An Implicit Projected Argument in Spanish Impersonal- and Passive-Se Constructions

This article argues for the presence of an implicit projected argument in Spec,Voice in Spanish impersonal- and passive-se constructions. The main empirical support comes from an available inalienable-possession interpretation of the sole overt DP when it is a body part in both constructions. This interpretation is only possible in the presence of a syntactically present c-commanding possessor. I argue that the implicit projected external argument serves as the inalienable possessor of the body part. Neither the periphrastic passive nor the anticausative-se construction in Spanish allows an inalienable-possession interpretation of the sole overt DP when it is a body part. In these instances, I claim, no implicit argument projects in Spec,Voice. I discuss how the presence of a projected argument in Spec,Voice is responsible for by-phrase restrictions in impersonal- and passive-se constructions and person restrictions in passive-se constructions; the lack of a projected implicit argument in Spec,Voice of both the periphrastic passive and the anticausative-se construction is responsible for the lack of the person restrictions in both, and the lack of by-phrase restrictions in the periphrastic passive.