Impersonal construction - Revision history

NBlöcher: /* Other languages */

2014-07-03T20:53:04Z

Other languages

Haspelmath at 13:43, 8 January 2008

2008-01-08T13:43:18Z

Haspelmath at 17:07, 29 October 2007

2007-10-29T17:07:26Z

Corinna Handschuh: New page: An '''impersonal construction''' is a clausal construction in which no subject is realized. ===Examples=== The following examples are impersonal constructions from German: {| |...

2007-10-29T15:33:27Z

New page: An '''impersonal construction''' is a clausal construction in which no subject is realized. ===Examples=== The following examples are impersonal constructions from German: {| |...

New page

An '''impersonal construction''' is a clausal construction in which no [[subject]] is realized.

===Examples===

The following examples are impersonal constructions from [[German]]:

{|
|Es ||wird ||getanzt.
|-
|EXPLETIVE ||AUX ||dance.PARTICIPLE
|}

''Dancing is going on.''

{|
|Man ||trägt ||diesen ||Sommer ||weiß.
|-
|one ||wear.3SG ||this ||summer ||white
|}

''One wears white this summer.''

[[Japanese]] does not require an overt/dummy subject, as is demonstrated in this example:

{|
|Nichiyobi ||heiten
|-
|sunday ||close.shop||
|}
''We are closed on Sundays.'' (cited after Yamamoto 2006: 4)

===Comments===

In the recent linguistic literature, a clear distinction has been made between [[passive]]s and impersonal constructions (cf. Blevins 2003, Yamamoto 2006).

:::*''"Whereas passivization detransitivizes a verb by deleting its logical subject, impersonalization preserves transitivity, and merely inhibits the syntactic realization of a surface subject."'' (Blevins 2003).

The non-realized subjects of impersonals are often interpreted as indefinite human agents, thus those constructions are often only possible with verbs which select a human agent. In languages which require an overt subject (i.e. languages not allowing [[pro-drop]]) a [[dummy subject]] is used.

===Synonym===
*''subjectless construction''

===References===

*Blevins, James P. 2003. Passives and Impersonals. ''Journal of Linguistics'' 39: 473-520.

*Yamamoto, Mutsumi. 2006. ''Agency and Impersonality. Their Linguistic and Cultural Manifestation.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.

[[Category:Syntax]]

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 ===Other languages===
-French [[construction impersonnelle]] German [[unpersönliche Konstruktion]]
+French [[construction impersonnelle]] <br>
 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Syntax]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-An '''impersonal construction''' is a clausal construction in which no [[subject]] is realized.
+An '''impersonal construction''' is a clausal construction in which no [[subject]] is realized, or at least no referential subject.
 ===Examples===
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 |}
-''Dancing is going on.''
+''Dancing is going on.'' ([[impersonal passive]])
 {|
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 |}
-''One wears white this summer.''
+''One wears white this summer.'' (construction with [[impersonal pronoun]] in subject position)
 [[Japanese]] does not require an overt/dummy subject, as is demonstrated in this example:
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 :::*''"Whereas passivization detransitivizes a verb by deleting its logical subject, impersonalization preserves transitivity, and merely inhibits the syntactic realization of a surface subject."'' (Blevins 2003).
-The non-realized subjects of impersonals are often interpreted as indefinite human agents, thus those constructions are often only possible with verbs which select a human agent. In languages which require an overt subject (i.e. languages not allowing [[pro-drop]]) a [[dummy subject]] is used.
+The non-realized subjects of impersonals are often interpreted as indefinite human agents, thus those constructions are often only possible with verbs which select a human agent. In languages which require an overt subject (i.e. languages not allowing [[pro-drop]]) an [[expletive subject]] is used.
 ===Synonym===
-*''subjectless construction''
+*[[subjectless construction]]
 ===References===
 *Blevins, James P. 2003. Passives and Impersonals. ''Journal of Linguistics'' 39: 473-520.
 *Yamamoto, Mutsumi. 2006. ''Agency and Impersonality. Their Linguistic and Cultural Manifestation.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.
 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Syntax]]