Chapter Cancellazione dei riflessivi e diatesi media in russo

Abstract

The author discusses the distribution of the reflexive anaphora sebja and the middle voice affix -sja/-s’ in Russian. The Russian data are discussed assuming that in languages where the middle voice morphology can encode reflexivity, anaphors can be canceled in standard object position, where Accusative Case is assigned. This entails that direct object anaphors, when realized, are not in the structural position where they receive Accusative Case; it is argued that they can surface in Focus positions. The final part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of the formal status of the middle voice affix.