Describing the internal syntax of "demais" constructions in Portuguese

Abstract

In Portuguese, the typical locus of adjective phrase degree modifiers is before the adjective: this has been traditionally represented by a degree phrase having a head that contains a degree modifier and c-commands an adjective phrase (Martinho, 2007). Such a generalization is well anchored in theory (Abney, 1987; Corver, 1997) and works well for describing the internal syntax of constructions with modifiers such as muito ‘very’, bastante ‘especially/enough’ or demasiado ‘too’. However, it is insufficient to account for the behavior of demais ‘too’, a degree word that is invariably placed after the adjective it modifies. In this study, we aim to tackle this problem by investigating the motivation behind the apparently exceptional locus of demais. Furthermore, we advance a novel structure that explains the internal structure of such a pattern. We propose that the main factor causing demais to occur after adjectives is that it is lexically specified to do so. The explanation for this possibly lies in its etymology: it derives from Latin valde magis ‘especially’. The evolution of that expression into de magis in Vulgar Latin (Adams, 2007) indicates that its initial de element was reanalyzed as a preposition. By aligning this fact to the notion that in Portuguese prepositional modifiers typically follow the adjectives they modify, we establish that there is a residual prepositional element in demais that causes its exceptional behavior. Based on this, we argue that for demais to modify an adjective, three steps are required: i) the element -mais is generated as the specifier of the adjective phrase; ii) the prepositional-like element de- is generated in the head of a degree phrase, which c-commands the adjective phrase; iii) the adjective moves from the head of the adjective phrase to the specifier of the degree phrase, thus reaching a position before demais. While this involves head-to-specifier movement, which is marked in many frameworks, there are certain conditions under which it can occur (Vicente, 2007), and we conclude that this is one of them. Such a structure has sufficient explanatory power to account for the anomalous pattern of demais following the adjective it modifies.