Resumen de Minimal Projections: evidence from defective constructions in European Portuguese

João Costa

• This article discusses some of the problems generated by the proliferation of functional categories. Empirical evidence is presented favoring approaches according to which functional categories are only projected if necessary either to create hosts for lexical nuclei or to satisfy subcategorization properties of specific verb classes. The empirical arguments come from the following defective constructions in European Portuguese: adverbs in simple declarative sentences; complements of causative verbs in clause-union contexts; and topicalization constructions.