Basque-Catalan connections: subject-suppressing impersonals

Abstract

In this paper we analyze subject-suppressing impersonals (Blevins 2003), that is, constructions that have an implicit and indefinite subject. This configuration has been called impersonal in Basque (Rodet 1992; Ortiz de Urbina 2003; Fernández & Berro 2021) and pronominal clauses with unspecific subject (cat. oracions pronominals de subjecte inespecífic) in Catalan (Bartra 2002). In both languages they have been considered intransitive, given that, instead of two, they consist of a single overt argument (or no argument at all in the case of intransitive verbs). Moreover, in Basque these constructions involve the auxiliary izan ‘be’ —instead of *edun ‘have’— and in Catalan the pronominal clitic es is added. In this paper we will show that the implicit subject of these constructions is syntactically active, and thus we argue that they should be considered typologically similar to those analyzed by Blevins (2003), i.e. impersonal constructions that involve a suppressed subject.