Abstract: The clitic se in Spanish appears in a number of different constructions, including the reflexive, anticausative and antipassive. It even appears with certain unergative verbs. So far, a unified explanation for the polyfunctionality of se has remained elusive. In this paper, I propose that se functions as a verbalizer (see also Kallulli D, (Non-)canonical passives and reflexives. In Alexiadou A, Schäfer F. Non-canonical passives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 337–358, 2013) in two different domains. When it merges low, it functions to verbalize a nominal element and introduces an external argument. In this instance we see the clitic se in an unergative structure. In the second domain, the clitic merges higher and takes as its complement a Predicate Phrase (PredP) that contains in its specifier the derived position of the internal argument. This PredP semantically does not denote a predicate of events but a predicate of individuals. In this higher position, the clitic (re)verbalizes the structure, taking the predicate of individuals and creating a predicate of events. By creating a predicate of events, the verb can interact with tense and other verbal functional elements in the clause. The polyfunctionality of the clitic se results because of its verbalizing function.
Publication Year: 2021
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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