Clefts without an operator in Brazilian Portuguese

Portuguese exhibits a type of sentence which has been traditionally analyzed as the reduction of a pseudo-cleft, built up through the deletion/ erasure of the wh-operator. Similar constructions are also found in the Caribbean dialects of Spanish (CS) and analyzed as containing a null Operator. Realizing that not all pseudo-clefts with an overt wh-operator have a corresponding reduced cleft, or semi-cleft, Bosque (1999) and Camacho (2006), for CS, and Mioto (2008), for Brazilian Portuguese, propose an independent derivation for semi-clefts. This paper is another attempt at deriving reduced or semi-clefts independently of pseudo-clefts, an analysis that can account for constructions found out in BP, which are inexistent in CS. I claim that, while pseudo-clefts focalize arguments, VP or adjuncts, reduced clefts focalize only remnant VPs and VP-adjuncts.KEYWORDS: Narrow and Contrastive Focus Construction. Caribbean Spanish. Remnant Movement. Brazilian Portuguese.O português apresenta um tipo de sentença que tem sido tradicionalmente analisado como uma pseudo-clivada reduzida, as semi-clivadas, obtidas através do apagamento do operador-Q. Construcões semelhantes são também encontradas no Espanhol Caribenho (EsC) e analisadas como tendo um Operador nulo. Percebendo que nem todas as pseudo-clivadas têm uma reduzida correspondente, Bosque (1999) e Camacho (2006), tratando do EsC, e Mioto (2008), tratando do português brasileiro (PB), propoÃÉem uma derivação independente para as semi-clivadas. O presente trabalho se constitui numa tentativa diferente de explicar as semi-clivadas, independentemente das pseudo-clivadas, para dar conta de construções não permitidas em EsC. A diferença proposta é que, enquanto nas pseudo- clivadas o foco é o argumento, o adjunto ou o VP, nas semi- clivadas o foco é o resíduo de VP (depois da subida do verbo) ou Adverbiais adjuntos a VP.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Construções de Foco Estreito e Contrastivo. Espanhol Caribenho. Movimento Residual. Português Brasileiro.ABSTRACT Portuguese exhibits a type of sentence which has been traditionally analyzed as the reduction of a pseudo-cleft, built up through the deletion/ erasure of the wh-operator. Similar constructions are also found in the Caribbean dialects of Spanish (CS) and analyzed as containing a null Operator. Realizing that not all pseudo-clefts with an overt wh-operator have a corresponding reduced cleft, or semi-cleft, Bosque (1999) and Camacho (2006), for CS, and Mioto (2008), for Brazilian Portuguese, propose an independent derivation for semi-clefts. This paper is another attempt at deriving reduced or semi-clefts independently of pseudo-clefts, an analysis that can account for constructions found out in BP, which are inexistent in CS. I claim that, while pseudo-clefts focalize arguments, VP or adjuncts, reduced clefts focalize only remnant VPs and VP-adjuncts.KEYWORDS: Narrow and Contrastive Focus Construction. Caribbean Spanish. Remnant Movement. Brazilian Portuguese. &nbsp