Abstract
Abstract The Basque impersonal is a detransitivized construction that resembles middles, passives and impersonals. In this construction, the thematic object is the grammatical subject, which bears absolutive case and triggers absolutive agreement, and the auxiliary selected is izan ‘be’. At the same time, there is an implicit agent that is syntactically active even though it is not realized as an ergative argument with corresponding ergative agreement. In this article, we compare the Basque impersonal with the middle, the passive of languages like English, and subject-suppressing impersonals (as in Polish), and we show that it is more similar to the passive and subject-suppressing impersonals, given that (i) in the Basque impersonal, the event is instantiated, (ii) it can be used with more predicate classes, and (iii) it allows dative-marked second objects, among other properties. Similarly, like in English-type passives and subject-suppressing impersonals, the implicit agent of the Basque impersonal is syntactically active, as it can license agent-oriented modifiers and control adjunct purpose clauses. Nevertheless, there are other properties in which these constructions differ; for instance, the implicit agent must be interpreted as human, unlike in passives, and the grammatical subject cannot be other than 3rd person, something attested neither in passives nor in subject-suppressing impersonals. In light of this distribution, we consider the Basque impersonal to be located somewhere in between middles, passives and subject-suppressing impersonals as far as its syntactic properties are concerned.
Highlights
The aim of this article is to provide an analysis of Basque impersonals (Albizu 1997, 2001; Ortiz de Urbina 1989, 1991, 2003, 2011–2019).1 In using the term “impersonal” we refer to a detransitivized or valence decreased construction such as (1b), which alternates with a transitive counterpart as illustrated in (1a).(1) a
We have presented and analyzed Basque impersonals, comparing them in particular with English-type middles, English-type passives, and Polish subject-suppressing impersonals
Though Basque impersonals seem to be closer to the passive and the subject-suppressing impersonal, they cannot be fully categorized as either
Summary
The aim of this article is to provide an analysis of Basque impersonals (Albizu 1997, 2001; Ortiz de Urbina 1989, 1991, 2003, 2011–2019). In using the term “impersonal” we refer to a detransitivized or valence decreased construction such as (1b), which alternates with a transitive counterpart as illustrated in (1a).(1) a. Writer-DET.PL.ERG book-DET-PL[ABS] write-IPFV have.3PLABS.3PLERG ‘Writers write books .’. The transitive sentence in (1a) involves two arguments, agent and theme, marked by ergative and absolutive case respectively, whereas the impersonal in (1b) involves a sole argument marked by absolutive case. This argument is not the agent but the theme, as in (1a), the transitive counterpart of (1b). Basque exhibiting a systematic auxiliary alternation, the auxiliary selected in (1a) is *edun ‘have’,2 i.e., the auxiliary attested in transitive clauses, whereas the auxiliary selected in (1b) is izan ‘be’, the auxiliary attested in intransitive clauses. The inflected auxiliary form in (1a) agrees with both the ergative and the absolutive arguments, whereas the auxiliary form in (1b) shows only absolutive agreement
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