Cover not available
Part of
Brazilian Portuguese, Syntax and Semantics: 20 years of Núcleo de Estudos Gramaticais
Edited by Roberta Pires De Oliveira, Ina Emmel and Sandra Quarezemin
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 260] 2020
► pp. 151–166

Chapter 6
Some low ellipses in Portuguese

A phase-based analysis

| University of Campinas | CNPq

The paper aims to offer an analysis for the anaphoric null objects found in Brazilian Portuguese as a case of ellipsis. This was first proposed by Cyrino (1994) solely based on the fact that such null elements exhibit strict and sloppy readings, a test not considered trustworthy as a diagnosis for ellipses (see Merchant 2013a; a.o.). We will thus test them based on Jackendoff’s (1971) tests for VP-ellipsis, showing, however, that null objects cannot be subsumed under VP-ellipsis. A phase-based analysis for both cases of ellipsis will be proposed.

Offering a phase-based analysis not only contributes to the understanding of what can be a phase but also accommodates the facts examined in BP as well as its differences with EP.

Keywords: V-stranding VP ellipsis, anaphoric null objects, phases, Brazilian Portuguese
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.V-VPE in Portuguese
  • 3.Properties of ANOs in BP
  • 4.ANOs: Why ellipsis and why not V-VPE?
  • 5.ASPP and elliptical phases
  • 6.Some predictions and problems
  • 7.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.260.06lop
References
Aelbrecht, Lobke
2016 What ellipsis can do for phases and what it can’t, but not how. The Linguistic Review 33(4): 453–482. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aissen, Judith
2003 Differential object marking. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 21(3): 435–483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ambar, Manuela, Gonzaga, Manuela & Negrão, Esmeralda
2004 Tense, quantification and clause structure in EP and BP. Evidence from a comparative study on sempre. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2002 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 256], Reineke Bok-Bennema, Bart Hollebrandse, Brigitte Kampers-Manhe & Petra Sleeman (eds), 1–17. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bianchi, Valentina & Figueiredo Silva, Maria Cristina
1994 On some properties of Agreement-object in Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. In Issues and Theory in Romance Languages, Michael Mazzola (ed.), 181–197. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Bošković, Željko
2013 Now I’m a phase, now I’m not a phase. Linguistic Inquiry 45: 27–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brito, Ana Maria
1999 Concordância, estrutura da frase e movimento do verbo no português europeu, no português brasileiro e no português de Moçambique. In Lindley Cintra. Homenagem ao homem, ao mestre e ao cidadão, Isabel H. Faria (ed.), 333–365. Lisboa: Cosmos/FLUL.Google Scholar
2001 Clause structure, subject positions and verb movement. About the position of sempre in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 1999 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 221], Yves D’Hulst, Johan Rooryck & Jan Schroten (eds), 63–85. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
2001 Derivation by phase. In Ken Hale: A Life in Language, Michael J. Kenstowicz (ed.), 1–52. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Costa, João, Martins, Ana Maria & Pratas, Fernanda
2012 VP Ellipsis: New evidence from Capeverdean. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2010. Selected Papers from ‘Going Romance’ Leiden 2010 [Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 4], Irene Franco, Sara Lusini & Andrés Saab (eds), 155–176. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costa, João, Lobo, Maria & Silva, Carolina
2010 Which category replaces an omitted clitic? The case of European Portuguese. In Pronouns and Clitics in Early Language, Pilar Larranaga & Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes (eds), 105–130. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cyrino, Sonia & Lopes, Ruth
2016 Null objects are ellipsis in Brazilian Portuguese. The Linguistic Review 33(4): 483–502. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cyrino, Sonia & Matos, Gabriela
2002 VP elllipsis in European and Brazilian Portuguese – A comparative analysis. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics 1: 177–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 Local licensers and recovering in VP ellipsis. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics 4: 79–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Null objects and VP ellipsis in European and Brazilian Portuguese. In Handbook of Portuguese Linguistics, W. Leo Wetzels, João Costa & Sergio Menuzzi (eds), 294–317. Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cyrino, Sonia
1994 O objeto nulo no português brasileiro – Um estudo sintático-diacrônico. PhD dissertation, University of Campinas.Google Scholar
2013 On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese. In Information Structure and Agreement, [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 197], Victoria Camacho-Taboada, Ángel L. Jiménez-Fernández, Javier Martín-González & Mariano Reyes-Tejedor (eds), 297–318. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duarte, Maria Eugenia L.
1986 Variação e Sintaxe: Clítico acusativo, pronome lexical e categoria vazia no português do Brasil. MA thesis, PUCSP.Google Scholar
Fiéis, Alexandra
2010 On the position of sempre in Medieval Portuguese and in Modern European Portuguese. The Linguistic Review 27: 75–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gallego, Ángel
2007 Phase Theory and Parametric Variation. PhD dissertation, UAB.Google Scholar
2009 Ellipsis by Phase. Paper presented at the XIX Colloquium on Generative Grammar, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
Galves, Charlotte
1989 Objet nul et la structure de la proposition en Portugais Brésilien. Review des Langues Romanes 93: 305–336.Google Scholar
1990 V-movement, levels of representation and the structure of S. 13th GLOW Colloquium, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
1994 V-movement, levels of representation and the structure of S. Letras de Hoje 96: 35–58.Google Scholar
Gengel, Kirsten
2007 Phases and ellipsis. In NELS 37: Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society, Vol. 1, Emily Elfner & Martin Walkow (eds), 233–246. Amherst MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Lotus
2005 Verb-Stranding VP Ellipsis: A Cross-Linguistic Study. PhD dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Gonzaga, Manuela
1997 Aspectos da sintaxe do advérbio em português. MA thesis. University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Harwood, William
2013 Being Progressive is Just a Phase: Dividing the Functional Hierarchy. PhD dissertation, Ghent University.Google Scholar
Holmberg, Anders
2006 Null subjects and polarity focus. Studia Linguistica 61(3): 212–236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 The syntax of yes and no in Finnish. Studia Linguistica 55:141–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C. T. James
1984 On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 15: 531–574.Google Scholar
Irimia, Monica Alexandrina & Cyrino, Sonia
2015 Syntactic positions for DOM: The case of Brazilian Portuguese and Romanian. Paper presented at Going Romance, 2015.
Jackendoff, Ray
1971 Gapping and related rules. Linguistic Inquiry 2: 21–36.Google Scholar
Kato, Mary
1994 A theory of null objects and the development of a Brazilian child grammar. In How tolerant is Universal Grammar? [Linguistische Arbeiten 309], Rosemarie Tracy & Elsa Lattey (eds), 125–154. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Affirmative polar replies in Brazilian Portuguese. In Romance Linguistics 2013: Selected papers from the 43rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), New York, 17–19 April, 2013 [Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 9], Christina Tortora, Marcel den Dikken, Ignacio Montoya & Teresa O’Neill (eds), 195–212. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Soowon
1999 Sloppy/strict identity, empty objects, and NP ellipsis. Journal of East Asia Linguistics 8: 255–284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lipták, Anikó & Saab, Andrés
2014 No N-raising out of NPs in Spanish: Ellipsis as a diagnostic of head movement. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 32: 1242–1271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lopes, Ruth
2019 Not every stranding verb makes a VP ellipsis. Paper presented at MOTH 2019, Ottawa.
Lopes, Ruth & Cyrino, Sonia
2016 On null objects and ellipses in Brazilian Portuguese. In Romance Linguistics 2013: Selected papers from the 43rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), New York, 17–19 April, 2013 [Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 9], Christina Tortora, Marcel den Dikken, Ignacio L. Montoya & Teresa O’Neill (eds), 257–276. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
López, Luis
2012 Indefinite Objects. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martins, Ana Maria
1994 Enclisis, VP-deletion and the nature of Sigma. Probus 6: 173–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matos, Gabriela
1992 Construções de elipse de predicado em Português – SV nulo e despojamento. PhD dissertation, University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason
2001 The Syntax of Silence: Sluicing, Islands, and the Theory of Ellipsis. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2008 An asymmetry in voice mismatches in VP-ellipsis and pseudogapping. Linguistic Inquiry 39: 169–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013a Diagnosing ellipsis. In Diagnosing Syntax, Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng & Nobert Corver (eds). Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013b Voice and ellipsis. Linguistic Inquiry 44: 77–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ohara, Masako
n.d. Object drop in English and in Japanese. Ms.
Raposo, Eduardo
1986 On the null object in European Portuguese. In Studies in Romance Linguistics. Osvaldo Jaeggli & Carmen-Silva Corvalán (eds), 373–390. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rodrigues, Cilene
2004 Effects of Loss of Morphology in Partial Pro-drop Languages. PhD dissertation, University of Maryland.Google Scholar
Rouveret, Alain
2012 VP ellipsis, phases and the syntax of morphology. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 30: 897–963. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Santos, Ana Lucia
2006 Minimal Answers. Ellipsis, Syntax and Discourse in the Acquisition of European Portuguese. PhD dissertation, University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Schwenter, Scott & Silva, Gláucia
2002 Overt vs. null direct objects in spoken Brazilian Portuguese: A semantic/pragmatic account. Hispania 85(3): 577–586. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Torrego, Esther
1998 The Dependencies of Objects. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, Masaya & Gallego, Ángel
2012 Ellipsis and phases. In Local Modelling of Non-local Dependencies in Syntax, Artemis Alexiadou, Tibor Kiss & Gereon Muller (eds), 353–370. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar