“Recebe(m)-se novidades”: Constructions with se in magazine advertisements from São Paulo

Abstract

This paper investigates constructions with the pronoun se (e.g., “Vende(m)-se móveis”) in magazine advertisements from São Paulo, at the turn of the twentieth century. The linguistic phenomenon is not taken as an isolated part of the advertisements, but is observed in relation to other verbal and non-verbal texts elements and also social, historical and cultural context. Reading the dvertisements as a whole shows that the construction with se is active and the verb agrees
with a topic, co-indexed with a null subject, which referrers to a typographically salient element; at the same time, the pronoun se denotes an indefinite human agent and indicates the presence of anonymous workers at the businesses announced.