All passive participles are adjectival

This paper argues that the passive participles in eventive passives (what is commonly referred to as 'verbal passives') are adjectival in Spanish. Thus, there is no categorial difference between eventive and stative passives (the latter commonly known as `adjectival passives'. I show that the differences between eventive and stative passive participles, and the argument structure configurations that each type allows, can be accounted for without the need to posit a different morphological category for each type. Rather, the grammatical context in which the participle is inserted will allow for a simpler (stative) or more complex (eventive) structure for the base verb. I thus also argue against a stativization operation in stative passives: what we have is a base verb that only spells out the result state of the event, not a verb that spells out a telic structure and then is stativized by a purported higher operator.

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Publication Details

Journal
Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics
Published
2024-11-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7557/1.13.2.7820
Primary Topic
Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
Type
article
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article

All passive participles are adjectival

Alfredo García-Pardo
Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics
Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
article

All passive participles are adjectival

Alfredo García-Pardo
article en

Abstract

This paper argues that the passive participles in eventive passives (what is commonly referred to as 'verbal passives') are adjectival in Spanish. Thus, there is no categorial difference between eventive and stative passives (the latter commonly known as `adjectival passives'. I show that the differences between eventive and stative passive participles, and the argument structure configurations that each type allows, can be accounted for without the need to posit a different morphological category for each type. Rather, the grammatical context in which the participle is inserted will allow for a simpler (stative) or more complex (eventive) structure for the base verb. I thus also argue against a stativization operation in stative passives: what we have is a base verb that only spells out the result state of the event, not a verb that spells out a telic structure and then is stativized by a purported higher operator.

Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic LinguisticsVol. 13(2)
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 74%
Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
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All passive participles are adjectival — Alfredo García-Pardo · Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics (2024) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS