Bare Nominals and Number in Brazilian and European Portuguese

Abstract

This paper investigates the semantics of bare nominals (BNs) in Brazilian and in European Portuguese. More specifically, it addresses the constraints regarding their occurrence and interpretation in these languages, and evaluates their implications for the Nominal Mapping Parameter as proposed in Chierchia 1998. Chierchia's typology provides the theoretical background against which we investigate the matter. The paper claims – contra Chierchia – that count BNs may be argumental without denoting kinds. We also claim that the denotation of common nouns and Noun Phrases may vary from one language to the other and that this variation can explain typological differences across languages.