Clitic impersonal constructions in Romance: syntactic features and semantic interpretation¹

Abstract

Abstract This paper provides an overview of the syntax and semantics of Romance clitic impersonal constructions (CL‐ICs), as present in the grammars of Spanish and Italian, within the framework of the Minimalist Program. Syntactically, these structures are characterised by the presence of the clitic se/si, which is analysed as a 0‐person clitic, along with other person clitics in Romance, and heads a functional projection in the temporal domain immediately above T(ense). The syntactic properties of CL‐ICs can be accounted for with reference to the complex agreement operations involving the clitic se/si , the empty category in subject position (a null generic pronoun: G ‐pro), the object argument in transitive contexts, and the features of the heads T and v . The interpretation of CL‐ICs crucially relies on the presence of G ‐pro in the specifier position of v P: it introduces a variable that can be bound by an existential or a universal quantifier, which accounts for the variable quantificational force of CL‐ICs.