Jaume Solà i Pujols - Departament de Filologia Catalana ...

pronominalize as the clitic ho is semblar-2. This in turn predicts that, in sentences with such a
pronominalization, the interpretation is that of semblar-2, namely 'there are (mere) appearances
that...'. I think this prediction is fulfilled:
(19) Ho sembla (que estigui cansat).
It-ACC seems (that he's tired)
According to my intuition, whenever the clitic ho replaces the (dislocated or contextually
recoverable) CP, the 'mere appearance' interpretation is emphasized. Judgements about this
matter are not clear-cut, probably because the interpretation of semblar-2 stands in a subset
relation w.r.t. that of semblar-1: if 'there are convincing indications of a situation' then 'there are
appearances pointing to that situation ' (not the other way around). Nevertheless, it seems clear
that in a dialogue like:
(20) A- Sembla que està cansat.
Seems that he's tired
B- Ho sembla.
It-ACC seems
the reply is less than confirming the assertion: it rather suggests cautiousness about the certainty
of 'his being tired' in emphasizing that only appearances are certain. In a dialogue like:
1