Alternations should resurface next to surface generalizations: The reflexive-prepositional alternation in Portuguese

Abstract

Abstract This study examines a pair of constructions in Portuguese, the transitive construction and its paraphrase equivalent involving reflexive verbs with prepositional phrase complements. Each pattern’s thematic cores and semantic properties will be described, with the underlying assumption that the pair represents a verb alternation. The two Portuguese patterns will be held up as a case in favor of preserving alternations in cognitive models of grammar. First, it will be argued that whatever irregularities they may exhibit are only apparent and do not pose a challenge to the notion of alternations. Second, some important intuitions regarding the use of a verb in related constructions are only possible when the constructions are considered together.