Abstract
In this paper we discuss the phenomenon of subject topics, consisting of the movement of either a genitive or a locative constituent into subject position in Brazilian Portuguese. This construction occurs with different verb classes, shows subject-verb agreement and precludes a resumptive pronoun. The goal of the present text is to account for its distribution. To do so, we argue that the two subclasses of unaccusative verbs found with genitive and locative topics instantiate some sort of secondary predication, and that only specific configurations allow for the movement of a constituent out of the argument structure domain. Finally, we address the comparative issue involved in explaining why the derivation of such a construction is not possible in European Portuguese.
Highlights
IntroductionThe subject topic construction in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) has been analysed as the output of raising of a genitive or locative constituent from the complement position of an unaccusative verb, as can be observed from the comparison between (1a-b) and their counterparts without movement in (1a’-b’) (examples from Galves, 1998: 23): Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 13-1 (2014), 117-147
The subject topic construction in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) has been analysed as the output of raising of a genitive or locative constituent from the complement position of an unaccusative verb, as can be observed from the comparison between (1a-b) and their counterparts without movement in (1a’-b’): Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 13-1 (2014), 117-147118 Aroldo de Andrade & Charlotte Galves (1) a
Both locative and genitive subject topics are typically found with unaccusative verbs because they more generally allow for derived subjects, i.e. subjects interpreted in an internal position to the VP and not externally merged into Spec,vP
Summary
The subject topic construction in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) has been analysed as the output of raising of a genitive or locative constituent from the complement position of an unaccusative verb, as can be observed from the comparison between (1a-b) and their counterparts without movement in (1a’-b’) (examples from Galves, 1998: 23): Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 13-1 (2014), 117-147. We identify a gap in the literature, in that the latter problem has been addressed in various papers (Galves, 1998; Negrão & Viotti, 2008; Avelar & Galves, 2011a; Munhoz & Naves, 2012, Pilati & Naves, 2012, a.o.), whereas the former has been mostly neglected For this reason we focus on this issue, exploring a unified analysis of the argument structures out of which subject topics are derived. We consider this position to be Spec,TP (cf Avelar & Galves, 2011a for an account in this line) This entails that subject topics should be seen as non-thematic subjects, instead of special types of marked topic constituents, in the sense that they do not occupy a position in the CP domain.
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