From passive to impersonal
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Anna Giacalone Ramat
Abstract
In contemporary Italian, there is a passive si-construction in which the patient governs agreement on the verb and an impersonal si-construction in which either the verb is intransitive or the patient is not promoted to subject. The coexistence of the two constructions is the result of a long-lasting process by which an impersonal has developed out of (and has progressively differentiated itself from) an original passive. In this paper we focus on the initial stage of this process, namely the extension of the si-construction to intransitive verbs, and the emergence of the non-agreeing pattern with transitive verbs. Based on a large corpus of literary and non-literary documents, we argue that both these phenomena require a reanalysis of si as a marker of generic human agency as a necessary precondition, and that such a reanalysis starts with patients that are unlikely candidates for subjecthood. Keywords: reanalysis; impersonal passive; non-promotional passive; impersonalization of passive constructions
Abstract
In contemporary Italian, there is a passive si-construction in which the patient governs agreement on the verb and an impersonal si-construction in which either the verb is intransitive or the patient is not promoted to subject. The coexistence of the two constructions is the result of a long-lasting process by which an impersonal has developed out of (and has progressively differentiated itself from) an original passive. In this paper we focus on the initial stage of this process, namely the extension of the si-construction to intransitive verbs, and the emergence of the non-agreeing pattern with transitive verbs. Based on a large corpus of literary and non-literary documents, we argue that both these phenomena require a reanalysis of si as a marker of generic human agency as a necessary precondition, and that such a reanalysis starts with patients that are unlikely candidates for subjecthood. Keywords: reanalysis; impersonal passive; non-promotional passive; impersonalization of passive constructions
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Impersonal constructions
- Towards a typology of impersonal constructions 19
- Overlap and complementarity in reference impersonals 57
- Verbs of motion 91
- On the distribution of subject properties in formulaic presentationals of Germanic and Romance 127
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Part II. Impersonal constructions
- Impersonal constructions and accusative subjects in Late Latin 169
- From passive to impersonal 189
- Passive to anticausative through impersonalization 229
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Part III. Cross-linguistic variation in Impersonal constructions
- The Maa (Eastern Nilotic) Impersonal construction 257
- Impersonal constructions in Jóola-Banjal 285
- Impersonal configurations and theticity 307
- Revisiting impersonal constructions in Modern Hebrew 323
- The elephant in the room 357
- Meteorological verbs in Uralic languages – are there any impersonal structures to be found 395
- Impersonal constructions in Ket 439
- Impersonal verbs in Central Alaskan Yupik (Eskimoan) 459
- Impersonals in Innu 489
- A diachronic study of the impersonal passive in Ainu 517
- Referential impersonal constructions in Mandarin 547
- Impersonal constructions in some Oceanic languages 581
- Impersonal constructions in Umpithamu and the Lamalamic languages 607
- Author index 627
- Language index 633
- Language index 637
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Impersonal constructions
- Towards a typology of impersonal constructions 19
- Overlap and complementarity in reference impersonals 57
- Verbs of motion 91
- On the distribution of subject properties in formulaic presentationals of Germanic and Romance 127
-
Part II. Impersonal constructions
- Impersonal constructions and accusative subjects in Late Latin 169
- From passive to impersonal 189
- Passive to anticausative through impersonalization 229
-
Part III. Cross-linguistic variation in Impersonal constructions
- The Maa (Eastern Nilotic) Impersonal construction 257
- Impersonal constructions in Jóola-Banjal 285
- Impersonal configurations and theticity 307
- Revisiting impersonal constructions in Modern Hebrew 323
- The elephant in the room 357
- Meteorological verbs in Uralic languages – are there any impersonal structures to be found 395
- Impersonal constructions in Ket 439
- Impersonal verbs in Central Alaskan Yupik (Eskimoan) 459
- Impersonals in Innu 489
- A diachronic study of the impersonal passive in Ainu 517
- Referential impersonal constructions in Mandarin 547
- Impersonal constructions in some Oceanic languages 581
- Impersonal constructions in Umpithamu and the Lamalamic languages 607
- Author index 627
- Language index 633
- Language index 637
