Gênero em sentenças copulares no PB: da “discordância” entre sujeito e predicativo para a concordância entre adjetivo e silent noun

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze nominal concord in structures with copula where the subject has a feminine NP while the predicate has a masculine AP (“Mudança é cansativo.” Change-FEM is tiring-MASC. ‘Change is tiring’). This results in an apparent mismatch in gender agreement. Based upon Kayne (2005), Pesetsky (2013), and Höhn, I argue that a silent pronoun (ALGO-‘SOMETHING’), located in the post-copula DP, checks gender features of the adjective (ex.: “Mudança é [ALGO cansativo].”). In sum, instead of unagreement, there is agreement between the adjective and a silent pronoun bearing masculine gender features, in the internal cartography of the post-copula DP.