Impersonals and other Agent Defocusing Constructions in French

This book investigates French impersonals as a functional category. Any structure whose agent is defocused and whose predicate describes a situation stable enough to be generally available should be considered impersonal. In addition to il impersonals, the category also includes demonstrative ( ce/ça ), middle ( se ), and indefinite ( on ) structures. These different forms belong to the same functional category because they systematically code general and predictable events that cannot be impute