“O Celular acabou a bateria”: a descriptive and formal analysis for the subject topic

Abstract

This paper examines the syntax of subject topic constructions in Brazilian Portuguese, such as “o celular acabou a bateria”, in order to present: (i) the description of subject topic constructions involving a DP [+ possessor] in the subject position; (ii) a theoretical analysis, considering the assumptions of the Generative Theory in its Minimalist version (Chomsky, 1995, 1998, 2001). The dataset consists of (1) spontaneous speech, collected in Rio de Janeiro between 2012 and 2014; (2) sentences from online searches using Google’s advanced search system. We propose that the subject topic is a kind of construction in which there is external possession and, therefore, the movement of the DP [+ possessor] to the subject position is triggered by syntactic requirements, such as, the necessity of checking of the Case by the DP in order to make visible in the logical form, its thematic role of [+ possessor].