Part of
Impersonal Constructions: A cross-linguistic perspectiveEdited by Andrej L. Malchukov and Anna Siewierska
[Studies in Language Companion Series 124] 2011
► pp. 17–54
Edited by Andrej L. Malchukov and Anna Siewierska
[Studies in Language Companion Series 124] 2011
► pp. 17–54
Towards a typology of impersonal constructions
A semantic map approach
Andrej L. Malchukov | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig & Institute for Linguistic Studies, St. Petersburg & Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
The present article proposes a semantic map for the domain of impersonal constructions. Following Keenan, we assume that different varieties of impersonal constructions register loss of the functional subject properties (such as definiteness, topicality and agentivity). It is argued that different functional varieties of impersonal constructions (where the subject lacks some of the functional properties of a prototypical subject) are coded by different types of impersonal constructions, although certain constructions have a broader range of applications. On the basis of this partial overlap between different coding strategies for different functional varieties of impersonal constructions, we construct a semantic map for the impersonal domain, which can be used to represent and constrain variation of coding of impersonal constructions across languages.
Cited by (12)
Cited by 12 other publications
Notarius, Tania
2022. Impersonal Verbal Constructions in Biblical Hebrew: Active, Stative, and Passive. Journal for Semitics 30:2 
Pons, Marie-Caroline
2021. On the origin of 2nd person prefix #tV- in Trans-Himalayan languages. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 44:2 ► pp. 226 ff.
Wang, Yong
2021. Entity- vs. event-existentials: A new typology. Australian Journal of Linguistics 41:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2020. The existential construction and its type‑shifting instances in colloquial Modern Hebrew. In La Prédication existentielle dans les langues naturelles : valeurs et repérages, structures et modalités, ► pp. 83 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2020. Chapter 15. Impersonal and pseudo-impersonal constructions. In Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew [Studies in Language Companion Series, 210], ► pp. 539 ff.
Magnani, Marco
2019. Non-canonical case marking on subjects in Russian and Lithuanian. Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 1:2 ► pp. 175 ff.
Mazzitelli, Lidia Federica
2019. Referential and pragmatic-discourse properties of Lithuanian reference impersonals: 2sg-imp, 3-imp and ma/ta-imp. Kalbotyra 72 ► pp. 32 ff.
Rovai, Francesco
2019. Chapter 10. Impersonal passives and the suffix -r in the Indo-European languages. In Historical Linguistics 2015 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 348], ► pp. 188 ff.
Friedman, Victor A. & Brian D. Joseph
2018. Chapter 2. Non-nominative and depersonalized subjects in the Balkans. In Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects [Studies in Language Companion Series, 200], ► pp. 23 ff.
Garcia, Brigitte, Marie-Anne Sallandre & Marie-Thérèse L’Huillier
2018. Impersonal human reference in French Sign Language (LSF). Sign Language & Linguistics 21:2 ► pp. 307 ff.
Malchukov, Andrej L.
2018. Chapter 10. Forty years in the search of a/the subject. In Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects [Studies in Language Companion Series, 200], ► pp. 241 ff.
Lenartaitė-Gotaučienė, Kristina
2014. Alternations in argument realization and problematic cases of subjecthood in Lithuanian. In Grammatical Relations and their Non-Canonical Encoding in Baltic [Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 1], ► pp. 137 ff.
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