Aspectos sintácticos y semánticos del pronombre SE

The features that account for the meaning of telic se in sentences like El niño se comió la manzana are not found in the verbal aspect. Instead, we show that se in this construction is a reflexive dative of interest that is associated with the following semantic characteristics: a) beneficiary/ maleficiary, i.e. the action is performed in favor of or against the referent of the dative; b) possessive, i.e. the referent of the dative is the possessor of the direct object; c) singularity of the agent, i.e. the subject of the construction has full responsibility for the action; d) specificity of the theme, i.e. the direct object has to be specific; e) intentionality, i.e. the subject performs the action willingly. To prove our hypothesis we have analyzed the results obtained from an anonymous questionnaire completed by 32 native Spanish speakers. Findings show that the specificity of the theme is a sufficient condition for the occurrence of se.