Chapter published in:
Complement Clauses in Portuguese: Syntax and acquisition
Edited by Ana Lúcia Santos and Anabela Gonçalves
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 17] 2018
► pp. 213–240

Subjunctive and subject obviation in Portuguese

| University of Lisbon

Subject obviation refers to the impossibility of the subject of an embedded clause to be co-referent with the main clause’s subject. This is verified in complementation structures of some predicates that select the subjunctive, but not in those of other predicates. A semantic explanation is proposed, based on Giannakidou’s concept of veridicality, for why only some of the predicates that select the subjunctive mood trigger obviation.

Keywords: (subject) obviation, complement clauses, subjunctive, (non) veridicality, agentivity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Obviation and tense dependency
  • 3.Obviation and the quasi-imperative operator – Kempchinsky’s proposal
  • 4.Subjunctive and non veridicality
  • 5.Subjunctive, agentivity and obviation
    • 5.1Predicates of volition
    • 5.2Directive and causative predicates
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 16 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.17.07mar
References
Ambar, M.
(1992) Temps et structure de la phrase en portugais. In H. Obenhauer & A. Zribi-Hertz (Eds.), Structure de la phrase et théorie du liage (pp. 29–49). Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes.Google Scholar
Copley, B., & Harley, H.
(2010) An ontology for a force-dynamic treatment of events (Unpublished manuscript). Paris 8 and University of Arizona.
Farkas, D.
(1992) On obviation. In I. A. Sag & A. Szabolsci (Eds.), Lexical matters (pp. 85–109). Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Giannakidou, A.
(1998) Polarity sensitivity as (non)veridical dependency. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) The subjunctive as evaluation. In J. Blaszack, D. Klimek-Jankowska, K. Mygdalski, & A. Giannakidou (Eds.), Tense, mood, and modality: New perspectives on old questions. Retrieved from http://​home​.uchicago​.edu​/~giannaki​/papers​.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ginnakidou, A.
(2015) The subjunctive as evaluation and nonveridicality. In J. Blaszack, A. Giannakidou, D. Klimek-Jankowska, & K. Mygdalski (Eds.), Mood, aspect, modality revisited – New answers to old questions. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Giannakidou, A., & Staraki, E.
(2013) Ability, action, and causation: From pure ability to force. In A. Mari, C. Beyssade, & F. Del Prete (Eds.), Genericity (pp. 250–275). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Giorgi, A., & Pianesi, F.
(1997) Tense and aspect: From semantics to morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Heim, I.
(1992) Presupposition projection and the semantics of attitude verbs. Journal of Semantics, 9(3), 183–221. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kempchinsky, P.
(1986) Romance subjunctive clauses and logical form (Unpublished PhD dissertation). UCLA.
(2009) What can the subjunctive disjoint reference effect tell us about the subjunctive? Lingua, 119, 1788–1810. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laca, B.
(2010) Mood in Spanish. In B. Rothstein & R. Thieroff (Eds.), Mood in the languages of Europe (pp. 198–220). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A.
(1973) Counterfactuals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Marques, R.
(2009) On the selection of mood in complement clauses. In L. Hogeweg, H. de Hoop, & A. Malchukov (Eds.), Cross-linguistic semantics of tense, aspect, and modality (pp. 179–204). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014) Référence au réel et concordance des temps en portugais européen. Travaux linguistiques du Cerlico, 27, 31–46.Google Scholar
Marques, R., Silvano, P., Gonçalves, A., & Santos, A. L.
(2015) Sequence of tenses in complementation structures: Lexical restrictions and effects on language acquisition. In R. Klassen, J. M. Liceras, & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Hispanic linguistics at the crossroads – Theoretical linguistics, language acquisition and language contact (pp. 69–88). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Oliveira, F.
(2003) Modalidade e modo. In M. H. M. Mateus, A. M. Brito, I. Duarte, & I. H. Faria (Eds.), Gramática da língua portuguesa (5th ed., pp. 243–272). Lisboa: Caminho.Google Scholar
Picallo, C.
(1984) The Infl node and the null subject parameter. Linguistic Inquiry, 15, 75–101.Google Scholar
Quer, J.
(1998) Mood at the interface (Unpublished PhD dissertation). UiL OTS, Universiteit Utrecht.
(2001) Interpreting mood. Probus, 13, 81–111. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Raposo, E.
(1985) Some asymmetries in the Binding Theory in Romance. The Linguistic Review, 5(1), 75–110.Google Scholar
Ruwet, N.
(1984) Je veux partir/*Je veux que je parte (Cahiers de Grammaire, 7). Toulouse: Le Mirail.Google Scholar
(1991) Syntax and human experience. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Speas, M.
(2004) Evidential paradigms, world variables and person agreement features. Rivista di Linguistica, 16, 253–280.Google Scholar
Thomason, R.
(2005) Ability, action, and context. Ms. University of Michigan.
Vogel, R.
(1997) Aspects of tense. The Hague: HAG.Google Scholar