Inherent case as a licensing condition for A-movement: The case of hyper-raising constructions in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

Assuming with Ferreira (2000, 2004, forthcoming) and Rodrigues (2002, 2004) that referential null subjects in (Colloquial) Brazilian Portuguese (BP) are traces of A-movement, this paper specifically focuses on hyper-raising constructions in BP. I argue that in impersonal constructions the embedded CP and the embedded subject (or an embedded topic) may compete for purposes of agreement with the matrix T. The embedded CP is generally the winner as it is more local. However, if it is assigned inherent Case by the matrix predicate, it becomes inactive and no longer competes with an embedded DP. In these circumstances, an embedded subject or topic can then move to the matrix [Spec,TP], yielding subject or topic hyper-raising constructions, respectively.