Abstract

The existing syntactic differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese have received much attention in recent literature on generative syntax. According to several authors, Brazilian Portuguese became a discourse-oriented language with topic-prominence. This article shows that many constructions used to illustrate the specificity of Brazilian Portuguese as topic-prominent can also be found in European Portuguese. Accordingly, it is argued that the main difference between the two varieties of the language is not in discourse, but in the abstract syntactic properties associated with Inflection. This argument contributes to dispensing with discourse primitives in the syntactic component.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.