Chapter 8. Topicalization of verbal projections in Brazilian Portuguese

In this paper, I examine verbal constituents in the left periphery in Brazilian Portuguese and argue that they should be analyzed as topics. I identify three types of topicalization of verbal projections depending on whether the derivation involves movement or base-generation and whether the movement involves a verb or a full vP. In addition to providing a semantic and pragmatic characterization of these three types, I also discuss why the constructions derived by movement surface with two copies of the verb phonetically realized with different inflections (an infinitival and a finite form).