On (Un)Grammatical Clitic Sequences in Impersonal se Constructions

In this chapter, we discuss sequences of (un)grammatical direct object clitics with impersonal se (Imp_se). We focus mainly on the patterns in Honduran Spanish, although we discuss several points of variation among Romance languages. It is shown that when Imp_se forms a clitic cluster with lo(s)/la(s), ungrammaticality results, and as a repair le(s) surfaces instead. It is argued that lo(s)/la(s) is specified for [D(efiniteness)] and Imp_se spells out a valued [D] feature on T. A Distributed Morphology account of the change from lo(s)/la(s) to le(s) is provided. It is argued that, as a clitic cluster on T, the two [D] features are filtered out by impoverishment; [D] on lo(s)/la(s) is deleted prior to Vocabulary Insertion, resulting in the only third person clitic underspecified for [D] that can be inserted: le(s). We illustrate how this change to le(s) has no semantic or structural consequences, as expected if the operations take place after syntax.