Impersonal Verb
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In
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, an impersonal verb is one that has no determinate subject. For example, in the sentence "''It rains''", ''rain'' is an impersonal verb and the pronoun ''it'' corresponds to an exophoric referrent. In many languages the
verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
takes a third person singular inflection and often appears with an expletive subject. In the
active voice Active voice is a grammatical voice prevalent in many of the world's languages. It is the default voice for clauses that feature a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most Indo-European languages ...
, impersonal verbs can be used to express operation of nature, mental distress, and acts with no reference to the doer. Impersonal verbs are also called weather verbs because they frequently appear in the context of weather description. Also, indefinite pronouns may be called "impersonal", as they refer to an unknown person, like ''one'' or ''someone'', and there is overlap between the use of the two.


Valency

Impersonal verbs appear only in non-finite forms or with third-person inflection. In the third person, the subject is either implied or a dummy referring to people in general. The term "impersonal" simply means that the verb does not change according to grammatical person. In terms of valency, impersonal verbs are often avalent, as they often lack semantic
arguments An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persua ...
. In the sentence ''It rains'', the pronoun ''it'' is a dummy subject; it is merely a syntactic placeholder—it has no concrete referent. In many other languages, there would be no subject at all. In Spanish, for example, ''It is raining'' could be expressed as simply ''llueve''.


Use in meteorological expressions

Temperature expressions ("it is hot"), weather expressions ("it is snowing"), and daylight expressions ("it is dark") tend to lack independent participants with distinct semantic roles. While snow participates in snowing, very few other types of participants can participate, and the participant is indistinguishable from the event itself; this is similar to the phenomenon of cognate objects. In addition, the participating snow is non-specific, and lacks a clear semantic role. Therefore, assigning the participating snow the role of 'referent' in the default English expression "it is snowing" would seem inappropriate. Instead, linguistics classify the "is snowing" in "it is snowing" as an impersonal verb. Meteorological expressions are often constructed with impersonal verbs in English. However, meteorological expressions are obviously not restricted solely to impersonal verbs, even in English; furthermore, different languages use different strategies for their default meteorological expressions and common idioms. In Palestinian Arabic, "Id-dunya ti-shti" translates to "It (the world) is raining" and uses a non-impersonal verb. "Vreme je sunčano", which means "the weather is sunny", is a common Serbian construction that uses a (non-impersonal) adverb rather than a verb.


Forms


Invisible arguments

When an agent is unspecified, impersonal verbs are also known as zero person construction, or impersonal construction. An implicit argument (an argument that is put forth without stating it directly) is present on a semantic level for both Estonian and Finnish. The Finnic impersonal construction enables an event or state to be described without specifying the identity of the agent (actor). Despite this, the interpretation of the impersonal includes a referent of some sort (dummy). The zero person is not entirely the same as an impersonal. Finnish: Estonian: There is a lack of an overt nominative subject in these constructions.


By-phrase

Some languages require their counterpart to the English by-phrase be present (like Palauan and Indonesian,
Austronesian languages The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...
). Other languages disallow the presence of a by-phrase. For example, Polish does not allow the use of a by-phrase in its passive. The content in the parenthesis causes the Polish sentence to be ungrammatical as who did the knocking cannot be overtly stated. As such, it might seem like it would be more grammatical to use impersonal verbs in such cases.


Impersonal verbs by language

In some
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
s such as English, French, German, Dutch and Swedish, an impersonal verb always takes an impersonal pronoun (''it'' in English, ''il'' in French, ''es'' in German, ''het'' in Dutch, ''det'' in Swedish) as its syntactical subject: :''It snowed yesterday''. (English) :''Il a neigé hier''. (French) :''Es schneite gestern''. (German) :''Het sneeuwde gisteren''. (Dutch) :''Det snöade igår''. (Swedish) Occasionally an impersonal verb will allow an object to appear in apposition to the impersonal subject pronoun: :''It is raining diamonds.'' Or as an instrumental adjunct: :''It was pouring with rain.'' (
British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
) In some other languages (necessarily null subject languages and typically
pro-drop language A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite ...
s), such as Portuguese, Spanish, Occitan, Catalan, Italian, Romanian, in Hungarian and all the
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
, an impersonal verb takes no subject at all, but it is conjugated in the third-person singular, which is much as though it had a third-person, singular subject. :''Nevó ayer.'' (Spanish) :''Nevou ontem.'' (Portuguese) :''Ha nevicato ieri.'' (Italian) :''A nins ieri.'' (Romanian) :''Sniježilo je jučer.'' (Croatian) :''Havazott tegnap.'' (Hungarian) :''Вчера вееше снег. / Včera veeše sneg.'' (Macedonian) Other languages, those which require a subject, may permit an adjunct to assume that role. :''Unfortunately the next day poured with rain.''


Indo-European


English

The following sentences illustrate impersonal verbs: :(1) It rains. :(2) It is cold. :(3) It is growing dark. :(4) It seems that there is no end to this. :(5) It is unclear why he cut the rope. The expletive pronoun ''it'' in these sentences does not denote a clear entity, yet the meaning is clear. In other words, the pronoun ''it'' has no clear antecedent. English is so strict about requiring a subject that it supplies them for verbs that do not really require them. In sentences (4) and (5), ''it'' is in the subject position, while the real subject has been moved to the end of the sentence. A simple test can be done to see if the sentence contains an impersonal verb. One checks to see if a given subject pronoun takes an antecedent in the previous clause or sentence, e.g. :: Bukit Timah is 163.63 metres tall. It is the highest point in Singapore. :: Bukit Timah is 163.63 metres tall. It rains frequently there. The two examples may seem similar, but only the pronoun ''it'' in the first example links with the previous subject. The pronoun ''it'' in the second example, on the other hand, has no referent. The hill (Bukit Timah) does not rain, ''it'' rains. This demonstrates that ''rain'' is an impersonal verb.


Spanish

There is no equivalent of the dummy subject ''it'' in Spanish. In Spanish, there are a few true impersonal avalent verbs. Most of them are "atmospheric verbs": :''Llueve'' :It's raining :''Ha helado'' :It froze Most ''impersonal'' constructions in Spanish involve using a special verb in third-person defective verb with a direct object as its only argument or use of '' impersonal se'' (not to be confused with other uses of ''se''). There are two main impersonal verbs in Spanish: ''haber'' (to have, to be (there is/are, there were)) and ''hacer'' (to do). ''Haber'' is an irregular verb. When used as an impersonal verb in the present tense, it has a special conjugation for the third person singular (''hay''). Clauses with the verb ''haber'' do not have an explicit subject; its only argument is a direct object noun phrase that does not agree with the verb. ''Haber'' has its 'natural meaning' of ''tener'' 'to have'. :''Hay un libro (aquí).'' :There is a book (here). :''Hay muchos libros.'' :There are many books. :''Hubo muchos libros (que no se vendieron).'' :There were many books (that were not sold). Less frequently, and only in some expressions with a limited number of nouns in singular, the verb "hacer" in the 3rd singular is used as impersonal (''Hacer'' is a very common verb meaning 'to do'). :''Hace frío.'' :It's cold. :''Hizo frío ayer.'' : It was cold yesterday. :''Hace viento.'' :It's windy. Spanish will add the pronoun ''se'' in front of verbs to form general sentences. Impersonal voice using ''se'' will use a singular verb since ''se'' can be replaced by ''uno''. :''Se duerme mal cuando hace mucho calor.'' :One sleeps poorly when it's hot. The passive voice in Spanish has similar characteristics following that of the impersonal ''se''. It is normally formed by using ''se'' + the third person singular or plural conjugation of a verb, similar to the impersonal ''se''. This use of ''se'' is easily confused with the medial ''se''. :Active voice: :''Mis amigos comieron torta'' (European and American Spanish) :My friends ate cake (i.e. some of the cake) :''Mis amigos comieron la torta'' (American Spanish, less frequent in European Spanish) :My friends ate the cake :Medial meaning: :''Mis amigos se comieron la torta'' :My friends ate all the cake :Passive voice: :Esta torta ''se come tradicionalmente en Navidad.'' :This cake is normally eaten during Christmas :''Se vende esta casa.'' :This house is for sale


French

Verbs can be impersonal in French when they do not take a real personal subject as they do not represent any action, occurrence or state-of-being that can be attributed to a person, place or a thing. In French, as in English, these impersonal verbs take on the impersonal pronoun - ''il'' in French. :''Il faut que tu fasses tes devoirs.'' :It is necessary that you do your homework. The ''il'' is a dummy subject and does not refer to anything in particular in this phrase. The most common impersonal form is ''il y a'', meaning ''there is'', ''there are''. Note its other tenses ''(il y avait, il y a eu, il y aura, etc.)''. French makes a distinction between a dummy subject and an actual subject in clauses with infinitives by the use of a different preposition. The preposition ''de'' is used with dummy subjects and the preposition ''à'' is used with real subjects. Compare: :It's important to learn. (= Learning is important.) - dummy subject :''Il est important d'apprendre. :It's important to learn. (= This is important to learn.) - real subject :''Il est important à apprendre.''


German

Impersonal verbs are relatively common in German, often in constructions about a state or process. Common examples include ''es brennt'' ("there is a fire", literally "it burns"), ''es zieht'' ("there is a draft", literally "it draws") and ''es klopft'' ("there is a knock at the door", literally "it knocks"), as well as the whimsical ''es weihnachtet sehr'' ("it is very Christmassy", literally "it is Christmas-ing hard"). Many statements asserting existence also use an impersonal form. Often the equivalent sentences in English start with ''there''. :''Es gibt'' :There is :''Es kamen'' :There came


Celtic languages

The
Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yve ...
also possess impersonal verbal forms though their use is usually translated into English by forms such as 'one sees' (Welsh: ''gwelir''), 'one did' (Welsh: ''gwnaethpwyd''), 'one is' (Irish: ''táthar'') etc., in which the 'one' is taken to be an empty subject. For weather, personal verbs are used in Celtic languages, e.g. Welsh ''Mae hi'n bwrw eira'' 'it is snowing'. Verbs meaning
existence Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one does ...
may also be impersonal. :Mae llyfrau.'' / Mae llyfr.'' (Welsh) :Tá leabhair ann. ''/ Tá leabhar ann.'' (Irish) :There are (some) books. / There is a book. However, sometimes there are intransitive verbs with more or less the same meaning: :Mae llyfrau'n bodoli.'' / Mae llyfr yn bodoli.'' (Welsh) :(Some) books exist. / A book exists.


Latin

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
has several impersonal verbs, most often seen in the third person singular. The real subject of the sentence will not be in the
nominative case In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants ...
but is most often in the dative or
accusative case In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...
. These verbs include: * Decet – it becomes/suits; it is right/proper * Libet – it pleases * Licet – it is permitted/allowed * Oportet – it is proper/fitting * Placet – it is agreed/resolved


Tai-Kadai


Thai

Impersonal verbs in Thai do not allow for an overt grammatical subject. The impersonal verbs occur only with transitive verbs. There is no allowance for the presence of a non-referential subject ''man'' 'it' in the case frame. In general, it is not allowed in formal speech, such as news reports. However, the presence of non-referential subject ''man'' can occur in the colloquial form. Subdivision into non-inception and inception subclasses can occur depending on whether the verb may occur with the path adverb ''khin'' 'up'.


Constructed languages

In the auxiliary language
Interlingua Interlingua (, ) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It is a constructed language of the "naturalistic" variety, whose vocabulary, ...
, verbs are not conjugated by person. Impersonal verbs take the pronoun ''il'': :''Il ha nivate heri.'' In the auxiliary language
Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...
, where verbs also are not conjugated for person, impersonal verbs are simply stated with no subject given or implied, even though Esperanto is otherwise ''not'' a null subject language: :''Neĝis hieraŭ.'' In the logical language Lojban, impersonal verbs simply have no first argument filled and might not have any arguments filled at all: :''carvi ca lo prulamdei'' where ''carvi'' is a verb meaning ''x1 rains to x2 from x3'' (''x1'', ''x2'', and ''x3'' being core arguments).


Comparison to other linguistic classifications


Weather verb

Verbs which are used to describe the weather, are often noted to be impersonal verbs in some languages. Some linguists consider the impersonal subject of a weather verb to be a " dummy pronoun", while others have been critical of this interpretation on the basis of their role as objects in the arguments of verb clauses. In
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
, there are weather verbs which may take no subject or object.


Impersonal pronoun

An impersonal pronoun, or dummy pronoun, lacks a reference; in English, the usual example is "it" when used with an impersonal verb. Some sources classify certain uses of " one" (ex. "what should one say?") or " you" (ex. "you only live once") as "human impersonal pronouns". An impersonal pronoun, when used, serves as an empty placeholder, or "dummy subject", for the sentence. Examples: : You would think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. : The young comedian was awful; one felt embarrassed for him. : If one fails, then one must try harder next time. When the pronoun ''one'' is used in the numerical sense (rather than as a dummy pronoun), a different pronoun can be used subsequently to referring to the same entity. : We watched as one f the ospreysdried its feathers in the sun. : One
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
pulled her car over to the side. Generally, it is not ideal to mix the impersonal pronoun one with another pronoun in the same sentence. : If ''one'' fails, then he/you must simply try harder.


Null objects

While the concept of impersonal verbs is closely related to phenomenon of null subjects, null objects have to do with the lack of the obligatory projection of an object position. In French :''C'est pas lui qui l'a écrit, son livre, le pape, c'est quelqu'un qui lui écrit'' __. :The Pope didn't write his book himself, someone writes __ for him. In English :Why then do the psychic gifts often seem to tease __, confuse __ and obstruct __? Null objects can be understood as implicit anaphoric direct objects, that is, those whose referents can be understood from the prior or ongoing discourse context as well as sufficiently salient in that context not only to be encoded pronominally, but even to be entirely omitted. However, it is not imperative that the referent of the direct object has been referred to explicitly previously in the discourse; it could instead be accessible extra-linguistically due to its salience to the interlocutors.


Defective verb

An impersonal verb is different from a defective verb in that, with an impersonal verb, only one possible syntactical subject is meaningful (either expressed or not), whereas with a defective verb, certain choices of subject might not be grammatically possible, because the verb does not have a complete conjugation.


In universal grammar theory

Impersonal verbs can be considered null subject data. They involve a general concern in
generative grammar Generative grammar is a research tradition in linguistics that aims to explain the cognitive basis of language by formulating and testing explicit models of humans' subconscious grammatical knowledge. Generative linguists, or generativists (), ...
: determining the nature and distribution of phonetically null but syntactically present entities ( empty categories). Since, by definition, these entities are absent from the speech signal, it is of interest that language learners still can come to have information about them. As this phenomenon could not have resulted from sufficient prior experience, it suggests the role of universal grammar.


See also

* Gender-specific and gender-neutral third-person pronouns * Generic you * Impersonal passive voice * Impersonal pronoun "one" * Null-subject language *
Transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...
*
Transitivity (grammar) Transitivity is a linguistics property that relates to whether a verb, participle, or gerund denotes a Object (grammar), transitive object. It is closely related to valency (linguistics), valency, which considers other argument (linguistics), ...


References

{{lexical categories, state=collapsed Transitivity and valency