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Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics
Active transitive impersonals in Slavic and beyond: a parallel corpus analysis
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Paper Summary
Conflicts of Interest
Identified Weaknesses
Rating Explanation
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Paper Summary
Paperzilla title
Lost in Translation: Impersonal Verbs on a Slavic Safari
Active transitive impersonals (ATIs), where the verb lacks an overt nominative subject, are more common without an overt Cause phrase than with one. While ATIs are often considered an East Slavic phenomenon, they also appear in other Slavic and even some non-Slavic languages, although personal transitive constructions are often used as equivalents, especially outside of East Slavic.
Possible Conflicts of Interest
None identified
Identified Weaknesses
Reliance on Translated Texts
The study relies heavily on translated texts, which can introduce biases and inaccuracies, potentially affecting the reliability of findings on subtle grammatical phenomena like impersonal constructions.
Small Dataset
The limited dataset, particularly for less common constructions like ATI with cause phrases in West and South Slavic languages, makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about their distribution and acceptability.
Broad Categorization of Equivalents
The categorization of equivalent constructions in other languages is somewhat broad, potentially grouping together structurally different phenomena under the same label, which could obscure nuances in the cross-linguistic comparison.
Limited Scope (Focus on Structure)
The study focuses primarily on structural aspects, neglecting the potential influence of lexical and semantic factors on the use of impersonal constructions, which could limit the understanding of their full range of functions.
Rating Explanation
This paper presents a reasonable corpus analysis of active transitive impersonals in Slavic languages and beyond, offering valuable cross-linguistic comparisons. However, the reliance on translations, limited dataset for some constructions, and broad categorization of equivalents constrain the generalizability of the findings, warranting a rating of 3. Further research with larger, original language datasets and more refined analysis is needed to confirm and expand upon these results.
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Topic Hierarchy
File Information
Original Title:
Active transitive impersonals in Slavic and beyond: a parallel corpus analysis
File Name:
s11185-020-09221-2.pdf
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File Size:
1.25 MB
Uploaded:
July 14, 2025 at 06:57 AM
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