) propõe que a ACN é uma "anáfora profunda", mais especificamente uma proforma nula semelhante ao "it" do inglês ou o "lo" do espanhol, sem estrutura interna. Neste trabalho, relaciono seus argumentos e proponho que o português brasileiro (PB) não apresenta a ACN como classicamente descrita, já que parece não ser uma anáfora profunda nessa língua, mas é semelhante a outras anáforas de superfície - aparentemente permite extração, antecedentes ausentes e a ocorrência de estruturas com apagamento contido no antecedente. Também relaciono a ausência de ACN no PB à ausência de alçamento de clíticos com verbos de reestruturação, a ocorrência de objetos nulos, e a ausência do clítico neutro "o". Proponho que em PB o complemento nulo das estruturas semelhantes a ACN de fato tem estrutura interna, que pode ser pensada como uma reconstrução do antecedente se considerarmos uma teoria de cópia para a elipse, isto é, o local da elipse contém uma cópia sintática de seu antecedente, que não é pronunciada. A proposta relaciona a ACN ao objeto nulo, a partir de estudos de Cyrino (1994; 1997) e Cyrino e Matos (2002)

On romance syntactic complex predicates: why Brazilian Portuguese is different

I analyze clitic climbing as the effect of Romance syntactic complex predicate formation: the non-finite verb phrase moves to the specifier of the upper V. This movement forms a complex predicate so as to allow for a configuration where clitics can climb. Crucial for this movement is the presence of a defective C-T. The lack of clitic climbing in Brazilian Portuguese is but one consequence of a non-defective C-T system in these structures. As a consequence, we have the possibility for certain constructions to occur in the language; in fact, they are presented as additional evidence for the proposal.KEYWORDS: Clitic climbing. Syntactic complex predicates. ECM. Inflected infinitives. Brazilian Portuguese. Principles & Parameters Theory.I analyze clitic climbing as the effect of Romance syntactic complex predicate formation: the non-finite verb phrase moves to the specifier of the upper V. This movement forms a complex predicate so as to allow for a configuration where clitics can climb. Crucial for this movement is the presence of a defective C-T. The lack of clitic climbing in Brazilian Portuguese is but one consequence of a non-defective C-T system in these structures. As a consequence, we have the possibility for certain constructions to occur in the language; in fact, they are presented as additional evidence for the proposal.KEYWORDS: Clitic climbing. Syntactic complex predicates. ECM. Inflected infinitives. Brazilian Portuguese. Principles & Parameters Theory.RESUMO Proponho que a subida de clítico é efeito da formação de predicados complexos sintáticos nas línguas românicas, pois o sintagma do verbo não-finito se move para o especificador do V mais alto nessas construções. Esse movimento forma um predicado complexo, propiciando a subida do clítico. É crucial para tal movimento que haja um sistema C-T defectivo. A falta de subida de clítico no português brasileiro, portanto, é uma conseqüência de um sistema C-T não-defectivo nessas estruturas. Como decorrência, temos a possibilidade de certas construções na língua, que são apresentadas como evidência adicional para a proposta.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Subida de clítico. Predicados complexos sintáticos. ECM. Infinitivo flexionado. Português Brasileiro. Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros

Manifestations of differential object marking: from Brazilian Portuguese to prepositional accusatives

The null object/overt pronoun split in Brazilian Portuguese has been assimilated to differential object marking in some functionalist accounts (Schwenter and Silva 2002, Schwenter 2006). This paper examines further arguments for this connection; we evaluate a battery of more formal diagnostics under which the Brazilian Portuguese data pattern similarly to canonical instances of prepositional marking across Romance (Romanian, Spanish, etc.). The application of other tests weakens the assumption of a unique licensing position for differentially marked objects in Romance languages

The Status of De in Romance Indefinites, Partitives and Pseudopartitives*

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICWe acknowledge the financial support from Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, grants FFI2017-82547-P and PID2020-112801GB-100, Generalitat de Catalunya, grant 2017SGR634, and ICREA Academia 2015 for the first author, and from The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Grant 304.574/2017-1 for the second author. We thank the audience of the Workshop (Frankfurt 2019), two anonymous reviewers of as well as the editors of this special volume for their comments, which helped us to improve the paper. All errors that remain are our responsibility. Around Partitive Articles Studia LinguisticaThis paper focuses on the status of de in Romance indefinites, partitives and pseudopartitives. It argues that there is neither a 'partitive article' nor a 'partitive preposition' in syntax. De in Romance indefinites is the overt Spell-Out of an abstract operator de that cancels the definiteness of articles and is responsible for indefiniteness. De in Romance partitives is the overt Spell-Out of a relator head that takes a definite DP as complement and a QP in the specifier position. Finally, pseudopartitivity is shown to have crosslinguistic parallels with indefinites, and it is derived by postulating a mono-projectional analysis in which a semilexical N selects for a de-phrase, in exactly the same way that quantifiers and cardinals select for indefinite de-phrases

Differential object marking in Brazilian Portuguese

It is usually assumed that animate direct objects are generally not marked in Brazilian Portuguese. Several diachronic studies have nevertheless concluded that a-marking on direct objects, which is homophonous to the dative (just like Differential Object Marking in other Romance varieties), was possible from the 16th to 18th centuries and then it was lost. Based on synchronic Brazilian Portuguese data we observe that, in fact, the decay is not complete and there is variation in the use of that a before direct objects, the marking being obligatory before [+animate] complements in certain constructions, among which coordination and comparatives. We then situate Brazilian Portuguese within the larger Romance Differential Object Marking picture. Theoretically, we approach the Brazilian Portuguese data by considering an analysis that connects Differential Object Marking to a licensing condition beyond Case: an independent licensing condition will be shown to be necessary for certain classes of direct objects

Indefinite null objects in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

It is well known that (Peninsular) Spanish allows null objects when the antecedent is an indefinite DP, a bare plural. In addition to indefinite null objects, which can have animate or inanimate antecedents, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) allows definite null objects, but only with inanimate antecedents. According to the literature, inanimate definite null objects are related to the availability of VP ellipsis licensed by the verb that has moved up to an aspectual projection in BP, an inexistent construction in Spanish. Definite null objects in BP are cases of DP ellipsis, licensed in the same way. Animate definite null objects, being higher in the structure, are inaccessible for this licensing. The problem, then, is how to explain the lack of animacy restrictions in BP indefinite null objects. I propose that indefinite null objects are cases of NP ellipsis licensed by a null D. I assume an analysis for bare plurals as actually being DPs containing a null D licensed by an operator (DE) that encodes absence of definiteness. I propose that the licenser for indefinite null objects in both Spanish and BP is this null D present in bare plurals.  It is well known that (Peninsular) Spanish allows null objects when the antecedent is an indefinite DP, a bare plural. In addition to indefinite null objects, which can have animate or inanimate antecedents, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) allows definite null objects, but only with inanimate antecedents. According to the literature, inanimate definite null objects are related to the availability of VP ellipsis licensed by the verb that has moved up to an aspectual projection in BP, an inexistent construction in Spanish. Definite null objects in BP are cases of DP ellipsis, licensed in the same way. Animate definite null objects, being higher in the structure, are inaccessible for this licensing. The problem, then, is how to explain the lack of animacy restrictions in BP indefinite null objects. I propose that indefinite null objects are cases of NP ellipsis licensed by a null D. I assume an analysis for bare plurals as actually being DPs containing a null D licensed by an operator (DE) that encodes absence of definiteness. I propose that the licenser for indefinite null objects in both Spanish and BP is this null D present in bare plurals

On Brazilian Portuguese 3rd person object full pronouns

It has been observed that certain overt 3rd person object pronouns, such as ‘it’ in paycheck sentences, propositional clitics in Portuguese and English, 3rd person non-propositional clitics in Catalan, Spanish, Slovenian and Serbian/Croatian may allow sloppy readings. Additionally, it is well-known that Brazilian Portuguese (BP) has lost 3rd person object clitics, which were replaced either by [-animate] null objects or by [± animate] full pronouns. The latter, differently from personal 3rd person clitics in certain languages, do not allow strict/sloppy readings, regardless of their animacy feature specification. Nevertheless, animacy is relevant for the use of 3rd person object full pronouns in BP since only the [+animate] ones can be focused. I propose that the BP does not fit in the tripartite division of pronouns into ‘strong/weak/clitic’. I assume that full pronouns in Romance underwent a reanalysis from demonstratives, and that BP full pronouns have a structure that precludes them from licensing strict/sloppy readings. As for the animacy distinction in focalization contexts, I assume that [+animate] full pronouns in BP are specified for [Person] and must move out of VP to check that feature. Thus, they escape the relevant vP phase and become available for checking [focus] by a low Focus head

Null objects in brazilian portuguese

O objeto nulo do português brasileiro tem recebido a atenção de vários pesquisadores há mais de quatro décadas. É um fenômeno sintático intrigante, pois embora objetos nulos também ocorram em outras línguas, no português brasileiro eles têm características próprias. Este trabalho pretende reunir observações, resultados e análises provenientes de vários estudos a fim de trazer uma visão mais abrangente das questões envolvidas na caracterização do fenômeno. Nesse intuito, apresento as propriedades do objeto nulo do português brasileiro que o distinguem de diversos fenômenos e também de ocorrências semelhantes em outras línguas. Adicionalmente, apresento os resultados de vários estudos provenientes da sociolinguística quantitativa, da sintaxe diacrônica e da sintaxe comparativa, além de recentes resultados de pesquisa acerca de propriedades de certos objetos nulos que parecem fugir das generalizações apresentadas nos estudos mencionados. Nesse sentido, o trabalho também aponta para questões que ainda aguardam novas pesquisas122387410The null object of Brazilian Portuguese has received the attention of several researchers for more than four decades. It’s an intriguing syntactic phenomenon because, even though null objects also occur in other languages, in Brazilian Portuguese they have their own characteristics. This paper intends to put together observations, results and analyses from several studies in order to bring a more comprehensive view of the questions involved in the characterization of the phenomenon. Having that aim in mind, I present the properties of the null object in Brazilian Portuguese that distinguishes it from various phenomena and also from similar occurrences in other languages. Additionally, I present the results of various studies on quantitative sociolinguistics, diachronic and comparative syntax, besides recent results from the research on the properties of certain null objects that seem to escape the generalizations presented in the aforementioned studies. In this sense, the paper also points out to questions that still wait for further researc