Abstract
Abstract According to most analyses, (Rizzi 1982, 1990; Burzio 1986; Belletti 1990, among many others) the preverbal subject in (2a) has been A-moved to Spec, IP. It has been often noted (Brito and Duarte 1983; Brito 1984; Ambar 1988; Calabrese 1990; Saccon 1993; Pinto 1994, among many others) that the preverbal subject in (2a) has different discourse properties from the postverbal subject in (2b): preverbal subjects are topics, whereas postverbal subjects are foci. Based on this observation, Saccon (1993), Pinto (1994), Adger (1996), Grimshaw and Samek-Lodovici (1994), and Costa (1996) proposed that overt movement to Spec, IP in the NSLs is triggered by some “topic” feature. Under this approach, the NSLs differ from the non-NSLs in the possibility of leaving foci subjects in situ, but, from a strictly configurational point of view, subject initial constructions in the NSLs do not differ substantially from subject initial constructions in the non-NSLs: in both cases the subject is raised to Spec, IP, an A-position.
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