Case, agreement and movement: in search of a comprehensive theory

• Grant number: 07/07725-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2008
• End date: January 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Maria Filomena Spatti Sandalo
• Grantee: Rafael Bezerra Nonato
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In my masterwork, I produced a grammatical description of bororo language (Bororo family) (cf. annexes 1, 2 and 3 of the project) and, based on these data, I elaborated a theory of case, agreement and movement that questions and revises the framework depicted in Chomsky (2000), (2001). This new theory is presented briefly in the section 6 of the project and is available in full in the annex 3 of the project (and as a paper published in "Revista da Abralin", cf. Nonato 2007). As PhD work, I propose to test the empirical validity of my theory against data from other Brazilian indigenous languages, collected in the descriptive literature and through specific fieldwork, and consolidated in a databank that will follow the model of the one I elaborated for the documentation of Bororo languages (cf. annexes 1 and 2 of the project). Therewith, besides collaborating in the documentation of central systems of the Brazilian indigenous languages (case, agreement and movement), I will bring the phenomena instantiated in these languages to the generative discussion, task all the more urgent due to the little number of works dedicated to it (cf. Storto (1999) and Reis Silva (2001) for exceptions). (AU)