Impersonal Predicative Constructions in Bulgarian: Structural Minimum and Semantic Determination Cover Image

Безлични предикативни конструкции в българския език: структурен минимум и семантична обусловеност
Impersonal Predicative Constructions in Bulgarian: Structural Minimum and Semantic Determination

Author(s): Galina Petrova
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Институт за български език „Проф. Любомир Андрейчин“, Българска академия на науките
Keywords: impersonal predicative constructions; structural minimum; semantics; Bulgarian lan-guage

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the semantic and syntactic features of Bulgarian impersonal constructions consisting of a copula and a predicative. Depending on the meaning ex-pressed (a state or evaluation), three types of basic structural patterns are distinguished: zero-, one- and two-place constructions. The argument positions of the one- and two-place constructions are occuped by an experiencer dative pronoun (the logical subject) and/or a clausal complement. I present the possible combinations of these elements as well as the semantic differences among them. I also demonstrate that the semantics of the constructions depends on the meaning of the predicative lexemes and on the presence or absence of an experiencer argument or a clausal complement.

  • Issue Year: 69/2022
  • Issue No: Special
  • Page Range: 281-291
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Bulgarian