Accusativus cum infinitivo: uma abordagem gerativa

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the accusativus cum infinitive (AcI) construction, a type of subordinate clause in the Latin language. The AcIs are distinguishable from other subordinate clauses by three main aspects: a) the absence of subordinating particles; b) the subject’s accusative case mark; c) the subordinate verb being in the infinitive form. This construction, in particular the accusative licensing to the subordinate subject, has been object of many grammatical and linguistic studies. Thus, this study aims to revisit these studies and determine, within the generative and minimalist theoretical scope, the explicative potential of the theoretical proposals ventured in the literature. Throughout the text are discussed, among others, proposals by Bolkestein (1976a, 1976b, 1979), Pillinger (1980), Cecchetto e Oniga (2002) and Castro (2014). It is proposed that the Cecchetto e Oniga’s (2002) approach is more valid within the minimalist program, following the works of Chomsky (2001, 2008, 2013, 2015), Pesetsky e Torrego (2001, 2007, 2011) and Radford (2009, 2012), among others. It is noted that Cecchetto and Oniga’s (2002) proposal is unable to adequately explain an important AcI sub phenomenon: the NcIs. In order to explain said phenomenon, it is suggested that the Latin passives may present a “personality” feature [P], that has the effect of forcing a nominal item’s raising to the passive clause’s subject position, crucially applied to items other than the passive verb’s internal argument.