‘Lá’ in TopP and in FinP in the CP-cartography: a contrast with locative inversion
Keywords:
adverb ‘lá’, TopP, FinP, cartography, locative inversion.Abstract
This paper investigates BP sentences with ‘lá’ preceding ‘ir’ (to go) and ‘vir’ (to come). It argues against the analysis of this adverb in Spec,IP (BUTHERS, 2009; AVELAR, 2009). Many researchers claim that it is not totally clear if, in cases of locative inversion, the pre-verbal item is definitely in subject position (LANDAU, 2010; KEMPCHINSKY, 2002; LEVIN & HOVAV, 1995). In addition, it is observed that ‘lá’, in the structures under investigation in this study, shows topic and finiteness features, which are identified in the IP left periphery. Therefore, I will develop an analysis of ‘lá’ as an item merged in Spec,TopP and Spec,FinP rather than Spec,IP. My analysis is based on the cartographic project (CINQUE; RIZZI, 2008) and on the F-Spec theory (CINQUE, 1999).