{"title":"Another Look at the Acceptability of Bare Singular NPs in Episodic Sentences in Brazilian Portuguese","authors":"T. Ionin, E. Grolla, Hélade Santos","doi":"10.1111/SYNT.12163","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Bare (determiner-less) singular NPs in Brazilian Portuguese have been variously analyzed as indefinite terms, as kind terms, or as ambiguous between the two. It has furthermore been noted (Schmitt and Munn 1999, and subsequent literature) that bare singulars, unlike bare plurals, are degraded in the preverbal subject position of episodic sentences, but that their acceptability is improved when they are embedded inside a list. We conducted an experimental study examining the effect of NP type, syntactic position and list context on the acceptability of bare NPs in Brazilian Portuguese. Our results indicate that the low acceptability of bare singulars in subject position of episodic sentences results from the additive effects of three separate factors, rather than from a constraint against bare singulars in subject position. Implications of these findings for theories of bare NP interpretation in Brazilian Portuguese are discussed.","PeriodicalId":45823,"journal":{"name":"Syntax-A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Interdisciplinary Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2018-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1111/SYNT.12163","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Syntax-A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Interdisciplinary Research","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/SYNT.12163","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Bare (determiner-less) singular NPs in Brazilian Portuguese have been variously analyzed as indefinite terms, as kind terms, or as ambiguous between the two. It has furthermore been noted (Schmitt and Munn 1999, and subsequent literature) that bare singulars, unlike bare plurals, are degraded in the preverbal subject position of episodic sentences, but that their acceptability is improved when they are embedded inside a list. We conducted an experimental study examining the effect of NP type, syntactic position and list context on the acceptability of bare NPs in Brazilian Portuguese. Our results indicate that the low acceptability of bare singulars in subject position of episodic sentences results from the additive effects of three separate factors, rather than from a constraint against bare singulars in subject position. Implications of these findings for theories of bare NP interpretation in Brazilian Portuguese are discussed.
期刊介绍：
Syntax publishes a wide range of articles on the syntax of natural languages and closely related fields. The journal promotes work on formal syntactic theory and theoretically-oriented descriptive work on particular languages and comparative grammar. Syntax also publishes research on the interfaces between syntax and related fields such as semantics, morphology, and phonology, as well as theoretical and experimental studies in sentence processing, language acquisition, and other areas of psycholinguistics that bear on syntactic theories. In addition to full length research articles, Syntax features short articles which facilitate a fast review process. ''In the few years of its existence, Syntax quickly became one of the most prominent journals in the field, and unique as a source for high-quality studies at the forefront of research, combining theoretical inquiry and often significant innovation with outstanding descriptive and experimental work. It is indispensable for researchers in the areas it covers.'' Noam Chomsky, Massachusets Institute of Technology, USA
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