The Spanish impersonal se -construction
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Johan Pedersen
Abstract
According to the new edition of the Spanish Academy Grammar (Bosque 2009: 1220ff,2665), it remains unexplained why the clitic object in the Spanish impersonal transitive se-construction tends to be in dative (le): se le ve ‘you can see him’. The aim of this paper is to analyze this usage quantitatively, with focus on its constructional motivation. To achieve solid empirical evidence, I extracted large amounts of data from Corpus del Español (20.4 mill. words) and analyzed the data statistically. I found that the constructional motivation for the dative is substantial and that it is due to characteristics of the specific impersonal se-construction.
Abstract
According to the new edition of the Spanish Academy Grammar (Bosque 2009: 1220ff,2665), it remains unexplained why the clitic object in the Spanish impersonal transitive se-construction tends to be in dative (le): se le ve ‘you can see him’. The aim of this paper is to analyze this usage quantitatively, with focus on its constructional motivation. To achieve solid empirical evidence, I extracted large amounts of data from Corpus del Español (20.4 mill. words) and analyzed the data statistically. I found that the constructional motivation for the dative is substantial and that it is due to characteristics of the specific impersonal se-construction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction to deixis and pronouns in Romance languages 1
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Part I. Deixis and grammatical paradigms
- Deixis and person in the development of Greek personal pronominal paradigms 19
- First person strong pronouns in spoken French 33
- Preservation, modification, and innovation. Paradigmatic reorganisation of the system of personal pronouns – from Latin into Modern Italian 49
- On the grammar of kinship 69
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Part II. Deixis and impersonality
- Impersonality in Spanish personal pronouns 87
- The Spanish impersonal se -construction 109
- Diaphasic variation and change in French pronouns 125
- Clitic subjects in French text messages 147
- The use of personal deixis as an ideological instrument in Spanish political discourse 171
- Cognitive collages and other mental representations of address forms and strategies 189
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Part IV. Deixis and the verbal system
- The relevance of deixis in the description of the predicative relative clause 207
- The marking of person deixis in the French future system – a diachronic approach 227
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Part V. Deixis in a metalinguistic perspective
- Place deixis in the 16th century grammars of Italy 253
- Deixis and reference in the treatment of personal pronouns and demonstratives in Francesco Soave 273
- Name index 285
- Subject index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction to deixis and pronouns in Romance languages 1
-
Part I. Deixis and grammatical paradigms
- Deixis and person in the development of Greek personal pronominal paradigms 19
- First person strong pronouns in spoken French 33
- Preservation, modification, and innovation. Paradigmatic reorganisation of the system of personal pronouns – from Latin into Modern Italian 49
- On the grammar of kinship 69
-
Part II. Deixis and impersonality
- Impersonality in Spanish personal pronouns 87
- The Spanish impersonal se -construction 109
- Diaphasic variation and change in French pronouns 125
- Clitic subjects in French text messages 147
- The use of personal deixis as an ideological instrument in Spanish political discourse 171
- Cognitive collages and other mental representations of address forms and strategies 189
-
Part IV. Deixis and the verbal system
- The relevance of deixis in the description of the predicative relative clause 207
- The marking of person deixis in the French future system – a diachronic approach 227
-
Part V. Deixis in a metalinguistic perspective
- Place deixis in the 16th century grammars of Italy 253
- Deixis and reference in the treatment of personal pronouns and demonstratives in Francesco Soave 273
- Name index 285
- Subject index 287
