A person approach to impersonal passive in Null Subject Languages and elsewhere
In this article, we propose a novel approach to impersonal passive in null subject languages (NSLs), and elsewhere, based mainly on Pers (on) feature. This Person feature is associated with a silent unpronounced pronoun, i.e. pro, in finite passive clauses. It is proposed that pro is the external a...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Arabic |
| Published: |
Scientific and Technological Research Center for the Development of the Arabic Language
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Al-Lisaniyyat |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.crstdla.dz/ojs/index.php/allj/article/view/127 |
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| Summary: | In this article, we propose a novel approach to impersonal
passive in null subject languages (NSLs), and elsewhere, based
mainly on Pers (on) feature. This Person feature is associated with
a silent unpronounced pronoun, i.e. pro, in finite passive clauses. It
is proposed that pro is the external argument of impersonal passive,
hence abstracting away from Case Absorption Theory (CAT). pro
is specified as a 3 generic/indefinite human agent, and is associated
with the passive morphology (PM). The PM is projected as a
PassP (= Passive Phrase) headed by Pass. PassP is assumed to be
a phase, whose head, i.e. Pass, is ɸ-complete. Pass is assumed to
have two probes, namely Agree Feature and Edge Feature (EF).
EF is motivated by the unvalued [uGenr] feature, as a subfeature
of Person, and by LF interpretation reasons. This [uGenr] is also
argued to be a dissociated feature from ɸ-composition. Pass agrees
with pro in impersonal passive. Like active, pro in our proposal
merges in Spec,vP. In Spec,vP, pro values its θ-role of agent by v at
Merge. An Agree is established between pro and Pass, the result of
which is valuing Pass’s unvalued features and the unvalued Nom
Case of pro. Pass’s EF triggers pro to remerge in its Spec, hence
valuing Pass’s [uGenr] feature.
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| ISSN: | 1112-4393 2588-2031 |