Article1998

Impersonal se Constructions in Romance and the Passivization of Unergatives

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Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation Historical Linguistics and Language Studies Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition

Abstract

Romance constructions of the type SE Vunerg (e.g., si dorme) are shown to rely not only on nominative SE, as in Italian finite clauses, but also on accusative middle-passive SE. The latter analysis is needed for Romanian, because this language does not have nominative SE, as well as for Italian nonfinite clauses, in which nominative SE is illegitimate. According to my restatement of Cinque's (1988) generalizations, [+/−1arg] features are not needed. I assume a constrained theory of passivization, according to which the suspended Agent role cannot surface in the syntax as either -en or SE. The passivization of unergatives depends on analyzing unergatives as transitives with null cognate objects.

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1993Lectures on Government and Binding 1988Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use.1988Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing 2013Verb Movement, Universal Grammar, and the Structure of IP, 1989 1982Issues in Italian Syntax 2014A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory 2003Null objects in Italian and the theory of pro 1986On the nature of grammatical relations . By Alec P. Marantz (Linguistic Inquiry monograph 10.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1984. Pp. xi, 339. Cloth $25.00, paper $15.00.

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