Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese

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Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese

TARALDSEN, Knut Tarald

Basic information

Original name

Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese

Authors

TARALDSEN, Knut Tarald (578 Norway, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Moscow-Brno Agreement Workshop, 2021

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Vyžádané přednášky

Field of Study

60203 Linguistics

Country of publisher

Czech Republic

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/21:00119409

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

Portuguese; agreement; tense; nanosyntax

Abstract

V originále

We may think of phi-suffixes that only occur in some specific tense as being footed at a tense- related feature specific to that tense. If a phi-suffix occurs in more than one tense, perhaps in all, we can think of them either as being footed either at phi-feature or some tense-related feature common to many or all tenses, e.g. T. In Portuguese, a number of phi-suffixes occur in all tenses except for the perfective past tense pretérito, which, with one possible exception, has its own set of phi-features. I take the phi- suffixes specific to the pretérito to be footed at a feature Q which is also specific to the pretérito. It turns out the phi-suffixes footed at Q will block the tense-neutral ones whether these are footed at the lowest phi-feature or at T below Q. The main focus in this paper is on the 1pl suffix mos, which seems to occur in all the tenses including the pretérito. Since mos occurs in the pretérito, it must be footed at a phi-feature rather than below Q. However, mos affects the pronunciation of the theme vowel a in the present tense, but not in the pretérito: present tense 1pl cant-a-mos = cant-[æ]-mos ≠ pretérito 1pl cant-a-mos = cant-[a]-mos This suggests that there is a “screen” # between the theme vowel and mos in the pretérito: Either mos is footed at the lowest phi-feature, and # is a separate morpheme lexicalizing the Q specific to the pretérito, or the 1pl suffix of the pretérito is actually #mos distinct from the mos in the other tenses and footed at Q. It turns out that the second option is preferable when we look at the pretérito forms with dedicated pretérito roots and the special theme vowel In these paradigms, a mos footed at the lowest -feature would block the pretérito-specific 3pl ram footed at Q.

Links

GC21-12611J, research and development project

Name: Morfologie shody (Acronym: AgroMorph)

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Russia/RFBR

Citovat

TARALDSEN, Knut Tarald. Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese. In Moscow-Brno Agreement Workshop. 2021.

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   author = {Taraldsen, Knut Tarald},
   booktitle = {Moscow-Brno Agreement Workshop},
   keywords = {Portuguese; agreement; tense; nanosyntax},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese},
   url = {https://cestina.phil.muni.cz/aktualne/aktuality/moscow-brno-agreement-workshop},
   year = {2021}
}

TY  - SLIDE
ID  - 1808509
AU  - Taraldsen, Knut Tarald
PY  - 2021
TI  - Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese
KW  - Portuguese
KW  - agreement
KW  - tense
KW  - nanosyntax
UR  - https://cestina.phil.muni.cz/aktualne/aktuality/moscow-brno-agreement-workshop
N2  - We may think of phi-suffixes that only occur in some specific tense as being footed at a tense- related feature specific to that tense. If a phi-suffix occurs in more than one tense, perhaps in all, we can think of them either as being footed either at phi-feature or some tense-related feature common to many or all tenses, e.g. T. In Portuguese, a number of phi-suffixes occur in all tenses except for the perfective past tense pretérito, which, with one possible exception, has its own set of phi-features. I take the phi- suffixes specific to the pretérito to be footed at a feature Q which is also specific to the pretérito. It turns out the phi-suffixes footed at Q will block the tense-neutral ones whether these are footed at the lowest phi-feature or at T below Q. The main focus in this paper is on the 1pl suffix mos, which seems to occur in all the tenses including the pretérito. Since mos occurs in the pretérito, it must be footed at a phi-feature rather than below Q. However, mos affects the pronunciation of the theme vowel a in the present tense, but not in the pretérito: present tense 1pl cant-a-mos = cant-[æ]-mos ≠ pretérito 1pl cant-a-mos = cant-[a]-mos This suggests that there is a “screen” # between the theme vowel and mos in the pretérito: Either mos is footed at the lowest phi-feature, and # is a separate morpheme lexicalizing the Q specific to the pretérito, or the 1pl suffix of the pretérito is actually #mos distinct from the mos in the other tenses and footed at Q. It turns out that the second option is preferable when we look at the pretérito forms with dedicated pretérito roots and the special theme vowel In these paradigms, a mos footed at the lowest -feature would block the pretérito-specific 3pl ram footed at Q.
ER  -

TARALDSEN, Knut Tarald. Tense-sensitive and tense-neutral phi-suffixes in Portuguese. In \textit{Moscow-Brno Agreement Workshop}. 2021.

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