Papers by Maria Gabriela Ardisson Pereira Matos
… do XXV Encontro Nacional da Associação …, 2010
The current study deals with referential chains' processing in finite clauses in European Portugu... more The current study deals with referential chains' processing in finite clauses in European Portuguese, involving different types of subject gaps: pro, wh-variable and NPcopy. Since conditions of economy guide syntactic processing, we raised the hypothesis that the less referential is the content of the null element and the more minimal is the distance between the antecedent and the gap, the lower are the costs of the cognitive processing. We conducted an eye-tracking reading experiment and we measured the reading time per character. The results obtained show that the online processing of coreferential pro was costlier than the processing of wh-variable and NP-copy.
Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 2020
In European and Brazilian Portuguese gramatical tradition, non-argumental clauses introduced by q... more In European and Brazilian Portuguese gramatical tradition, non-argumental clauses introduced by que ‘that’ have been classified as causal explicative clauses. However, differently from the other explicative conetives, que may head non-argumental clauses displaying other meanings, such as result/consequence or simultaneous temporal readings. We take these different readings as resulting from the context, and we assume that the main semantic import of que is acting as a sentence connector marker. Yet, despite the differences in the interpretation of queclauses, from a syntactic point of view, these clauses behave alike. We argue that they are parenthetical sentences, extending previous work on European Portuguese.
O presente estudo visa determinar as estrategias preferenciais, na escrita, de producao de sujeit... more O presente estudo visa determinar as estrategias preferenciais, na escrita, de producao de sujeitos correferenciais em portugues europeu (PE) e brasileiro (PB), variedades de sujeito nulo consistente e parcial, respetivamente. Analisamos narrativas de 40 falantes de PE e PB, dos 4o e 6o niveis de escolaridade. Os resultados mostraram que o uso anaforico de sujeitos foneticamente realizados, nomeadamente expressoes nominais repetidas, e uma estrategia comum a todos os grupos. Contudo, esta estrategia diminui do 4o para o 6o em PE, mas persiste no 6o do PB, o que interpretamos como consequencia das propriedades gramaticais do PB. A producao de sujeitos nulos pronominais correferentes distingue os dois grupos: apenas os falantes do PE os usando recorrentemente em frases raiz e subordinadas finitas.
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, 2013
This paper analyses the alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a rest... more This paper analyses the alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a restrictive relative in European Portuguese. We propose that this alternation is lexically restricted, only occurring with weakly assertive cognitive definite predicates, in the sense of Hinzen and Sheehan (2011), such as saber, 'to know' or descobrir, 'to discover'. We also claim that the alternation between an improper indirect wh-CP and a DP containing a restrictive relative is possible because they share significant features, namely they both involve sentences with declarative illocutionary force and wh/operator chains, and exhibit a high level of referentiality, due to the D-linked nature of the whP in the improper indirect question and the definite and specific nature of the DP that includes the relative.
Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Nov 30, 2020
In European and Brazilian Portuguese gramatical tradition, non-argumental clauses introduced by q... more In European and Brazilian Portuguese gramatical tradition, non-argumental clauses introduced by que 'that' have been classified as causal explicative clauses. However, differently from the other explicative conetives, que may head non-argumental clauses displaying other meanings, such as result/consequence or simultaneous temporal readings. We take these different readings as resulting from the context, and we assume that the main semantic import of que is acting as a sentence connector marker. Yet, despite the differences in the interpretation of queclauses, from a syntactic point of view, these clauses behave alike. We argue that they are parenthetical sentences, extending previous work on European Portuguese.
Revista letras, Sep 27, 2019
Reduced parenthetical clauses (RPCs) in European Portuguese have not been systematically studied ... more Reduced parenthetical clauses (RPCs) in European Portuguese have not been systematically studied until recently. Focusing on comment RPCs, a preliminary classification of the most common verbal predicates in this context is set up for this language, and their pragmatic values established. The distribution of comment RPCs, especially their floating status and the blocking of c-command from the host sentences, indicates that they are syntactically related to their hosts by a paratactic link, as parenthetical modifiers. As for the internal structure of the comment clause, island effects reveal that, in European Portuguese, the argument gap of the verb results from movement of a null category to an A-bar position of the parenthetical clause. Also, adverb placement shows that the verb and the subject occupy high discursive projections in the left periphery of the RPC, suggesting that the postverbal subject is focalized in specifier of FocP. The contrasts between comment RPCs with null and overt subjects shows that in European Portuguese the mitigative value of the RPC is not exclusively drawn from the epistemic, evidential or evaluative predicates, but also relies on the post verbal use of the subject.
Romance languages and linguistic theory, Oct 3, 2017
A pesquisa centrou-se nas áreas da Sintaxe e da Semântica e os trabalhos elaborados foram divulga... more A pesquisa centrou-se nas áreas da Sintaxe e da Semântica e os trabalhos elaborados foram divulgados em três colóquios anuais-realizados, respectivamente, em Coimbra, Fortaleza e Lisboa-e publicados em actas, 1 e em revista da especialidade, 2 estando outras publicações ainda em preparação. Os estudos, que lançaram luz sobre aspectos importantes do Português Europeu e Brasileiro, assumiram preponderantemente uma perspectiva comparativa, sendo privilegiado o confronto entre as normas cultas escritas das duas variedades. Para desenvolver a pesquisa, criaram-se, na generalidade dos casos, parcerias entre investigadores falantes do Português Euro-* O presente trabalho foi apresentado como uma contribuição à mesa redonda intitulada "PE-PB: Unidade e Diversidade na Passagem do Milénio". Agradeço os comentários que me foram feitos pelos intervenientes e a assistência desta mesa. Os meus agradecimentos vão especialmente para Cristina Figueiredo Silva. Agradeço também à fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, que me atribuiu uma bolsa de deslocação para participar no CELSUL e no 1º CILP, em Florianopolis, Novembro de 2004.
Catalan journal of linguistics, Nov 22, 2013
Quotative parenthetical clauses exhibit a complement gap and, depending on the language, display ... more Quotative parenthetical clauses exhibit a complement gap and, depending on the language, display obligatory or optional subject inversion. This paper presents exhaustive evidence that the quote does not originate as the complement of the parenthetical. Instead the parenthetical is an adjunct of the quote and may occupy different positions inside it. Thus, along with previous analyses, it is claimed that the object gap is a variable bound by a null operator recovered by the quote. The obligatory subject inversion in Peninsular Portuguese and Spanish quotative parentheticals is taken to be the result of structural constraints on focus: in these languages informational focus is constrained to postverbal positions, fronted focus being interpreted as contrastive. In contrast, in English preverbal focus is not restricted to contrastive focus and preverbal informational focus subjects are the most common pattern. Yet, English still allows postverbal informational focus subjects in some constructions, namely in Quotative Inversion.
Romance languages and linguistic theory, Nov 15, 2016
A subset of causal explicative clauses in European Portuguese (EP) introduced by the connectors p... more A subset of causal explicative clauses in European Portuguese (EP) introduced by the connectors pois 'for' , que 'that' and porque 'because' has been classified either as coordinate or subordinate clauses, or alternatively as autonomous discursive expressions. Extending previous work, we claim that, although the sentences they head present most of the characteristics of subordination, they establish with the host sentence a paratactic link, and involve secondary and non-restrictive information. We will argue that these explicative clauses arise from parenthetical inclusion via Par-Merge, in the sense of de Vries (2012). This analysis allows us to provide a syntactic account for these clauses, and to capture some of their correlated discursive properties.
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, 2011
Floating parenthetical coordinate clauses exhibit a challenging behaviour: they disrupt the struc... more Floating parenthetical coordinate clauses exhibit a challenging behaviour: they disrupt the structure of the host sentence, do not present an overt first term, occur in different positions inside the host clause and, although notionally related to their host, they present syntactic autonomy. Taking into account data from European Portuguese, we claim that these clauses are derived from the core devices of the computational system: the coordinate structure is built up by Set Merge and takes, as first term, a null constituent denoting the host clause; then, Pair Merge operates by adjoining the parenthetical coordinated CP to a functional or verbal projection of the host sentence. Considering the autonomy of the parenthetical clause with respect to its host, we assume that this adjunction is an instance of Late Merge, a counter cyclic operation that applies at PF.
Faits De Langues, 2006
(2004) le montre, il y a différentes stratégies de coordination à travers les langues.
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, Jun 30, 2002
Comparative constructions in English and other Germanic and Romance languages have been analysed ... more Comparative constructions in English and other Germanic and Romance languages have been analysed either as subordinate or coordinate structures. Focussing European Portuguese (=EP) we will argue, from a syntactic point of view, that there is evidence for the coordinate nature of canonical comparatives in this language. In fact, not only many properties of these constructions distinguish them from subordinate structures, but also most of the characteristics attributed to the subordinate status of comparatives can also be accounted for within the coordinate approach. In particular, the selection of the comparative phrase by the degree marker in the first term of comparison may be viewed as a case of correlative coordination. In the same line of reasoning, the islands effects exhibited by comparative clauses do not constitute a compelling evidence for the systematic presence of a wh-operator, since they may also arise in other cases of A-bar movement. So, though accepting that Comparative and Subcomparative deletions are two distinct cases of Operator-variable chain, relying on empirical evidence across other Romance languages, we will analyse Comparative Deletion in European Portuguese as an instance of (Quantified) Null Object and we will impute Subcomparative deletion to Quantifier Raising at LF for scope assignment purposes.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2006
Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Sep 29, 2017
Sluicing and Pseudosluicing are elliptical constructions that differ in Portuguese regarding the ... more Sluicing and Pseudosluicing are elliptical constructions that differ in Portuguese regarding the (im)possibility of preposition omission. Rodrigues et al. (2009) and Rodrigues (2016) claim that in Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and Spanish, this omission is apparent in Pseudosluicing, because the prepositional phrase occurs inside the elided cleft sentence that affects the overt wh-phrase (whP). European Portuguese (EP) shows that this apparent omission only occurs with whPs that are D-linked and the linguistic context permits the recovering of the nominal that expresses the kind of entities that are under inquire. When free relatives are involved in the cleft sentences, the omission of preposition is required, and the differences in acceptability between PE and PB are due to the narrow extension of the Preposition Drop phenomenon in EP.
Linguística : Revista de Estudos Linguísticos da Universidade do Porto, 2021
In languages like Spanish, Italian and European Portuguese, specific morphological verb forms alt... more In languages like Spanish, Italian and European Portuguese, specific morphological verb forms alternate with suppletive verb forms to express imperative. However, they pattern differently with respect to sentential negation: true imperatives ban the occurrence of sentential negation in opposition to suppletive imperatives. This contrast has been ascribed to different causes: differences in the structural configuration of true and suppletive imperatives, distinct selectional properties of the functional projections involved, or scope constraints on the sentence illocutionary force. Focussing European Portuguese, we will set up the structure of imperative sentences, taking into account the evidence provided by sentence negation, the scope of the illocutionary force, the status of Tº and the position of overt subjects. KEYWORDS Imperative sentences; negation; C-domain; ilocutionary force. RESUMO. Em línguas como o Espanhol, o Italiano e o Português Europeu, formas verbais morfologicamente específicas alternam com formas verbais supletivas para expressar o imperativo. Contudo, o seu comportamento difere relativamente à negação frásica: os imperativos verdadeiros rejeitam a presença de negação frásica em oposição aos imperativos supletivos. Este contraste foi atribuído a causas diversas: a diferenças de configuração estrutural dos imperativos verdadeiro e supletivo, a propriedades de seleção distintas das projeções funcionais envolvidas, ou às restrições sobre o escopo da força ilocutória da frase. Focando o Português Europeu, estabelecemos a estrutura das frases imperativas, tendo em conta as evidências fornecidas pela negação frásica, o escopo da força ilocutória, a natureza de Tº e a posição dos sujeitos realizados. 1 Este texto, escrito em homenagem a Ana Brito, surge num ponto crucial da sua carreira, marcada pelo saber, competência e dedicação. Uma homenagem é um momento para fazer um balanço do que passou: longos anos de amizade e de trabalho de investigação exigente e apaixonante desenvolvido; mas é também uma oportunidade para lembrar que o presente está aí para desfrutar e prosseguir os nossos projetos. Este trabalho é financiado pelo Centro de Linguística da Universidade do Porto, ao abrigo do Programa de Financiamento FCT-UIDB/00022/2020 (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2006
1. Introdução Hankamer e Sag 1976 e Sag 1980 propuseram uma distinção entre dois tipos de constru... more 1. Introdução Hankamer e Sag 1976 e Sag 1980 propuseram uma distinção entre dois tipos de construções elípticas baseada nas duas formas como os elementos anafóricos, entre os quais as elipses, receberiam interpretação e o nível de derivação em que estavam disponíveis para serem interpretados: as anáforas profundas e as de superfície. Uma propriedade distinguiria crucialmente estes dois tipos: as anáforas profundas, contrariamente às de superfície, não exibiriam estrutura interna em Sintaxe. De acordo com esta distinção Elipse do VP, Elipse Lacunar (ing. 'Gapping'), Despojamento (ing. Striping) e Truncamento (ing. 'Sluicing') foram consideradas anáforas de superfície, e Anáfora do Complemento Nulo (ing. 'Null Complement Anaphora', abreviadamente, NCA), Do-it Anaphora e Sentential-it como anáforas profundas. Retomando estes argumentos, Depiante 2000, 2001 caracteriza Anáfora do Complemento Nulo em Espanhol e Italiano 1 como anáfora profunda, e assume que o constituinte não-realizado é uma proforma nula, e não uma elipse, quer esta seja tratada como supressão em Forma Fonética ou cópia em Forma Lógica (Depiante 2001: 194). Neste estudo mostraremos que Anáfora do Complemento Nulo (de agora em diante, também referido como NCA) em Português se comporta diferentemente: é uma anáfora de superfície e tem uma distribuição diversa relativamente ao pronome demonstrativo 'isso' e ao clítico 'o'. Mostraremos ainda que a inexistência de estrutura interna em Sintaxe não basta para eliminar o problema da Reconstrução em LF (e.g. Kitagawa 1991, Fiengo e May 1994), pois há anáforas de superfície explícitas que a requerem, recolocando a questão das fronteiras entre proformas nulas e elipse. 2. Anáfora do Complemento Nulo como uma anáfora profunda Hankamer e Sag 1976, e Sag 1980, caracterizam a Anáfora do Complemento Nulo em Inglês com um conjunto de propriedades que, de acordo com os autores, distinguem as anáforas profundas, i.e., inseridas na base (nulas ou lexicalmente realizadas) nas derivações sintáticas, das anáforas de superfície resultantes de operações de apagamento que se aplicam tardiamente na derivação sintática, depois das operações que implicam a presença da estrutura sintática relevante. Assim, Hankamer e Sag distinguem NCA de Elipse do VP pelas seguintes propriedades, das quais as três últimas são caracterizadoras dos tipos de anáfora que ilustram. * O presente trabalho beneficiou dos comentários que nos foram feitos durante a sua apresentação no 1º Colóquio Internacional sobre a Língua Portuguesa (Florianópolis 2004). Gostariamos de agradecer a todos os que nos ajudaram com as suas observações, em especial a Inês Duarte,
Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, 2001
Revista Letras, 2019
Reduced parenthetical clauses (RPCs) in European Portuguese have not been systematically studied ... more Reduced parenthetical clauses (RPCs) in European Portuguese have not been systematically studied until recently. Focusing on comment RPCs, a preliminary classification of the most common verbal predicates in this context is set up for this language, and their pragmatic values established. The distribution of comment RPCs, especially their floating status and the blocking of c-command from the host sentences, indicates that they are syntactically related to their hosts by a paratactic link, as parenthetical modifiers. As for the internal structure of the comment clause, island effects reveal that, in European Portuguese, the argument gap of the verb results from movement of a null category to an A-bar position of the parenthetical clause. Also, adverb placement shows that the verb and the subject occupy high discursive projections in the left periphery of the RPC, suggesting that the postverbal subject is focalized in specifier of FocP. The contrasts between comment RPCs with null and overt subjects shows that in European Portuguese the mitigative value of the RPC is not exclusively drawn from the epistemic, evidential or evaluative predicates, but also relies on the post verbal use of the subject.
1 One anonymous reviewer has suggested that we "discuss ku in relation to the presumed substrate ... more 1 One anonymous reviewer has suggested that we "discuss ku in relation to the presumed substrate languages" of Capeverdean. We know that these substrate languages are mainly from the Mande and Atlantic families, spoken by the slaves from the Guinea Rivers area that were taken to Santiago Island in the 15th century (Carreira 1982). In fact, we aim to extend, in a very near future, the crosslinguistic study of ku to any cases of comitative coordination in these substrate languages. This is, however, out of the scope of the current paper.
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Papers by Maria Gabriela Ardisson Pereira Matos