Impersonal constructions and accusative subjects in Late Latin

This paper explores the role played by impersonal constructions in the rise of active coding systems, with evidence from Late Latin. It is argued that the spread of accusative arguments from impersonal to personal structures (initially unaccusative, subsequently unergative and transitive) might stem from the ambiguity of voice forms resulting from the restructuring of the grammatical dimension of voice in the transition to Romance. This might have led to the personal reinterpretation of an impersonal pattern, with the original O argument reinterpreted as S_O. Keywords: active systems; transimpersonals; accusative subjects

Published online: 20 July 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.124.06cen