Linguistics 181		Structure of Romance			Fall Quarter 2016

Assignment 7:  Passive in Spanish				Due Thursday, Nov 10, 2016

You are familiar with the passive construction, which in English relates (1) and (2):

(1)   John ate the apples.
(2)   The apples were eaten by John.

The analysis you probably came up with in your previous syntax experience was probably
not very satisfactory.  In this investigation we will try to make use of the more
transparent properties of Spanish to illuminate the passive construction.

1.   Let's start with the so-called 'se'-passive, exemplified below:

(3)   Se venden casas.			(3a)   Casas se venden.
      SE sell-3pl houses			[is possible, but not preferred]
     "Houses are sold"

(4)   Se rompio' una copa.		(4a)   Una copa se rompio'.
     "A glass broke."				[ditto]

(5)   Se emplea esta construccio'n con toda clase de sujetos.
     "This construction is used with every kind of subject."

(6)   Se cantan estas canciones siempre primero.
     "These songs are always sung first."

(7)  *Una copa se rompio' por la chica.
(8)  *Se emplea esta construccio'n por todos los Hispanohablantes.

Paying close attention to subject-verb agreement, propose an analysis for sentences
like these.  Propose deep structures, and discuss whatever transformations are needed
to get the surface structures.  In particular, if we assume our formulation of
Probe-Goal agreement, what must be in the specifier position of the VP headed by
'cantar' in (6)?  This may require you to say something radical about the structure
of passives, or about Theta-role assignment, or both.


2.  Now we will consider the ser-passive:

The ser-passive is just about exactly like the passive in English.  Here are some
examples:

(9)   La chica rompio' una copa.
     "The girl broke a glass."

(10)  Una  copa fue rompida por la chica.
     "A glass was broken by the girl."

(11)  El pa'jaro ha cantado unas canciones.
     "The bird has sung several songs."

(12)  Unas canciones han sido cantadas por el pa'jaro.
     "Some songs have been sung by the bird."

Note that por-phrases are possible in the ser-passive, while they are not allowed
in the se-passive.  You can try to account for this if you want to.
In any case, you will need a story about how por-phrases arise, and how the
DP in the por-phrase gets its Theta-role.  You should not propose anything that
requires a downward movement.  (Which means, in effect, that if something moves
it ends up in a position commanding its original position.)  (If you need to fudge,
maybe you can assume that meaningless prepositions don't count for command.)

Whatever you do, present an analysis of the ser-passive, providing a proposed DS,
a statement of any needed transformations, and (very especially) a discussion of
how Probe-Goal agreement works in these constructions.

Also make it clear how the participle agreement works, and be sure to get the
timing right.

3.  What unites the se-passive and the ser-passive?  I.e. what common feature
do they have that might justify calling them both "passives"?

Does the result of all this alter your understanding of passive in general,
and (for example) in English?

NOTE: There is another construction in Spanish traditionally called the estar-passive.
That is probably not really a passive; in any case, we will discuss it in class, but
it will be no concern of ours for now.