Verbos recíprocos

Abstract

Despite appearances, constructions with reciprocal verbs, i.e. irreducibly symmetric verbs, such as Se casaron (They married), Se mezclaron (They mixed), etc. are different from reciprocal constructions such as Se ayudaron (They helped each other), and Se aman (They love each other). Only constructions with reciprocal verbs are unaccusative, telic and dynamic. Like other unaccusativity constructions, constructions with se with reciprocal verbs allow bare plural nouns in postverbal position. As for telicity, these constructions are compatible with absolute participle constructions and with verbal periphrases which focus on the end of the event, such as acabar de / terminar de (to finish), etc. In addition, reciprocal verbs allow focusing on the duration of the event, i.e. not only on the end of the event, what shows that these verbs are also dynamic. Only a syntactic proposal which integrates symmetry and aspect as semantic features may account for the complexity of the data with reciprocal verbs.