Small Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese Copular Constructions

Abstract

The focus of this paper is copular clauses in Brazilian Portuguese like Mulher(es) é complicado, in which the predicate exhibits an unmarked form for gender and number (masculine singular), despite the presence of the feminine and/or plural form of the noun in subject position. We reject the analyses that propose that (i) there is a hidden infinitive clause in the subject position, (ii) the agreement is an instance of semantic agreement, and (iii) the DP subject is in A-bar position, and argue that the subject is a Small Nominal (they are not projected as full DPs) which lacks index features that trigger external agreement (Pereltsvaig 2006).

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Rodrigues, P. & Foltran, M., (2015) “Small Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese Copular Constructions”, Journal of Portuguese Linguistics 14(1), 129-147. doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/jpl.60

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Patrícia Rodrigues (Universidade Federal do Paraná, Rua General Carneiro, 460, 11º andar, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, 80060-150)
Maria José Foltran (Universidade Federal do Paraná/CNPq, Rua General Carneiro, 460, 11º andar, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, 80060-150)

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