A reverse way: agreement marker motivates the subject in Persian frame impersonal constructions

Abstract This paper is an attempt to investigate an idiosyncratic construction in Persian called ‘Frame Impersonal Constructions’, in detail. One of the remarkable features of this construction is the permanent occurrence of verb as 3 sg ; this feature naturally evokes the nature of the subject in this construction. Adopting a cognitive grammar formulation, I show that ‘Frame Impersonal Constructions’ are in fact instances of setting-subject construction in which some unspecified ambient force or energy is at work to stimulate a sensory experience on some animate entity. This stimulus is best codified as 3 sg , since the setting is reasonably construable as a 3 sg entity. The interesting point is that in ‘Frame Impersonal Constructions’ it is the 3 sg agreement on the verb which can be motivated as making reference to the semantic relevance of the setting-subject; that is, agreement marker alone profiles the setting-subject, whereas in personal constructions a separate overt nominal encodes the clausal subject. This finding asserts that the occurrence of agreement is semantically motivated, in contrast to accounts which consider it a purely syntactic constituent which occurs by default. The semantic pole of this construction also reveals that the enclitic which obligatorily occurs in ‘Frame Impersonal Constructions’ is the host of some sensory impression exerted by the schematic setting; hence, it is considered as experiencer.