Search results for " passive constructions"

Passive in motion: the Early Italian auxiliary andare (‘to go’)

2014

The Italian construction andare ‘to go’ + (transitive) past participle expresses a passive meaning when occurring in a perfective past tense (1), whereas it conveys an additional deontic sense of (impersonal) obligation when used in an imperfective tense (2) (Bertinetto 1991; Giacalone Ramat 2000). A further constraint on the passive reading is represented by the semantics of the participle, necessarily expressing a negative value of ‘loss/destruction’; this value is moreover conceived as ‘non-intentional’, as the impossibility to express the agent (*da qualcuno) shows: (1) I documenti andarono distrutti. (*da qualcuno) the documents go. prf.3pl destroy.pst.ptcp.pl (by someone) ‘The documen…