University of Maryland DRUM  
University of Maryland Digital Repository at the University of Maryland

DRUM >
Theses and Dissertations from UM >
UM Theses and Dissertations >

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/1882

Title: Impoverished Morphology and A-movement out of Case Domains
Authors: Rodrigues , Cilene Aparecida Nunes
Advisors: Hornstein , Norbert
Department/Program: Linguistics
Type: Dissertation
Sponsors: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Keywords: Language, Linguistics (0290)
Verbal and nominal agreement; A-movement; null subjects, Partial pro-drop languages
Issue Date: 12-Aug-2004
Abstract: This dissertation suggests that referential 3rdP null subjects in Modern Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and Finnish are residues of A-movement, rather than null pronouns. These grammars exhibit weak 3rdP verbal and possessive agreement morphology, and do not obey the Avoid Pronoun Principle, allowing non-emphatic overt pronouns in subject position. This state of affairs has affected the licensing of referential null subjects, which are licensed only within embedded domains. I correlate the loss of agreement with this peculiar behavior of null subjects and advance the hypothesis that BP and Finnish are not pro-drop grammars, arguing on empirical grounds that in BP and Finnish null subject inside the embedded clauses and possessive DPs are residues of A-movement. Putting it boldly, these null subjects are salient copies of their antecedents. The arguments I present in favor of a movement analysis are: (i) Finnish and BP null subjects have an anaphoric behavior, requiring a sentential an...
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/1882
Appears in Collections:Linguistics Theses and Dissertations
UM Theses and Dissertations

Files in This Item:

File Description SizeFormatNo. of Downloads
umi-umd-1844.pdf1811KbAdobe PDF737View/Open

Show full item record

All items in DRUM are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved.

 

DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
Please send us your comments.
All Contents