Non-agentive middle-passive constructions in Asturian

Abstract

Middle-passive constructions are generic predicates describing the intrinsic properties of a notional object, realized as the grammatical subject in preverbal position. It is generally agreed that one of the properties characterizing these constructions cross-linguistically is the participation of an implicit agent in the event. Following Suárez-Palma (2019; 2020), I claim that this is due to the presence of a Voice projection in these structures, which is passivized by means of the reflexive pronoun «se», both in Spanish and Asturian. Moreover, these structures allow the insertion of an additional dative argument, interpreted as affected by the notional object’s resulting state. Following Cuervo (2003) and Pylkkänen (2008), I suggest that an applicative projection (ApplP) introduces such argument in the derivation by merging below VoiceP. Additionally, I provide data showing that middle-passives are subject to morphosyntactic variation in these two languages. Thus, I explain that Spanish shows a homophonous configuration, albeit without VoiceP –and therefore agentless– which expresses generic and spontaneous changes of state. The reflexive pronoun in these contexts is the phonetic form of a subevent of change (vGO in Cuervo’s terms). On the contrary, Asturian, which also displays the non-agentive middle-passive counterpart, does away with the reflexive in these sentences, for vGO lacks phonetic content in this language. Crucially, additional dative arguments in the inchoative variants may be interpreted as unintentional causers of the event. I argue this is because ApplP occupies the position that VoiceP would otherwise fill in the derivation. Lastly, I emphasize the lack of an exhaustive classification of middle-passives in both languages.
Key words: middle-passives, causative alternation, datives, implicit arguments, morphosyntactic variation.