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On the structure of bare nominals in Brazilian Portuguese

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Brazilian Portuguese (BrP) is different from other Romance languages in allowing bare nominals in argument position. In this paper we focus on the apparent differences between this language and other Romance languages, and on the structure that bare nominals have in this language. We argue basically for a Determiner Phrase (DP) analysis in which Number features are morphosyntactically specified on Determiners (as in French), i.e. on D, even if D is null. We show that BNs in this language may correspond to NPs and to DPs. As NPs, they are not specified for number and definiteness, can only occur as objects of a restricted class of predicates, and are interpreted as property-type expressions. As DPs, they have a null D that carries Number specification, introduce a discourse referent and are interpreted as entity-type expressions. We aim to show that BrP is neither a counterexample to the Universal DP Hypothesis nor to the Nominal Mapping Parameter.

  • Affiliations: 1: UNICAMP; 2: UAB

References

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    2005 In Name Only: Structuring Sense. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263905.001.0001
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    2002 Adjectives, Number and Interfaces – Why Languages Vary. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
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    1998 “Reference to kinds across languages”. Natural Language Semantics6.339–405. doi: 10.1023/A:1008324218506
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  7. Cinque, Guglielmo
    2005 “Deriving Greenberg’s Universal 20 and its Exceptions”. Linguistic Inquiry36.315–332. doi: 10.1162/0024389054396917
     https://doi.org/10.1162/0024389054396917 [Google Scholar]
  8. Contreras, Heles
    1986 “Spanish bare NPs and the ECP”. Generative Studies in Spanish Syntaxed. by Ivonne Bordelois , Heles Contreras & Karen Zagona , 25–49. Dordrecht: Foris.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Costa, João & Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva
    2006 “Nominal and verbal agreement in Portuguese: An argument for Distributed Morphology”. Studies on Agreemented. by João Costa & Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva , 25–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.86.03cos
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.86.03cos [Google Scholar]
  10. Cyrino, Sonia Maria Lazzarini
    1997 O Objeto Nulo no Português Brasileiro. Londrina: Editora da UEL.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Cyrino, Sonia Maria Lazzarini & Maria Teresa Espinal
    2015 “Bare Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese: more on the DP/NP analysis”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33:471–521. DOI: 10.1007/s11049-014-9264-6.
  12. de Swart, Henriette
    2006 “Aspectual implications of the semantics of plural indefinites”. Non-definiteness and Pluralityed. by Svetlana Vogeleer & Liliane Tasmowski , 161–189. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.95.09swa
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    1996 “Generic BNPs”. Ms., Paris VII/University of Strasbourg.
  14. 2003 “Les noms sans déterminant dans les langues romanes”. Les Langues Romanes – Problèmes de la Phrase Simpleed. by Danièle Godard , 235–281. Editions du CNRS.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Dobrovie-Sorin, Carmen , Tonia Bleam & Maria Teresa Espinal
    2006 “Bare nouns, number and types of incorporation”. Non-definiteness and Pluralityed. by Svetlana Vogeleer & Liliane Tasmowski , 51–79. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.95.04dob
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.95.04dob [Google Scholar]
  16. Espinal, Maria Teresa & Jaume Mateu
    2011 “Bare nominals and argument structure in Catalan and Spanish”. The Linguistic Review28.1–39. doi: 10.1515/tlir.2011.001
     https://doi.org/10.1515/tlir.2011.001 [Google Scholar]
  17. Espinal, Maria Teresa & Louise McNally
    2007 “Bare singular nominal and incorporationg verbs”. Proceedings of the 3 rd Nereus Workshop. Universität Konstanz Arbeitspapier122, 45–62.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. 2011 “Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Catalan and Spanish”. Journal of Linguistics47.87–128. doi: 10.1017/S0022226710000228
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226710000228 [Google Scholar]
  19. Ferreira, Marcelo
    2005 “Bare habituals and plural definite descriptions”. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 9ed. by Emar Maier , Corien Bary & Janneke Huitink , 102–115. Nijmegen: Radboud University.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. 2010 “The morpho-semantics of number in Brazilian Portuguese bare singulars”. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics91.95–116.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Galves, Charlotte
    2001 Ensaios sobre as Gramáticas do Português. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Heycock, Caroline & Roberto Zamparelli
    2003 “Coordinated bare definites”. Linguistic Inquiry34.443–469. doi: 10.1162/002438903322247551
     https://doi.org/10.1162/002438903322247551 [Google Scholar]
  23. 2005 “Friends and colleagues. Plurality, coordination and the structure of DP”. Natural Language Semantics13.201–270. doi: 10.1007/s11050‑004‑2442‑z
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-004-2442-z [Google Scholar]
  24. Kallulli, Dalina
    1999 The comparative syntax of Albanian. On the contribution of syntactic types to propositional interpretation. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Durham.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Lasnik, Howard
    1981 “Restricting the theory of transformations: A case study”. Explanation in Linguisticsed. by Norbert Hornstein & David Lightfoot , 152–173. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Longobardi, Giuseppe
    1994 “Reference and proper names”. Linguistic Inquiry25.609–665.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. 2001 “The structure of DPs: Some principles, parameters and problems”. The handbook of syntactic theoryed. by Mark Baltin & Chris Collins , 562–603. London: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470756416.ch18
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756416.ch18 [Google Scholar]
  28. Lopes, Ruth
    2006 “Bare Nouns and DP number agreement in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese”. Selected Proceedings of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposiumed. Nuria Sagarra & Almeida Jaqueline Toribio , 252–262. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Munn, Alan & Cristina Schmitt
    2005 “Number and indefinites”. Lingua115.821–855. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2004.01.007
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2004.01.007 [Google Scholar]
  30. Pereltsvaig, Asya
    2006 “Small nominals”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory24.433–500. doi: 10.1007/s11049‑005‑3820‑z
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-005-3820-z [Google Scholar]
  31. 2007 “The universality of DP: A view from Russian”. Studia Linguistica61.59–94. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9582.2007.00129.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9582.2007.00129.x [Google Scholar]
  32. 2011 “On number and number-neutrality in languages with and without articles”. Paper presented at theWorkshop on Languages With and Without Articles, Paris. March 2011.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Roodenburg, Jasper
    2004 “French bare arguments are not extinct: the case of coordinated bare nouns”. Linguistic Inquiry35.301–313. doi: 10.1162/002438904323019093
     https://doi.org/10.1162/002438904323019093 [Google Scholar]
  34. Schmitt, Cristina & Alan Munn
    1999 “Against the Nominal Mapping Parameter: Bare Nouns in Brazilian Portuguese”. Proceedings of NELS 29ed. by Pius Tamanji , Mako Hirotani & Nancy Hall , 339–353. University of Delaware.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Simioni, Leonor
    2007 “A concordância de número no DP: propostas minimalistas”. Estudos LingüísticosXXXVI.117–125.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Suñer, Margarita
    1982 Syntax and Semantics of Spanish Presentational Sentence Types. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Tomioka, Satoshi
    2003 “The semantics of Japanese null pronouns and its cross-linguistic implications”. The Interfaces: Deriving and Interpreting Omitted Structuresed. by Kerstin Schwabe & Susanne Winkler , 321–339. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.61.16tom
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.61.16tom [Google Scholar]
  38. Zamparelli, Roberto
    1995 Layers in Determiner Phrase. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester. Published by Garland, New York, 2000.
     [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Borer, Hagit
    2005 In Name Only: Structuring Sense. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263905.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263905.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  2. Bošković, Željko
    2005 “On the locality of left branch extraction and the structure of NP”. Studia Linguistica59.1–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9582.2005.00118.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9582.2005.00118.x [Google Scholar]
  3. Bošković, Željko & Jon Gajewski
    2008 “Semantic correlates of the NP/DP Parameter”. Paper presented atNELS 39, Cornell University.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bouchard, Denis
    2002 Adjectives, Number and Interfaces – Why Languages Vary. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Carlson, Greg
    1980 References to Kinds in English. New York: Garland.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Chierchia, Gennaro
    1998 “Reference to kinds across languages”. Natural Language Semantics6.339–405. doi: 10.1023/A:1008324218506
     https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008324218506 [Google Scholar]
  7. Cinque, Guglielmo
    2005 “Deriving Greenberg’s Universal 20 and its Exceptions”. Linguistic Inquiry36.315–332. doi: 10.1162/0024389054396917
     https://doi.org/10.1162/0024389054396917 [Google Scholar]
  8. Contreras, Heles
    1986 “Spanish bare NPs and the ECP”. Generative Studies in Spanish Syntaxed. by Ivonne Bordelois , Heles Contreras & Karen Zagona , 25–49. Dordrecht: Foris.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Costa, João & Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva
    2006 “Nominal and verbal agreement in Portuguese: An argument for Distributed Morphology”. Studies on Agreemented. by João Costa & Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva , 25–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.86.03cos
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.86.03cos [Google Scholar]
  10. Cyrino, Sonia Maria Lazzarini
    1997 O Objeto Nulo no Português Brasileiro. Londrina: Editora da UEL.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Cyrino, Sonia Maria Lazzarini & Maria Teresa Espinal
    2015 “Bare Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese: more on the DP/NP analysis”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33:471–521. DOI: 10.1007/s11049-014-9264-6.
  12. de Swart, Henriette
    2006 “Aspectual implications of the semantics of plural indefinites”. Non-definiteness and Pluralityed. by Svetlana Vogeleer & Liliane Tasmowski , 161–189. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.95.09swa
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.95.09swa [Google Scholar]
  13. Dobrovie-Sorin, Carmen & Brenda Laca
    1996 “Generic BNPs”. Ms., Paris VII/University of Strasbourg.
  14. 2003 “Les noms sans déterminant dans les langues romanes”. Les Langues Romanes – Problèmes de la Phrase Simpleed. by Danièle Godard , 235–281. Editions du CNRS.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Dobrovie-Sorin, Carmen , Tonia Bleam & Maria Teresa Espinal
    2006 “Bare nouns, number and types of incorporation”. Non-definiteness and Pluralityed. by Svetlana Vogeleer & Liliane Tasmowski , 51–79. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.95.04dob
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.95.04dob [Google Scholar]
  16. Espinal, Maria Teresa & Jaume Mateu
    2011 “Bare nominals and argument structure in Catalan and Spanish”. The Linguistic Review28.1–39. doi: 10.1515/tlir.2011.001
     https://doi.org/10.1515/tlir.2011.001 [Google Scholar]
  17. Espinal, Maria Teresa & Louise McNally
    2007 “Bare singular nominal and incorporationg verbs”. Proceedings of the 3 rd Nereus Workshop. Universität Konstanz Arbeitspapier122, 45–62.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. 2011 “Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Catalan and Spanish”. Journal of Linguistics47.87–128. doi: 10.1017/S0022226710000228
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226710000228 [Google Scholar]
  19. Ferreira, Marcelo
    2005 “Bare habituals and plural definite descriptions”. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 9ed. by Emar Maier , Corien Bary & Janneke Huitink , 102–115. Nijmegen: Radboud University.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. 2010 “The morpho-semantics of number in Brazilian Portuguese bare singulars”. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics91.95–116.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Galves, Charlotte
    2001 Ensaios sobre as Gramáticas do Português. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Heycock, Caroline & Roberto Zamparelli
    2003 “Coordinated bare definites”. Linguistic Inquiry34.443–469. doi: 10.1162/002438903322247551
     https://doi.org/10.1162/002438903322247551 [Google Scholar]
  23. 2005 “Friends and colleagues. Plurality, coordination and the structure of DP”. Natural Language Semantics13.201–270. doi: 10.1007/s11050‑004‑2442‑z
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-004-2442-z [Google Scholar]
  24. Kallulli, Dalina
    1999 The comparative syntax of Albanian. On the contribution of syntactic types to propositional interpretation. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Durham.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Lasnik, Howard
    1981 “Restricting the theory of transformations: A case study”. Explanation in Linguisticsed. by Norbert Hornstein & David Lightfoot , 152–173. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Longobardi, Giuseppe
    1994 “Reference and proper names”. Linguistic Inquiry25.609–665.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. 2001 “The structure of DPs: Some principles, parameters and problems”. The handbook of syntactic theoryed. by Mark Baltin & Chris Collins , 562–603. London: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470756416.ch18
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756416.ch18 [Google Scholar]
  28. Lopes, Ruth
    2006 “Bare Nouns and DP number agreement in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese”. Selected Proceedings of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposiumed. Nuria Sagarra & Almeida Jaqueline Toribio , 252–262. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Munn, Alan & Cristina Schmitt
    2005 “Number and indefinites”. Lingua115.821–855. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2004.01.007
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2004.01.007 [Google Scholar]
  30. Pereltsvaig, Asya
    2006 “Small nominals”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory24.433–500. doi: 10.1007/s11049‑005‑3820‑z
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-005-3820-z [Google Scholar]
  31. 2007 “The universality of DP: A view from Russian”. Studia Linguistica61.59–94. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9582.2007.00129.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9582.2007.00129.x [Google Scholar]
  32. 2011 “On number and number-neutrality in languages with and without articles”. Paper presented at theWorkshop on Languages With and Without Articles, Paris. March 2011.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Roodenburg, Jasper
    2004 “French bare arguments are not extinct: the case of coordinated bare nouns”. Linguistic Inquiry35.301–313. doi: 10.1162/002438904323019093
     https://doi.org/10.1162/002438904323019093 [Google Scholar]
  34. Schmitt, Cristina & Alan Munn
    1999 “Against the Nominal Mapping Parameter: Bare Nouns in Brazilian Portuguese”. Proceedings of NELS 29ed. by Pius Tamanji , Mako Hirotani & Nancy Hall , 339–353. University of Delaware.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Simioni, Leonor
    2007 “A concordância de número no DP: propostas minimalistas”. Estudos LingüísticosXXXVI.117–125.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Suñer, Margarita
    1982 Syntax and Semantics of Spanish Presentational Sentence Types. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Tomioka, Satoshi
    2003 “The semantics of Japanese null pronouns and its cross-linguistic implications”. The Interfaces: Deriving and Interpreting Omitted Structuresed. by Kerstin Schwabe & Susanne Winkler , 321–339. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.61.16tom
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.61.16tom [Google Scholar]
  38. Zamparelli, Roberto
    1995 Layers in Determiner Phrase. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester. Published by Garland, New York, 2000.
     [Google Scholar]

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