On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects

There is an on-going debate on the empirical adequacy of the movement approach to definite null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese, BP (cf. Ferreira 2000, Rodrigues 2004, and Nunes 2009). On the one hand, Modesto (2000) observes that the null subject of finite embedded clauses associated with object...

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Autores principales: Claudia Coelho, Jairo Nunes, Leticia Santos
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2019
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/52ce20d31d8b4b7a8018f707f2a3e62c
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:52ce20d31d8b4b7a8018f707f2a3e62c2021-12-01T12:14:05ZOn the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects10.5565/rev/isogloss.552385-4138https://doaj.org/article/52ce20d31d8b4b7a8018f707f2a3e62c2019-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/55https://doaj.org/toc/2385-4138 There is an on-going debate on the empirical adequacy of the movement approach to definite null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese, BP (cf. Ferreira 2000, Rodrigues 2004, and Nunes 2009). On the one hand, Modesto (2000) observes that the null subject of finite embedded clauses associated with object control verbs like convencer ‘to convince’ is subject-oriented, rather than object-oriented and this is unexpected from a movement perspective. On the other hand, Rodrigues (2004) claims that these embedded clauses are actually adjuncts in BP and the observed subject orientation can be accounted for in terms of Hornstein’s (1999, 2001) movement analysis of adjunct control. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by presenting the results of an experiment on grammaticality judgments by BP speakers on the extraction of embedded subjects out of complement and adjunct clauses, as well as finite embedded clauses associated with convencer. The results show that when a distinctive pattern could be observed, finite clauses associated with convencer behaved like adjunct clauses rather than complement clauses. The experiment thus provides confirming evidence for Rodrigues’s (2004) adjunct analysis, invalidating Modesto’s (2000) argument against the movement approach to definite null subjects in BP. Claudia CoelhoJairo NunesLeticia SantosUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelonaarticlenull subjectsBrazilian PortugueseMovement Theory of Controlextraction of embedded subjectsgrammaticality judgment experimentRomanic languagesPC1-5498Philology. LinguisticsP1-1091ENIsogloss, Vol 4, Iss 1 (2019)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic null subjects
Brazilian Portuguese
Movement Theory of Control
extraction of embedded subjects
grammaticality judgment experiment
Romanic languages
PC1-5498
Philology. Linguistics
P1-1091
spellingShingle null subjects
Brazilian Portuguese
Movement Theory of Control
extraction of embedded subjects
grammaticality judgment experiment
Romanic languages
PC1-5498
Philology. Linguistics
P1-1091
Claudia Coelho
Jairo Nunes
Leticia Santos
On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
description There is an on-going debate on the empirical adequacy of the movement approach to definite null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese, BP (cf. Ferreira 2000, Rodrigues 2004, and Nunes 2009). On the one hand, Modesto (2000) observes that the null subject of finite embedded clauses associated with object control verbs like convencer ‘to convince’ is subject-oriented, rather than object-oriented and this is unexpected from a movement perspective. On the other hand, Rodrigues (2004) claims that these embedded clauses are actually adjuncts in BP and the observed subject orientation can be accounted for in terms of Hornstein’s (1999, 2001) movement analysis of adjunct control. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by presenting the results of an experiment on grammaticality judgments by BP speakers on the extraction of embedded subjects out of complement and adjunct clauses, as well as finite embedded clauses associated with convencer. The results show that when a distinctive pattern could be observed, finite clauses associated with convencer behaved like adjunct clauses rather than complement clauses. The experiment thus provides confirming evidence for Rodrigues’s (2004) adjunct analysis, invalidating Modesto’s (2000) argument against the movement approach to definite null subjects in BP.
format article
author Claudia Coelho
Jairo Nunes
Leticia Santos
author_facet Claudia Coelho
Jairo Nunes
Leticia Santos
author_sort Claudia Coelho
title On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
title_short On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
title_full On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
title_fullStr On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
title_full_unstemmed On the movement analysis of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: Experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
title_sort on the movement analysis of null subjects in brazilian portuguese: experimental results from extraction of embedded subjects
publisher Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
publishDate 2019
url https://doaj.org/article/52ce20d31d8b4b7a8018f707f2a3e62c
work_keys_str_mv AT claudiacoelho onthemovementanalysisofnullsubjectsinbrazilianportugueseexperimentalresultsfromextractionofembeddedsubjects
AT jaironunes onthemovementanalysisofnullsubjectsinbrazilianportugueseexperimentalresultsfromextractionofembeddedsubjects
AT leticiasantos onthemovementanalysisofnullsubjectsinbrazilianportugueseexperimentalresultsfromextractionofembeddedsubjects
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