An Implicit Projected Argument in Spanish Impersonal‐ and Passive‐SeConstructions

Abstract

This article argues for the presence of an implicit projected argument in Spec,Voice in Spanish impersonal‐ and passive‐se constructions. The main empirical support comes from an available inalienable‐possession interpretation of the sole overt DP when it is a body part in both constructions. This interpretation is only possible in the presence of a syntactically present c‐commanding possessor. I argue that the implicit projected external argument serves as the inalienable possessor of the body part. Neither the periphrastic passive nor the anticausative‐se construction in Spanish allows an inalienable‐possession interpretation of the sole overt DP when it is a body part. In these instances, I claim, no implicit argument projects in Spec,Voice. I discuss how the presence of a projected argument in Spec,Voice is responsible for by‐phrase restrictions in impersonal‐ and passive‐se constructions and person restrictions in passive‐se constructions; the lack of a projected implicit argument in Spec,Voice of both the periphrastic passive and the anticausative‐se construction is responsible for the lack of the person restrictions in both, and the lack of by‐phrase restrictions in the periphrastic passive.

Passivesein Romanian and Spanish: A subject cycle

“…Section 2 discusses the properties of Modern Spanish and Romanian Pass constructions. We see that they pattern together with respect to the main diagnostic for a projected null indefinite pro in Spec,Voice adopted from MacDonald (published online 23 October 2017): the ability to license an inalienable possession interpretation of a body part DP. We also expand on this diagnostic by discussing body parts in adjunct clauses.…”

“…Given data like those in (7), MacDonald (published online 23 October 2017) concludes that there is a syntactically projected implicit external argument in Pass (in contrast to AntiC ; see Sections 3.1 and 5 below). Consider how this conclusion is reached.…”

“…More recently, the intuition that there is an implicit external argument in Pass in Spanish has found syntactic support from the interpretation of body parts. MacDonald (published online 23 October 2017) observes that when the sole overt DP in Pass is a body part, the body part can receive an inalienable possession interpretation, an illustration of which is in (7).…”

“…A widely held intuition about Pass is that there is an implied external argument (in contrast to anticausative se (AntiC ) constructions; see Haspelmath 1990, Mendikoetxea 2008, Schäfer 2008, Koontz-Garboden 2009, among others). In fact, MacDonald (published online 23 October 2017) offers empirical support for the projection of an implicit external argument in Spec,Voice in Pass (and the lack thereof in AntiC ) from an available inalienable possession interpretation of the sole overt DP when it is a body part, an interpretation only available when a c-commanding possessor is present in the syntax [3]…”

Auxiliary Verbs in Serbo-Croatian, French, Persian, Spanish and English: A Cognitive-Semantic Approach to the Auxiliary Verb Usage and Passive Voice

“…He furthermore brings concrete examples of changes in Persian and Kurdish which confirm his hypothesis. Macdonald (2017) argues for the presence of an implicit projected argument in Spec,Voice in Spanish impersonal and passive "se" constructions; he presents further empirical support which comes from the clear possession interpretation of the sole overt DP. Hansen (2000) investigates how the German modal verb influenced the Slavic language usage of the modal verb by proposing a reconstruction from Slavic languages to German.…”