A sintaxe cartográfica de 'lá' no português brasileiro: um estudo da periferia esquerda

Abstract

This thesis examines Brazilian Portuguese lá, an adverb which bears many properties other than deixis. As such, this investigation aims at: cataloguing the different realizations of lá, describing its properties and specifying its positions in the syntactic hierarchy. Several researchers have pointed out how diverse the phenomenon involved in the uses of lá is, such as Martelotta & Rego (1996) for BP and Martins (2010) for EP. However, the former does not offer a syntactic view on the issue, being restricted to explanations on the semantic content of lá. The latter does depict an analytical proposal. Nonetheless, this analysis puts together, in a sole category (Spec,TP), a bunch of different interfacial features, which seems to be problematic. In addition, the categorization so far suggested is intended for EP data. That is why, as expected, it neither covers thoroughly all BP data nor applies properly to them. Trying to face these problems, the analysis that we develop is based essentially on two theoretical assumptions: firstly, AdvPs are functional specifiers checking head-features (CINQUE, 1999); secondly, the left periphery is a fine-grained domain rich in functional projections that bear an interface system, that is, they are linked to both syntax and discourse (RIZZI, 1997).Regarding these assumptions, we hypothesize that lá is a functional specifier merged in different projections of the left periphery. This is confirmed when one finds correspondence between, on one hand, the order restrictions on lá and its interfacial properties, and, on the other hand, the requirements for Focus, Topic, Force, and so forth. Therefore, we argue that, when pre-verbal, lá would be merged in high positions of the IP-periphery. In contrast, when post-verbal, lá would be in low positions of the vP-periphery. Despite this, it is worthwhile mentioning that, in some sentences, for instance, in imperatives, lá is linearly post-verbal, but derivationally it is situated in the IP-periphery, because V raises to a position higher than lá in the CP-domain. Lastly, la would be located in the NP-periphery either following the noun, in case of NP-raising, or preceding it. To sum up, considering the many functional projections in the three left peripheries, our proposal tries to explain, in a unified framework, the syntactic restrictions and the interfacial properties conveyed by each realization of lá in BP.