A correlation between the subject-verb word order and the properties of causative constructions in Brazilian Portuguese (BP)

• Published in: Veredas (Juiz de Fora, Brazil) Brazil), 2014-01, Vol.18 (1), p.203-221
• Main Authors: Lima-Salles, Heloisa M M, Pilati, Eloisa
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• ISSN: 1415-2533

The paper aims at providing the foundations for a theoretical hypothesis accounting for some syntactic properties of causative constructions in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Causative constructions in BP display the following characteristics: subject-verb (VS) word order; the (inflected) infinitive and a Nominative subject, as in A mae fez os meninos comerem (The mother made the children eat.3pl); A mae fez eles comerem (The mother made 3pl.NOM. eat.3pl). However, the so-called Romance Causative, in which the causee/(logic) subject is postverbal, is ungrammatical in BP, whether with intransitive or transitive verbs (the causee being introduced by the dative preposition 'a' (to), in the latter case), as in: *A mae fez dormir o menino (The mother made sleep the boy) e *A mae fez comer a banana ao menino (The mother made eat the banana to.DAT the boy). Following previous studies - Ribeiro (1995), Galves & Paixao de Sousa (2004), Martins (2004), Trannin (2011), Lima-Salles & Pilati (2011) -, we propose that a condition for the rise of the causative construction with the (inflected) infinitive and a Nominative subject in BP is the rigidification of the SV word order in the embedded clause, which correlates with the loss of the V2 pattern, found in Ancient Portuguese and Classic Portuguese. Adapted from the source document