DEFINITE DETERMINERS: A STUDY ABOUT DPS STRUCTURE IN THE HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE

• Grant number: 13/11291-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Historical Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Charlotte Marie Chambelland Galves
• Grantee: Tatiane Macedo Costa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Based on the generative grammar theoretical framework, more specifically, in the minimalist version of the Principles and Parameters Theory (cf. CHOMSKY (1995) and following works), this research aims to investigate, from a diachronic perspective, the variation in the realization versus non-realization of definite determiners in the grammars of Classical, European and Brazilian Portuguese, through the description of the structural, semantic and distributional aspects of definite noun phrases and bare nouns. Our goal is, more specifically, (i) delineate the cases which the use of definite articles is obligatory, in order to verify whether such obligation occurs in the same contexts in the Portuguese grammars under investigation, (ii) analyze the possible relationships between a more systematic use of determiners and other syntactic phenomena like more fixed word order, and (iii) identify the effect of the properties of the informational structure of the texts on the use of definite determiners in the various grammars under investigation. Finally, considering the differences found in the literature with regard to the functional categories present in the nominal phrase structure (cf. ABNEY (1987), LONGOBARDI (1994), BO`KOVI (2008) for D category; RITTER (1991), CYRINO & RIBEIRO (2011), CYRINO, SPINAL & BORIK (2012) for Num category), the theoretical issue that underlies all the research is to determine from an empirical motivation what are, in fact, the categories active in the internal structure of this phrase in each of the grammars considered.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

COSTA, Tatiane Macedo. Definite determiners: a study about DPs structure in the history of Portuguese. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem Campinas, SP.