Filologija, No. 82, 2024.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.21857/ypn4oc47l9
Notes on the propensative use of the impersonal construction in Croatian
Ranko Matasović
; Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti
Abstract
This paper describes the propensative use of reflexive verbs with dative experiencer arguments in Croatian. A Croatian sentence such as Pije mi se vino (lit. „it drinks – to me – wine“) expresses a desire and can best be rendered in English as »I feel like drinking wine«. It is shown that this Croatian construction is fully productive in the standard language, but limited to imperfective verbs. Moreover, it is argued that the construction has progressive sense, i. e. that it is limited to the expression of current, ongoing desire. It is further shown that syntactically parallel propensative constructions exist in some languages of the Balkan Area, including Macedonian and Albanian, but seem to be absent in Greek and Romanian. It is argued that the propensative use of expressive verbs probably developed as a syntactic feature of the Balkan Linguistic Area.
Keywords
propensative, Croatian syntax, reflexive verbs, impersonal constructions, Balkan linguistic area
Hrčak ID:
320221
URI
Publication date:
23.8.2024.
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