Chapter 4. Initiators, states and passives in Spanish psych verbs

Abstract This paper explores the formal expression of two Basque dative argument types in combination with psych nouns and adjectives, in intransitive and transitive clauses: (i) those that express the experiencer, and (ii) those that express the stimulus of the psychological state denoted by the psych noun and adjective. In the intransitive structure involving a dative experiencer (DatExpIS), the stimulus is in the absolutive case, and the intransitive copula izan ‘be’ shows both dative and absolutive agreement. This construction basically corresponds to those built upon the piacere type of psychological verbs typified in (Belletti, Adriana & Luigi Rizzi. 1988. Psych-verbs and θ-theory. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6. 291–352) three-way classification of Italian psych verbs. In the intransitive structure involving a dative stimulus (DatStimIS), the experiencer is marked by absolutive case, and the same intransitive copula shows both absolutive and dative agreement (with the latter corresponding to the dative stimulus and not to the experiencer). We show that the behavior of the dative argument in the two constructions is just the opposite of each other regarding a number of morphosyntactic tests, including agreement, constituency, hierarchy and selection. Additionally, we explore two parallel transitive constructions that involve either a dative experiencer and an ergative stimulus (DatExpTS) or a dative stimulus and an ergative experiencer (DatStimTS), which employ the transitive copula *edun ‘have’. Considering these configurations, we propose an extended and more fine-grained typology of psych predicates.

Download Full-text

On inchoative states. Evidence from modification of Polish perfective psych verbs by degree quantifiers

Questions and Answers in Linguistics ◽

10.1515/qal-2016-0008 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 63-79

Author(s):

Ewa Willim

Keyword(s):

Event Structure ◽

Perfective Aspect ◽

Lexical Aspect ◽

Measure Function ◽

Change Of State ◽

Psych Verbs ◽

The Subject

AbstractThe special properties that psych(ological) verbs manifest cross-linguistically have given rise to on-going debates in syntactic and semantic theorizing. Regarding their lexical aspect classification, while verbal psych predicates with the Experiencer argument mapped onto the subject (SE psych predicates) have generally been analyzed as stative, there is little agreement on what kinds of eventualities object Experiencer (OE) psych predicates describe. On the stative reading, OE psych predicates have been classified as atelic causative states. On the (non-agentive) eventive reading, they have been widely analyzed as telic change of state predicates and classified as achievements or as accomplishments. Based on Polish, Rozwadowska (2003, 2012) argues that nonagentive eventive OE psych predicates in the perfective aspect denote an onset of a state and that they are atelic rather than telic. This paper offers further support for the view that Polish perfective psych verbs do not denote a change of state, i.e., a transition from α to ¬α. The evidence is drawn from verbal comparison and the distribution of the comparative degree quantifier jeszcze bardziej ‘even more’ in perfective psych predicates. It is argued here that in contexts including jeszcze bardziej ‘even more’, the perfective predication denotes an onset of a state whose degree of intensity exceeds the comparative standard. While a degree quantifier attached to the VP in the syntax contributes a differential measure function that returns a (vague) value representing the degree to which the intensity of the Experiencer’s state exceeds the comparative standard in the event, it does not affect the event structure of the perfective verb and it does not provide the VP denotation it modifies with a final endpoint. As the perfective picks the onset of an upper open state, perfective psych predicates typically give rise to an atelic interpretation.

Download Full-text

The Optimal Linking of Arguments: The Case of English Psych Verbs

Competition in Syntax ◽

10.1515/9783110829068.377 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anja Wanner

Keyword(s):

Psych Verbs

Download Full-text

Chapter 2. Polish psych verbs as non-achievements

Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today - Beyond Emotions in Language ◽

10.1075/la.263.02roz ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 23-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bożena Rozwadowska

Keyword(s):

Psych Verbs

Download Full-text

Changes in the argument and event structure of psych verbs in the history of Spanish

Cycles in Language Change ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198824961.003.0013 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 249-270

Author(s):

Montserrat Batllori ◽

Elisabeth Gibert-Sotelo ◽

Isabel Pujol

Keyword(s):

Argument Structure ◽

Event Structure ◽

Psych Verbs ◽

History Of

This chapter offers a detailed study of changes affecting the argument structure of Spanish psych verbs that appear with a dative experiencer (EXP). After proposing a three-way classification of these verbs based on their etymological origin, the chapter traces two parallel, but interconnected, diachronic paths: the first one involves the development from transitive (or pronominal) to unaccusative constructions with a dative EXP, whereas the second one concerns the evolution from dynamic to stative events. The use and decrease of the passive in Classical Spanish is also shown to play a role in this change: to wit, passive and unaccusative structures with a dative EXP are structurally similar, as the prepositional agent phrase and the dative EXP originate in the same position.

Download Full-text

Argument realization of psychological verbs

Studies in Language ◽

10.1075/sl.17016.li ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 755-797 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chao Li

Keyword(s):

Subject Position ◽

Comparative Approach ◽

Physical Force ◽

Single Argument ◽

Psych Verbs ◽

Unaccusative Verbs ◽

Argument Realization ◽

Transitive Verbs ◽

Using Data ◽

Psychological Verbs

Abstract By using data from nearly thirty languages of various families and regions, this paper examines the argument realization of three types of psychological verbs (i.e. causative bivalent, non-causative bivalent, and monovalent). It finds that, when compared with the argument realization of core transitive verbs like BREAK, causative bivalent psych verbs show crosslinguistic uniformity in that they pattern with core transitive verbs in argument realization. The same comparative approach finds that the argument realization of non-causative bivalent psych verbs shows a lot of crosslinguistic variation. As for monovalent psych verbs, the paper finds that they almost always pattern with the argument realization of unaccusative verbs. The findings of the paper are accounted for by using the Force-Control-Causality (FCC) model of verb meaning. Under this model, the uniformity in argument realization with respect to causative bivalent psych verbs is due to the prominence of the causative relationship expressed and the directionality of the causality from the Causer to the Causee. The variation in argument realization with respect to non-causative bivalent psych verbs can be attributed to the fact that such verbs express neither causation nor transmission of physical force. As for the near uniformity in argument realization with respect to monovalent psych verbs, it is due to the fact that they involve only one argument (thus no competition for the subject position) and this single argument shares the [−control] feature with the single argument of unaccusative verbs. This study points to the need of recognizing Causer and Causee as two core and highly-ranked thematic roles in a global thematic hierarchy.

Download Full-text