The Genesis of the Reflexive Impersonal in Portuguese

A Study in Syntactic Change as a Surface Phenomenon

Bibliographic Data

ID2851646
AuthorsAnthony J Naro (corresponding author)
Year1976
Volume52
Issue4
Pages779
Publication date1976-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/413295
OpenAlexW2318302949
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited4

Syntactic change is viewed as a process that is critically dependent on the surface properties of language and essentially independent of grammatical derivations. In this framework, the genesis of the reflexive impersonal construction in Portuguese is shown to have no formal connection—not even a merely descriptive one—with the transformations of Agentization and Object Fronting that were involved in the derivation of its ancestor, the reflexive passive. Evidence from other sources supporting the surface framework is briefly discussed, and an explanation is offered for its validity in terms of the real-world circumstances under which language change occurs

Brazilian Portuguese · Epistemology · Linguistics · Phenomenon · Portuguese · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Linguistics and Language Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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