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Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/100429

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Author "Delahunty, Gerald, advisor"

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    An analysis of the developing se passive construction with a por-phrase
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Rauch, Jacwylyn Laci, author; Delahunty, Gerald, advisor; Grim, Frédérique, advisor; Pedrós-Gascón, Antonio, committee member; Berry, Nancy, committee member
    This research proposes to characterize a particular type of se construction as a developing se passive construction with a por-phrase and attempts to address what linguistic niche it inhabits. The construction addressed has an argument as its subject that is the patient of the clause and a por-phrase that contains either an instrument or an agent that contributes to the event denoted by the verb phrase. In this paper, I give an overview of the different se constructions, followed by a discussion of voice. Next, I review literature on the passive and adopt a working characterization of the Spanish passive. I then look at development of the passive over time and the constraints typically associated it. For this research, I use a corpus to get a data set of fifty entries that I analyze qualitatively and compare using simple percentages. Those data entries are then analyzed using three separate analysis tools that were adapted from Hopper and Thompson's transitivity categorization and Dowty's Proto-Agent Properties. Those tools allow me to develop theories on the niche that the developing se passive with a por-phrase inhabits with respect to the periphrastic passive. This research suggests that the developing se passive construction with the por-phrase fills some gaps left by the periphrastic passive. For that reason, it does not seem unlikely that the developing se passive construction with a por-phrase will become more common over time. Whether or not it will become a part of every variety is yet to be seen, but at the very least it is becoming a part of some varieties.