Fernanda Pratas
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
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Featured researches published by Fernanda Pratas.
Journal of Linguistics | 2013
João Costa; Fernanda Pratas
The status of Capeverdean as a pro-drop language is controversial. Baptista (2002) contends that this Portuguese-based creole has null referential subjects with some types of predicates, while Pratas (2002, 2007) proposes that it has only expletive null subjects. She argues that the rare cases of root null subjects can be analyzed as instances of null expletives. The aim of this paper is to show that in Capeverdean there is an asymmetry in the distribution of null referential subjects. These are ruled out in root contexts, but allowed in some embedded contexts; this is the case when the null subject is bound by a wh-operator or a quantifier. Following Holmbergs (2005) and Holmberg, Nayudu & Sheehans (2009) analysis of null subjects, we offer an analysis of Capeverdean null subjects exploring the properties of T in the language (in particular, the lack of a rich inflectional system), the syntax of subjects, and the type of null category available. We claim that Capeverdean embedded null subjects are variables, licensed by an operator in the matrix clause. We show that these specific properties explain minimal differences between null subjects in Capeverdean and Brazilian Portuguese.
Probus | 2016
João Costa; Maria Lobo; Fernanda Pratas
Abstract Omission of clitics is often considered a critical marker of language development in children. For this reason, clitic omission in language development has been studied crosslinguistically. Results on clitic production reveal that languages differ with respect to the rates at which clitics are omitted by children, as well as on the duration of the clitic omission stages. This paper compares clitic omission by monolingual and bilingual children acquiring European Portuguese – a language with both clitics and null objects – and Capeverdean Creole – a language with clitics in which null objects are ruled out. We show that omission is only found in monolingual Portuguese, and in bilingual Capeverdean. These results confirm earlier findings on the precocious sensitivity to the availability of null objects, and signal object drop as a critical distinguishing factor for differentiating bilinguals and monolinguals.
Archive | 2007
Fernanda Pratas; João Costa; Michel DeGraff; Clara Nunes Correia; Maria Lobo; Ana Madeira; Maria Francisca Xavier
Archive | 2008
Fernanda Pratas
Archive | 2012
João Costa; Ana Maria Martins; Fernanda Pratas
Archive | 2012
Fernanda Pratas
Archive | 2007
Maria Alexandra Fiéis; Fernanda Pratas
Archive | 2007
Fernanda Pratas; Nina Hyams
Archive | 2015
João Costa; Fernanda Pratas
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory | 2014
Fernanda Pratas