{"title":"Small Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese Copular Constructions","authors":"Patrícia Rodrigues, Mariana Foltran","doi":"10.5334/JPL.60","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.60","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this paper is copular clauses in Brazilian Portuguese like Mulher(es) e 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).","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"129"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70688859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds","authors":"R. Basso, Roberta Pires de Oliveira","doi":"10.5334/JPL.57","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.57","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we present a unified analysis of generic and weak interpretations of definite (DEF) and demonstrative (DEM) descriptions. In such contexts, the DEF only denotes the kind, whereas the DEM cannot denote the maximal node of a taxonomy. We claim that this contrast can be explained if we transpose Wolter’s (2006) semantics to the domain of kinds, a domain of taxonomies. The paper presents this proposal, which is also an argument against the direct referential treatment of demonstratives.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70688951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Menuzzi, Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva, J. Doetjes
{"title":"Subject Bare Singulars in Brazilian Portuguese and Information Structure","authors":"S. Menuzzi, Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva, J. Doetjes","doi":"10.5334/JPL.56","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.56","url":null,"abstract":"This paper contributes to the debate on the semantics of bare singular nouns (BSNs) in Brazilian Portuguese by looking at the restrictions on their use as subjects. After a reassessment of the literature (e.g., Schmitt & Munn 1999, Muller 2000, Pires et al. 2010), we propose the following descriptive picture: BSN subjects are unconstrained in generic sentences, and somehow constrained with kind predicates and in episodic sentences. The literature has suggested that the constraints in episodic sentences have to do with information structure (e.g., Pires de Oliveira & Mariano 2010, Pires de Oliveira 2012). We submit this suggestion to scrutiny and demonstrate it is not information structure itself that is crucial. Episodic sentences with BSN subjects are utterances about kinds (under an “incompletely involved reading”, cf. Landman 1989) and must be ‘contextually relevant’ (cf. Roberts 1996). We then investigate BSN subjects of generic sentences, argued to be necessarily topics, which would support their analysis as unselective bound indefinites (Muller 2002a, 2004). We show that BSN subjects of generic sentences are not necessarily topics; moreover, they can actually have “incompletely involved kind readings”. We conclude that our results provide support to a kind-denoting analysis of BSNs in Brazilian Portuguese, as proposed by Pires de Oliveira & Rothstein (2011).","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70688945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reduplicated Numerals as Pluractionals: Distributivity as a Window to the Individuation of Events","authors":"M. Donazzan, A. Muller","doi":"10.5334/JPL.59","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.59","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this paper are Reduplicated Numerals in Mandarin Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) and in Karitiana (Arikem, Tupi). Our goal is to elucidate their semantics and thus to contribute to the understanding of the relation between distributivity and individuation in the event domain. It is well known that reduplicated numerals have distributive effects across languages (Gil 1988, Balusu 2006). In this paper, we look at reduplicated numerals in two typologically unrelated languages that lack morphological Number marking on the NP/DP. We analyze the distributive effects of reduplicated numerals as generated by a pluractional operation (see also Cable 2014). By considering the semantic contribution of the numeral phrase within the pluractional operator, we wish to open a window on the delicate issue of event individuation.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"95-127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70688998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Brazilian Portuguese noun phrases: An optimality theoretic perspective *","authors":"Roberta Pires de Oliveira, H. Swart","doi":"10.5334/JPL.58","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.58","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we examine the nominal system in Brazilian Portuguese (BrP), a challenge to cross-linguistic studies which rely on the generalization that a language that has indefinites should not have bare nouns. BrP has bare singulars, bare plurals, singular and plural indefinites. We examine the behavior of these phrases, mostly in object position of episodic predicates, and propose that each has a different semantics. The nominal system of BrP can be successfully explained, we argue, within the bi-directional Optimality Theory (biOT) theoretical framework developed by Hendriks et al. (2010). This approach allows us to describe and explain patterns of competition, and accounts for language variation by constraint reranking. For BrP, we propose the synchronic coexistence of two grammars: bare plurals appear in the formal variety of BrP that maintains plural agreement, and bare singulars appear in informal spoken BrP, along with plural definites and indefinites that lack plural agreement on the noun. Under this analysis, BPs denote inclusive plurals, while BSs get a non-atomic semantics that covers both mass and plural interpretations.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70689083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roberta Pires de Oliveira, Mariana Foltran, H. Swart, J. Doetjes
{"title":"Issues in the formal semantics of referentiality","authors":"Roberta Pires de Oliveira, Mariana Foltran, H. Swart, J. Doetjes","doi":"10.5334/JPL.55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.55","url":null,"abstract":"On October 21 st , and 22 nd , 2013, during the Conference “On Referentiality”, which took place in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, the papers that compose this issue were first discussed. The conference is one of the activities of the Cooperation Project CAPES-NUFFIC, between universities in Brazil and the Netherlands, entitled The Effects of Modification on Referentiality (CAPES process number 040/12). The aim of this project is to investigate the effects of modification in the licensing and blocking of nominal phrases. The project’s main hypothesis is that “modification” introduces a feature of referentiality, precisely the notion the conference aimed at clarifying.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"14 1","pages":"3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70688940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Unified Analysis for Subject Topics in Brazilian Portuguese","authors":"Aroldo Leal de Andrade, Charlotte Galves","doi":"10.5334/JPL.64","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.64","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we discuss the phenomenon of subject topics, consisting of the movement of either a genitive or a locative constituent into subject position in Brazilian Portuguese. This construction occurs with different verb classes, shows subject-verb agreement and precludes a resumptive pronoun. The goal of the present text is to account for its distribution. To do so, we argue that the two subclasses of unaccusative verbs found with genitive and locative topics instantiate some sort of secondary predication, and that only specific configurations allow for the movement of a constituent out of the argument structure domain. Finally, we address the comparative issue involved in explaining why the derivation of such a construction is not possible in European Portuguese.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":"117"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2014-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70689532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Calunga and the legacy of an African language in Brazil","authors":"Tjerk Hagemeijer","doi":"10.5334/JPL.65","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.65","url":null,"abstract":"Calunga is a currently disappearing and ill-described Afro-Brazilian speech variety which is mainly used in and around the town of Patrocinio in the state of Minas Gerais by an estimated couple of hundred of mostly older men, the so-called calungadores , i.e. speakers of Calunga. The main difference between this speech variety and regional Brazilian Portuguese can be found in the lexicon, which exhibits a substantial number of items derived from Western Bantu languages. Calunga is used as an in-group language related to secrecy and solidarity. Studies on Calunga are recent, dating back to the mid-1990s.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":"149-154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2014-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70689160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"European Portuguese dialectal features: a comparison with Cintra’s proposal","authors":"Xosé-Afonso Álvarez Pérez","doi":"10.5334/JPL.62","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.62","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the distribution of the five linguistic features that were used by Luis F. Lindley Cintra (1971) to establish his widely accepted classification of Portuguese dialects. The main objective of this study is to assess the internal consistency of Cintra’s proposal and its validity in modern Portuguese. The network of this analysis has 143 points in European Continental Portuguese and uses unpublished materials from the Atlas Linguistico-Etnografico de Portugal e da Galiza. In order to produce a more accurate account, a new methodological approach is proposed: the utilization of a sizable corpus (194 questions and 20486 answers) and quantitative cartography yields a more dynamic picture of the dissemination of linguistic change and the vitality of dialectal features. The results of this analysis reveal several inconsistencies in Cintra’s proposal that are not due to diachronic developments but to the limitations of traditional dialectology and opaque data selection. This article demonstrates that certain dialectal features are present, even today, in a wider area than has usually been attributed to them in dialectological literature. The maps obtained in this study also show the main areas of occurrence for each phenomenon; thus, it is possible to track the routes of linguistic change and to infer future developments.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":"29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2014-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70689065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New insights into Portuguese central-southern dialects: understanding their present and past forms through acoustic data from stressed vowels","authors":"Fernando Brissos","doi":"10.5334/JPL.63","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5334/JPL.63","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents new acoustic data on Portuguese central-southern dialects, namely on the stressed vowels of the area. The data show important cues for the history of those dialects, as it can be seen that they are much more similar to one another than is traditionally assumed. Acoustic data on Portuguese central-southern dialects are proven to be of significance, hence, acoustic data on Portuguese dialects are increasingly needed in order to allow for better dialectological characterizations of Portuguese since those characterizations have been based only on auditory data until now.","PeriodicalId":41871,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Portuguese Linguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":"63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2014-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70689463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}