Pseudo-passive reflexive constructions in Macedonian

The short form of the direct object reflexive pronoun 'se' is used for expressing various types of functions in Macedonian, comparable to similar phenomena in other Slavic languages. Constructions 'se + verb' encode several types of events which depart from the canonical ones: reflexive, in which the two participants are coreferential (e.g. Ana se izmi. - Ana washed.); autonomous, in which the only participant is the affected entity which retains control (e.g. Prozorecot se skrsi. - The window broke.) and agent-defocusing, in which the agent is not prominent, but is, nevertheless, implied in the construction (Nasiot predlog se razgleduvase na sostanokot. - Our proposal was discussed at the meeting.). I propose that the best way to analyse 'se' constructions is to treat them as a continuous linguistic structure of 'grammaticalization chains' as defined by Bernd Heine (Heine 1992:349). Each function represents a stage in the process of grammaticalization of 'se' from an independant lexem to a grammatical marker. However, the stages do not represent discret units. The transition from one stage to another is gradual, resulting in overlapping and ambiguity.

In this paper I investigate one aspect of transition from autonomous situations to agent-defocusing ones. There is a range of constructions that acquire a modal meaning between the decausative and passive construction (e.g. Ne grizi se, flekite of ovosje se perat. - Don't worry, stains from fruit can be washed.; Viluskata se stava na levata strana. - The fork is to be placed on the left.). It can be shown that the type of the modal interpretation depends on the degree of inference of the agent in the construction. Decline in the control of the subject referent and stronger implication of the agent is noticable in the direction from the decausative to passive construction. The potential meaning is a result of greater responsibility of the affected entity in spite of the fact that the activity requires a human agent (e.g. Ovoj koren se jade. - This root is edible.), thus these constructions are closer to the decausative ones. On the other hand, in the generalization function the agent is the only responsible entity, although it is only vaguely implied as a human being in general (e.g. Sega angliski se zboruva nasekade. - Now English is spoken everywhere.), rendering these constructions closer to the passive end. In between, a range of modal meanings can appear, implying permission, prohibition, norm, habit etc., depending on the activity and the nature of the participants, which determin how much the agent is implied in the construction.