摘要：This paper analyses impersonal constructions in spoken Estonian. The impersonal constructions found in two spoken corpora differing in levels of formality are examined and classified according to five readings of the implicit argument: universal, vague and specific existential, corporate and a future-hypothetical reading. The analysis focuses on the implicit impersonal actor referent, investigating differences in its interpretation as well as overt expressions of the implicit argument. We account for the diverse readings of the implicit actor as being derived through pragmatic means. The impersonal construction is taken to bear a unified semantics, which specifies only that the implicit argument has the default semantic features of human, plural, and actor. The argument receives its full interpretation through pragmatics and the surrounding discourse context.
