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In:The Grammar of Interaction: Epistemicity, information management and discourse in language use
Edited by Susana Rodríguez Rosique and Jordi M. Antolí Martínez
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 46] 2025
► pp. 2–37

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Impersonal and middle constructions in Spanish oral conflictive discourse

 | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 17 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.46.01mal
Abstract
This paper elaborates on the problem of shielding in interactive discourse. It attempts to explore specific syntactic constructions responding to particular communicative requirements in conflictive discourse. The discourse of couples in therapy is analyzed to identify how grammatical phenomena adjust to communicative situations, i.e., how grammatical cues change as the interaction evolves in couple therapy sessions. The paper explores the competition between impersonal and middle constructions as two polar points reflecting the proximity versus the distance sustained among interlocutors in dealing with conflict. The baseline is that distanced couples accessing therapy need to find ways to re-connect. While problematic issues need to be addressed, they need to be exposed in a way that does not increase the gap between participants. Mitigators are crucial in therapy since couple members are always ready to avoid addressing painful issues in everyday life. While impersonal constructions operate as good mitigators, middle constructions impose the opposite effects.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Se constructions
  • 2.A note on impersonal and passive constructions
  • 3.A proposal for the interpretation of impersonal se constructions
  • 4.A usage based study: Written and oral discourse
    • 4.1Journalistic writing
    • 4.2Oral formal discourse
    • 4.3CSCM: Oral informal interviews
    • 4.4Ameresco: Oral informal dialogue
  • 5.Impersonals and middles in conflictive discourse: Couple therapy
    • 5.1Couple sessions: Madrid 1
    • 5.2Couple sessions: Madrid 2
    • 5.3Couple sessions Madrid 15
    • 5.4Couple sessions Malaga
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Corpora
  • References
References (45)
Corpora
[CREA] Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA) Real Academia Española en línea]. [URL] [29-02-2022] [Press and Oral Formal language from México].
[CSCM] Martín Butragueño, P. & Lastra, Y. (coords.) 2011–2015. Corpus sociolingüístico de la Ciudad de México. Ciudad de México: El Colegio de México.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
[AMERESCO-MEX] Maldonado, R. (coord.). 2021. Corpus de conversaciones Ameresco-Ciudad de México”, en Corpus Ameresco, coord. by Marta Albelda y María Estellés. [URL], Universitat de València.
ESPRINT-TERAPIA VALENCIA María Estellés & Marta Albelda (Coords) Universitat de València.
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