Clause structure, subject positions and verb movement. About the position of sempre in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese

On the position of sempre in Medieval Portuguese and in Modern European Portuguese

“…The failure to explain our MP data also relates to the fact that they generally claim that pre-verbal sempre occupies the specifier position of a functional position outside the sentence level (exception made to Brito 2001). As for the subject, it would be in the specifier of this functional category, thus, a nonargument position.…”

“…In the framework of generative grammar, previous analyses of sempre as a temporal adjunct in MEP generally agree that, when it occurs post-verbally, sempre is in a VP adjunct position (considering that there is verb movement out of the VP) (Ambar, Gonzaga and Negrão 2004;Brito 2001;Martins 1994). …”

“…Generally, in MEP, temporal/aspectual sempre 'always' occurs in a postverbal position whereas, in BP, it is pre-verbal 4 (cf. Brito 2001;Ambar, Gonzaga and Negrão 2004), as in (1a) pão bread ao at almoço 5 lunch 'John always eats bread at lunch.' Change and Variation in Romance (Porto, December 2007).…”

“…This is meant to explain the relationship between [±specific] objects and the temporal values of the predicate. 12 In Brito (2001), pre-verbal sempre (temporal/aspectual or confirmative) is merged in adjunction to TP; there is short movement of the verb to T and the DP subject moves higher up to a position above T, namely, to Spec,AgrSP.…”

“…Modern European Portuguese (MEP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) behave differently as to the placement and interpretation of sempre. This situation is assumed in the literature as deriving from aspects of clause structure, such as verb movement and licensing of null subjects (Brito 2001; Ambar, Gonzaga and Negrão 2004, among others). In MP, however, sempre is always temporal/aspectual and can be placed before or after the verb.…”