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Sound, Syntax and Contact in the Languages of Asturias
Edited by Guillermo Lorenzo
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 36] 2022
► pp. 131–150

Chapter 7
Middle formation and inalienability in Asturian

| University of Florida
Asturian middle-passive contexts containing activity verbs, such as lleer (to read), as well as a relational or body-part noun as their grammatical subject allow for the insertion of a non-selected dative argument interpreted as the inalienable possessor of such noun. Two configurations can yield these structures: one where the dative phrase raises to preverbal subject position, and another where the dative DP is left-dislocated and the theme in subject position. Interestingly, an analysis relying on the notion of low applicative heads relating the possessor and the possessee cannot successfully account for these configurations. An approach whereby the inalienable possession construal arises inside the DP-theme and subsequently spreads to the applicative head that introduces the dative possessor successfully overcomes this shortcoming.
Keywords: Asturian middle-passives, possessor datives, inalienable possession, applicatives
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Structural properties of middle-passives
  • 3.Two positions for preverbal datives in middle-passive contexts
  • 4.The analysis
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 1 March 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.36.07sua
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Suárez-Palma, Imanol
2024. Inalienable possession (and lack thereof) in Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 17:1 ► pp. 109 ff. DOI logo

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