LINGUIST List 21.2369 Thu May 27 2010 Diss: Syntax: Castro: 'On Possessives in Portuguese' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Ana Castro, On Possessives in Portuguese Message 1: On Possessives in Portuguese Date: 26-May-2010 From: Ana Castro <acastrofcsh.unl.pt> Subject: On Possessives in Portuguese E-mail this message to a friend Institution: Universidade Nova de Lisboa Program: PhD in Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2006 Author: Ana Castro Dissertation Title: On Possessives in Portuguese Linguistic Field(s): Syntax Subject Language(s): Portuguese (por) Dissertation Director: Anne Zribi-Hertz Maria Francisca Xavier Dissertation Abstract: This dissertation addresses some aspects of the grammar of possessives in Portuguese, both simple forms and de-phrases. It is shown that simple possessives have two homophonous series in Portuguese: prenominal possessives occur in definite contexts (like French and English and unlike Catalan and Italian ones); postnominal possessives occur in non-definite contexts. It is assumed that the former are generated in D, the position in which definiteness is interpreted. This proposal captures the contrasts between the two positions with respect to modification by weak and strong adverbs, coordination and strategies of focus. It is also claimed that the variation observed in Portuguese in the constructions with prenominal possessives - presence of the definite article in European Portuguese (EP) versus its absence in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) - is due, not to differences in the grammar of possessives, but to differences in the determiner system. Since Portuguese displays the same variation in nominal constructions with proper names and generics, it is claimed that they all involve an expletive, i.e. a semantically vacuous definite article, which is phonetically overt in EP and phonetically null in BP. In the 3rd person, Portuguese has two possessive forms: seu and dele. Seu, unlike dele, is an ambiguous form because it is not fully specified for phi-features (gender and number). Data from both spoken and written corpora show that dele is not replacing seu. In EP and BP, the two forms are not equivalent: dele only takes referential antecedents whereas seu may also be bound by non-referential expressions (generics and quantified). Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 27-May-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.