Phi-features and neuter pronouns: the case of isso in Brazilian Portuguese
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Abstract
In this squib we propose a semantic analysis of anaphoric ‘isso’ in Brazilian Portuguese in contrast with its deictic use, since ‘isso’ has a different range of possible antecedents/referents for each use. Our analysis claims that ‘isso’ lacks phi-feature and can have as antecedent only linguistic structures which also lack phi-features. We claim that this analysis also explains the fact that ‘isso’ does not appear in descriptions, cannot be interpretated as a bound variable, and shows a “fact reading” in some contexts. Since most abstract entities reference are achieve via non-DP and non-NP structure, ‘isso’ is a natural choice of anaphor in these cases, but as we show its uses are restricted by linguistic constraints.
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