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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In Capeverdean, a Portuguese-based Creole language, many reflexive contexts do not show any overt reflexive expression. This is the case of transitive verbs like bisti ‘dress’ in simple clauses: Ana bisti ‘Ana has dressed herself’. This is a perplexing fact, given that there is an anaphor of the SELF-type available in the language: (si) kabesa — literally ‘his/her head’ —, meaning ‘himself/ herself’, which participates in reflexive clauses with other verbs. The current paper explores this puzzle, ending with a proposal supported empirically and also by recent studies for other languages. This novel analysis goes as follows: all Capeverdean finite sentences, except unaccusatives, have a Voice head, responsible for assigning external theta-roles. This also includes middles, passives and this type of reflexives. It is this Voice head that, in spite of being silent, attracts the internal argument to a preverbal position and provides the interpretation for an implicit external argument, which is syntactically active.
Description
Keywords
Capeverdean Reflexives Passive constructions Voice projection Implicit arguments
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Pratas, Fernanda. 2014. Capeverdean reflexives: the importance of a silent Voice. Estudos de Linguística Galega 6: 233-250. http://dx.doi.org/10.15304/elg.6.1776
Publisher
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela