Suomen implisiittisten refleksiivien semanttinen tulkinta

• Vesa Koivisto

Avainsanat: ellipsi, johto-oppi (ks. myös sananmuodostus), semantiikka, verbijohdokset

Abstrakti

The semantic interpretation of Finnish implicit reflexives (englanti)

1995 (99)

Vesa Koivisto (Research Centre for the Languages of Finland, [e-mail])

The semantic interpretation of Finnish implicit reflexives

Transitive verbs can be called implicit reflexives when they are used in a syntactically intransitive way, and when they have a derivative semantic content that is reflexive or otherwise typical of reflexive verbs (e.g. heitt pitkkseen 'heittyty pitkkseen'; 'flop down', panna maata 'paneutua makaamaan'; 'lie down', oletko jo pessyt ja pukenut? 'oletko jo peseytynyt ja pukeutunut?'; 'have you already washed and dressed?'). The article looks at the factors which lead to an interpretation of such formally non-reflexive verbs as semantically reflexive. Material is taken from written and spoken standard Finnish and also from dialects. The discussion starts with the phenomenon of reflexive pronoun ellipsis, which has been seen as the origin of implicit reflexives in e.g. English, German and Dutch. The author examines the extent to which Finnish implicit reflexives can also be said to derive from ellipsis. The analysis follows the distinction between structural and pragmatic ellipsis.

In structural ellipsis the zero object () has a correlate in the immediate context. The reference may be anaphoric (e.g. Palaisin Klniin kerjuupussi selss? Ennen hirtn itseni! Jos hirtt , mene hirttmn mahdollisimman kauas Vercellosta. 'Would I return to Cologne with a begging bag on my back? I would sooner hang myself! If you hang , go and hang as far away as possible from Vercello.'); or it may be cataphoric (e.g. (headline:) Uskalla venytt ! (text:) Mit pitisi uskaltaa? Venytt itsen semmoiseen, johon ei ole kuvitellut pystyvns. 'Dare to stretch ! What should one dare? To stretch oneself into such [a shape] that one has not imagined one could.'). In the first example, the object of the verb is first the reflexive pronoun itse and then, with the same verb, a zero object; it is the form of the reflexive pronoun that determines the reference of the zero object, or at least helps to determine it. Even if a reflexive pronoun occurs with a non-identical verb, this may still facilitate the interpretation of the zero object as reflexive, as in Kehit itsesi kouluttamalla lue vaikka kieli 'Develop yourself by educating study languages, for instance'.

Finnish also has reflexive derivative morphemes that are synonymous with structures consisting of reflexive pronouns. The presence of such a morpheme can also facilitate an implicit reflexive interpretation of a zero object, as in Pohjoisessa ammutaan , muualla hirtt-ydy-tn (reflexive morpheme in boldface) 'In the north they shoot [i.e. shoot themselves], elsewhere they hang themselves'. Without the presence of the reflexive morpheme, the zero object of shoot could be interpreted differently. Cases of this kind, in which the reflexive derivative morpheme corresponds to the zero constituent, cannot be regarded as ellipsis.

Structural ellipsis across clauses was rare in conjunction with implicit reflexives. Cases of pragmatic ellipsis, however, were frequent. Here, the object is not recoverable from the text but from the speech situation or general knowledge, e.g. Joskus, kun olen sutjakkaassa kunnossa, tlln ja meikkaan ja lhden diskoon 'Sometimes when I am in good [slim] shape I make smart and make up and go to a disco'; Miss Suomi lihottaa ! 'Miss Finland is fattening [i.e. putting on weight]'; Oli varmaan huvittavan nkist, kun min siell tkiden seassa kntelin ja vntelin 'it must have looked funny when I was there among the bugs twisting and turning '. Another possibility is to consider these examples as holistic semantic interpretations of objectless verbs, in which case relevant factors affecting the interpretation include syntactic structure, text environment, speech situation, cultural context and pragmatic factors. Anaphoric relations are typically determined by the combined influence of grammatical and extralinguistic factors. Additionally, it is often possible to take an implicit reflexive as an independent lexical semantic variant of a transitive verb, the meaning of which is not the result of a contextual interpretation. However, there is no clear-cut borderline between a situational semantic interpretation and an established lexical meaning.