Prefix allomorphy in complex verbs of Brazilian Portuguese

This paper investigates the empirical properties of morphologically complex verbs of change in Brazilian Portuguese. Its main goal is to find out whether there are (not) correlations between prefix morphophonological form, root semantics and verb argument structure. All verbs analyzed denote events in which the internal argument is the undergoer of a change, and a classification in four semantic subclasses according to their root meaning is proposed: state, place, transfer of possession (either abstract or concrete) and reconfiguration. Contrary to what previous literature has suggested, fine-grained investigation within each of these classes has shown that it is not possible to exclusively associate morphological forms to specific root semantics or morphosyntactic behavior, although it is possible to observe general tendencies. To provide an analysis to account for the robust homogenous structural properties and general semantics behavior across the class, in face of the morphological variation in what regards prefix choice among the forms a-, en-and es-, it is proposed that prefixes are the phonological realizations of a functional head in the lower domain of the verb (labeled R, Relational) whose choice is given in terms of contextual allomorphy. It is shown that vocabulary insertion at R is guided by locality with the root. The theory of allomorphy proposed in Embick (2010), which is based on locality and linearity, was efficient in accounting for the selection of allomorphs of R, v and Th (Theme Vowel) heads.