On Expletive mismo

Abstract

This paper deals with the so-called ‘expletive’ mismo ‘same’, a non-comparative emphatic use of the prenominal adjective in appositions, which is currently attested in many varieties of American Spanish (e.g., Finalmente, Laura se sentó y aceptó el cigarrillo, mismo que nunca encendió ‘lit. Laura finally sat down and accepted the cigarette, same that she never lighted up’). On the basis of corpus data, the geographical distribution of this form is precisely specified, and a novel analysis of its interpretive and combinatorial properties is provided. It is argued, in particular, that expletive mismo functions as an anaphoric reinforcer that is preceded by a null definite determiner and combines with an empty noun that takes a restrictive relative clause as its complement.