scholarly journals Du verbe au nom et du nom au verbe: Syntaxe et sémantique des maṣdars en arabe standard

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 19-57
Author(s):  
Fayssal Tayalati
Keyword(s):  
External Argument ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Decomposition Model ◽  
Lexical Decomposition ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Genitive Case

The article describes the properties of deverbal nouns (maṣdars) in Standard Arabic. Prior accounts identify the following type (qaṣfu l-ʿaduwwi li-l-madīnati), among others, but neglect the maṣdar that introduces its internal argument as a direct complement in the genitive case and its external argument as a prepositional adjunct (taḥrīru l-madīnati ʿalā yadi l-jayši ). We argue that these two types reflect two different conceptu-alizations of ‘events’: bound-events, which describe a change that has taken place in the nature of a sub-stance represented by the internal argument; and unbound-events, which describe a change in the relation-ship between the internal and external arguments.Within the lexical decomposition model, we propose a semantic basis for explaining constraints on direct transitive verbs according to (i) the type of maṣdars they form; (ii) the possibility of deriving a resul-tative passive participle (ism al-mafʿūl); and (iii) the alternation, for some verbs, between a causative and non-causative use without any morphological variation.Keywords: lexical decomposition, deverbal noun (maṣdars), (un)bound-event

Two types of alignment change in nominalizations

Diachronica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Aldridge ◽  
Yuko Yanagida
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Genitive Case ◽  
Object Relative

Abstract This paper investigates two instances of alignment change, both of which resulted from reanalysis of a nominalized embedded clause type, in which the external argument was marked with genitive case and the internal argument was focused. We show that a subject marked with genitive case in the early development of Austronesian languages became ergative-marked when object relative clauses in cleft constructions were reanalyzed as transitive root clauses. In contrast to this, the genitive case in Old Japanese nominalized clauses, marking an external argument, was extended to mark all subjects. This occurred after adnominal clauses were reanalyzed as root clauses. Japanese underwent one more step in order for genitive to be reanalyzed as nominative: the reanalysis of impersonal psych transitive constructions as intransitives. With these two case studies of Austronesian and Japanese, we show that reanalysis of nominalization goes in either direction, ergative or accusative, depending on the syntactic conditions involved in the reanalysis.

scholarly journals Antipassive structure in Tenetehára (Tupi-Guarani family)

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
Fábio Bonfim Duarte ◽  
Quesler Fagundes Camargos ◽  
Ricardo Campos de Castro
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Tree Structure ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Minimalist Approach ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Abstract Case

This article aims to describe and examine the antipassive construction in the Tenetehára language (Tupi-Guarani family). For this, it will be shown that the transitive verbs, on receiving the morpheme {puru-}, then exhibit the following properties of antipassive constructions: (i) they come to have an intransitive syntactic structure and (ii) the abstract Case of the internal argument is not valued by v, but by the postposition -ehe. Generally, such configurations behave essentially like intransitive sentences. Using a minimalist approach, we show that the main difference between an antipassive clause and a transitive one is that although the antipassive vP selects an external argument, its head is not able to value the abstract Case of the internal argument. For this reason, the object is dependent on the postposition -ehe for the oblique Case. Furthermore, unlike what happens in the derivation of transitive constructions, the φ-feature of the antipassive vP is lexically valued, which does not allow the agreement (nominative system) in terms of φ-feature, with its external argument. The result is that this external argument moves to the highest vP Spec position in the tree structure, whose head is instantiated by the verb {-wer} “want”, with which it establishes a relationship agreement in terms of φ-feature , triggering the second agreement paradigm (absolutive system).

The Selectional Restrictions of French Past Tenses

2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 47-66
Author(s):  
Marie Labelle
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Tense Operators ◽  
Past Tenses

AbstractThis article argues against the idea that the Imparfait and the Passé Simple in French are aspectually sensitive tense operators. Both morphemes combine with any type of eventuality. It is not the case that a clause in the Imparfait denotes a state, or that a clause in the Passé Simple denotes an event. It is proposed that the Passé Simple is a true past tense, which introduces a past eventuality in the discourse with the condition that it be the maximal eventuality of the appropriate type. The Imparfait is analyzed as a dyadic morpheme, which selects an eventuality as internal argument and a past temporal referent of discourse as external argument, where the eventuality provides a condition on the temporal referent.

Building verbs in Chuj: Consequences for the nature of roots

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
JESSICA COON
Keyword(s):  
Strict Sense ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Semantic Type ◽  
Combinatorial Properties ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Root Class

This paper offers an in-depth look at roots and verb stem morphology in Chuj (Mayan) in order to address a larger question: when it comes to the formation of verb stems, what information is contributed by the root, and what is contributed by the functional heads? I show first that roots in Chuj are not acategorical in the strict sense (cf. Borer 2005), but must be grouped into classes based on their stem-forming possibilities. Root class does not map directly to surface lexical category, but does determine which functional heads (i.e. valence morphology) may merge with the root. Second, I show that while the introduction of the external argument, along with clausal licensing and agreement generally, are all governed by higher functional heads, the presence or absence of aninternalargument is dictated by the root. Specifically, I show that transitive roots in Chuj always combine with an internal argument, whether it be (i) a full DP, (ii) a bare pseudo-incorporated NP, or (iii) an implicit object in an antipassive. In the spirit of work such as Levinson (2007, 2014), I connect this to the semantic type of the root; root class reflects semantic type, and semantic type affects the root’s combinatorial properties. This work also contributes to the discussion of how valence morphology operates. In line with works such as Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Schäfer (2006), I argue that valence morphology applies directly to roots, rather than to some ‘inherent valence’ of a verb.

Intransitivity and the Development of Ergative Alignment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Aldridge
Keyword(s):  
Common Source ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Inherent Case ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Genitive Case

This chapter surveys pathways that have been proposed for how ergative alignment develops diachronically in an accusative language. The most common source cited for ergative alignment is a clausal nominalization. This is because the v (or n) in the nominalization has the same case-licensing featural composition as transitive v in an ergative language: 1) the external argument in the specifier is assigned inherent (typically genitive) case; and 2) there is no structural licensing capability for an object. After reanalysis, the external argument continues to receive inherent case, and the object values nominative case with T, resulting in an ergative pattern in transitive clauses. Other proposed sources are also typically intransitive constructions lacking accusative objects and in which the external argument is assigned inherent case or is packaged as a PP, for example possessive constructions and passives

scholarly journals Argument-Structure-Reducing Operations in Standard Arabic: An Exploratory Comparative Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Abdellatif ED-DARRAJI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Change Of State

This paper attempts to examine some argument-structure-reducing operations in Standard Arabic (SA for short). It is proposed here that some affixes (viz. prefixes and infixes) can decrease the argument structure (or valence) of the subclass of change-of-state (COS for short) verbs in the language under study. More specifically, these affixes function as unaccusativizers or decausativizers in that they can derive unaccusative COS verbs from causative COS verbs by suppressing the external argument of the latter verbs and syntactically promoting the direct object to subject position. Crucially, the ability of these affixes to affect the argument structure and the morphosyntactic realization of arguments is not limited to SA, but it has been attested in some other languages, such as Italian, Russian, Chichewa, Spanish, French, Eastern Armenian, West Greenlandic, and Tzutujil, among others.            

scholarly journals Prepositional Phrases in Modern Standard Arabic: An Agree-Based Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 884-891
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ismail Assiri
Keyword(s):  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Inheritance Model ◽  
Feature Inheritance ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Genitive Case ◽  
Case Feature ◽  
Modern Standard

Prepositions, in Arabic traditional grammar literature, have been analyzed as Genitive Case assigners (Hasan, 1976; Sibaweihi, n.d.). This paper presents a phase-based analysis for prepositions (Ps) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The analysis is built on Chomsky's (2005, 2008) Feature-Inheritance model of Agree. In this proposed analysis, Prepositional Phrases (PPs) in MSA are analyzed as phases, where a Probe-Goal relation is established between the prepositional Probe p-P and the DP in its searching domain (i.e., its complement). The outcome of this relation is valuation of the unvalued Case feature on this DP complement (i.e., Genitive Case), and a similar valuation to the unvalued phi-features (φ-fs) on the Probe p-P.

Simple Event nominals with Argument Structure? – Evidence from Irish deverbal nominalizations1

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-163
Author(s):  
Maria Bloch-Trojnar
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Synthetic Compounds ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Light Verb Constructions ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Simple Event ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Irish Data ◽  
Deverbal Nominals

Abstract Deverbal nominals in Irish support Grimshaw’s (1990) tripartite division into complex event (CE-), simple event (SE-) and result nominals (R-nominals). Irish nominals are ambiguous only between the SE- and R-status. There are no CE-nominals containing the AspP layer in their structure. SE-nominals (also found in Light Verb Constructions) are number-neutral and incapable of pluralizing and are represented as [nP[vP[Root]]]. R-nominals are devoid of the vP layer and behave like ordinary nouns. The Irish data point to v as the layer introducing event implications and the vP or PPs as the functional heads introducing the internal argument (Alexiadou and Schäfer 2011). Event denoting nominals in Irish can license the internal argument but aspectual modification and external argument licensing are not possible (cf. synthetic compounds in Greek (Alexiadou 2017)), which means that, counter to Borer (2013), the licensing of Argument Structure need not follow from the presence of the AspP layer.

Canonical and reverse predication in the syntax of the active/passive diathesis alternation

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-187
Author(s):  
Marcel den Dikken
Keyword(s):  
External Argument ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Active Voice ◽  
Accusative Case ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Secondary Predication ◽  
Predication Relation

This chapter defends an analysis of the active/passive alternation sharing with Collins’s smuggling proposal the idea that the participial VP occupies a specifier position above the external argument, but base-generating it in this position rather than moving it there. In both the active and the passive, the VP and the external argument are in a predication structure, with a RELATOR mediating the predication relation. The active voice builds a canonical predication structure, with the VP in the RELATOR’S complement position and the subject of predication as the specifier. In the passive voice, the VP is externally merged in the specifier of the RELATOR and the external argument in its complement. This analysis provides an explanation for obligatory auxiliation, the unavailability of accusative Case for the internal argument, Visser’s Generalization (the ban on personal passivization of subject control verbs), and the restrictions on referential dependencies and depictive secondary predication in passives.

The Maturation of Grammatical Principles: Evidence from Russian Unaccusatives

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Babyonyshev ◽  
Jennifer Ganger ◽  
David Pesetsky ◽  
Kenneth Wexler
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Chain Formation ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Genitive Case

This article tests the hypothesis that young children have a maturational difficulty with A-chain formation that makes them unable to represent unaccusative verbs in an adultlike fashion. We report the results of a test of children's performance on the genitive-of-negation construction in Russian, which, for adults, is an “unaccusativity diagnostic,” since genitive case is allowed to appear on the underlying direct object argument of unaccusatives as well as on direct objects of standard transitive verbs within the scope of negation. We show that although, Russian children know the properties of the construction, they have notable difficulty using it with unaccusative verbs. Since the input evidence for genitive of negation with unaccusative verbs is quite robust, we interpret our results as support for the hypothesis.

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