As controvérsias sobre o sujeito nulo no português brasileiro

Abstract

Brazilian Portuguese (BP) has been analyzed as a language that is loosing its referential null subjects, but though its typology is clear in the beginning of the change, the direction and target of the change is controversial. This paper brings an empirical and theoretical analysis comparing its synchronic state a) with Japanese, a radical [Null Subj] language, b) with Finnish, a partial [Null Subj] language, c) with English, a [-Null Subj] language, and finally d) with Icelandic, a ‘semi’[-Null Subj] language. It concludes that in its core grammar BP is of the latter type, though in the periphery of the I-language of literate Brazilians the lost [Null Subj] may appear due to instruction.