"That is not done". Discourse viewpoint and modal interpretation with Spanish passive and impersonal reflexives
Spanish third-person reflexive clitic se allows for passive and impersonal uses that can sometimes be pragmatically interpreted as directive in spite of their declarative form, e.g. Eso no se hace ‘That is not done’. This paper explores the grammatical, semantic and referential factors that promote...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Salamanca (USAL) |
| Repositorio: | GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/157646 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10366/157646 |
| Access Level: | acceso embargado |
| Palabra clave: | Spanish Reflexivity Passives Impersonals Modality Viewpoint 57 Lingüística |
| Sumario: | Spanish third-person reflexive clitic se allows for passive and impersonal uses that can sometimes be pragmatically interpreted as directive in spite of their declarative form, e.g. Eso no se hace ‘That is not done’. This paper explores the grammatical, semantic and referential factors that promote such an interpretation, using a corpus of oral and written Peninsular media discourse and adopting a qualitative approach. Deontic readings are shown to be connected with more general uses of reflexive constructions as evidential and/or modal markers. Agent defocusing and imperfective verbal aspect construct an objective viewpoint of discourse whereby the event is detached from particular communicative circumstances. At the same time, contextual elements acting as space builders counter such objectivity by guiding the interpretation of the utterance as primarily concerning the direct participants. The analysis suggests that the inherent meanings of grammatical constructions are at the basis of their pragmatic potential in specific contexts. |
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