Koulidobrova (draft) Passing by the passive: ASL impersonal July 19, 2017 Passing by the passive: ASL impersonal Helen Koulidobrova (elena.koulidobrova@ccsu.edu) Version: July 19, 2017 This paper examines impersonal reference in American Sign Language (ASL). The goal of the paper is two-fold: first, we will briefly review some of the agent-backgrounding devices used by the language. Then, focusing on one particular device, which looks like a passive voice construction, we will argue that this appearance is just that – an appearance. Further, we demonstrate that a careful examination of ASL impersonals offers new pathways for obtaining evidence for various theories within (A)SL. Keywords: impersonals, pronoun, null argument 1 Introduction Cabredo-Hoffher & Barberà (this volume) note that languages employ four types of agent- backgrounding strategies (1): (1) a. Valency-reducing operations (i) passives (ii) middles b. Null subjects of non-finite predicates (i) infinitives (ii) gerunds c. Impersonal uses of personal pronouns (i) antecedentless 3pl (ii) non-deictic 2sg, 1pl d. Dedicated referentially deficient pronouns: (i) pronouns with a generic reading (Engl. one, German man), (ii) indefinite pronouns (someone) Here, we will concern ourselves with (1c) – impersonal uses of personal pronouns. Consider, for instance, the English (2). (2) Theyspeaker excluded / wespeaker included / people speak English here.