Capeverdean reflexives: the importance of a silent Voice

• Autores: Fernanda Pratas
• Localización: Estudos de lingüística galega, ISSN 1889-2566, Nº. 6, 2014, págs. 233-250
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In Capeverdean, a Portuguese-based Creole language, many reflexive contexts do not show any overt reflexi­ve expression. This is the case of transitive verbs like bisti �dress� in simple clauses: Ana bisti �Ana has dressed herself�. This is a perplexing fact, given that there is an anaphor of the SELF-type available in the language: (si) kabesa � literally �his/her head� �, meaning �himself/ herself�, which participates in reflexive clauses with other verbs. The current paper explores this puzzle, en­ding with a proposal supported empirically and also by recent studies for other languages. This novel analysis goes as follows: all Capeverdean finite sentences, ex­cept unaccusatives, have a Voice head, responsible for assigning external theta-roles. This also includes mid-dles, passives and this type of reflexives. It is this Voice head that, in spite of being silent, attracts the internal argument to a preverbal position and provides the in­terpretation for an implicit external argument, which is syntactically active