Part of
The Limits of Syntactic VariationEdited by Theresa Biberauer
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 132] 2008
► pp. 375–409
Edited by Theresa Biberauer
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 132] 2008
► pp. 375–409
Topic prominence and null subjects
This chapter presents data from Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish and Chinese
which show that, at least in these languages, phonologically null subjects may be
licensed and identified without the participation of verbal agreement. The analysis
proposed treats those cases of null subjects as elided topics (PF-deleted elements)
and so it relates the presence of null subjects in these languages to a parameter
involving topic prominence. Some implications of the analysis are then discussed,
based on Brazilian Portuguese data.
Cited by (16)
Cited by 16 other publications
Landau, Idan
2024. Noncanonical Obligatory Control. Language and Linguistics Compass 18:3 
Martins, Ana Maria & Jairo Nunes
2024. D-features or ellipsis in null subject licensing? Evidence from Brazilian and European Portuguese. Probus 36:2 ► pp. 185 ff.
Nunes, Jairo & Mary A. Kato
2023. Approaching the So-Called Topic-Subjects in Brazilian Portuguese from Below. In Formal Approaches to Languages of South America, ► pp. 171 ff.
Barbosa, Pilar P.
2019. proas a Minimal nP: Toward a Unified Approach to Pro-Drop. Linguistic Inquiry 50:3 ► pp. 487 ff.
Barbosa, Pilar P.
2021. Alleged obligatorily controlled inflected infinitives. In Non-canonical Control in a Cross-linguistic Perspective [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 270], ► pp. 35 ff.
Galves, Charlotte
2019. Chapter 8. Competition, stability and change in the emergence of Brazilian Portuguese. In The Determinants of Diachronic Stability [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 254], ► pp. 191 ff.
Kato, Mary A. & Francisco Ordóñez
2019. Topic Subjects in Brazilian Portuguese and Clitic Left Dislocation in Dominican Spanish: The Role of Clitics and Null Subjects. Syntax 22:2-3 ► pp. 229 ff.
Ingham, Richard
2018. Topic, Focus and null subjects in Old French. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 63:2 ► pp. 242 ff.
Duarte, Maria Eugênia Lammoglia
2017. Chapter 10. Analyzing a parametric change in Brazilian Portuguese. In Studies on Variation in Portuguese [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 14], ► pp. 234 ff.
Pöll, Bernhard
2015. Caribbean Spanish = Brazilian Portuguese? Some comparative thoughts on the loss ofpro-drop. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 8:2 ► pp. 317 ff.
Sze, Felix
2015. Is Hong Kong Sign Language a topic-prominent language?. Linguistics 53:4
COSTA, JOÃO & FERNANDA PRATAS
2013. Embedded null subjects in Capeverdean. Journal of Linguistics 49:1 ► pp. 33 ff.
Sakas, William Gregory & Janet Dean Fodor
2012. Disambiguating Syntactic Triggers. Language Acquisition 19:2 ► pp. 83 ff.
Modesto, Marcello
2010. What Brazilian Portuguese Says about Control: Remarks on Boeckx & Hornstein. Syntax 13:1 ► pp. 78 ff.
Modesto, Marcello
2018. Inflected infinitives in Brazilian Portuguese and the theory of Control. In Complement Clauses in Portuguese [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 17], ► pp. 59 ff.
Holmberg, Anders, Aarti Nayudu & Michelle Sheehan
2009. Three partial null‐subject languages: a comparison of Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish and Marathi*. Studia Linguistica 63:1 ► pp. 59 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.