Unaccusativity : at the syntax-lexical semantics interface / Beth Levin, Malka Rappaport Hovav.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levin, Beth, 1955- author.

Hovav, Malka Rappaport, author.

Series:

Linguistic inquiry monographs ; 26.

Linguistic inquiry monographs ; 26

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 336 pages).

Other Title:

Unaccusativity

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : The MIT Press, 2018.

Summary:

Unaccusativity is an extended investigation into a set of linguistic phenomena that have received much attention over the last fifteen years. Besides providing extensive support for David Perlmutter's hypothesis that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined, this monograph contributes significantly to the development of a theory of lexical semantic representation and to the elucidation of the mapping from lexical semantics to syntax. Perlmutter's Unaccusative Hypothesis proposes that there are two classes of intransitive verbs - unergatives and unaccusatives - each associated with a distinct syntactic configuration. Unaccusativity begins by isolating the semantic factors that determine whether a verb will be unaccusative or unergative through a careful examination of the behavior of intransitive verbs from a range of semantic classes in diverse syntactic constructions. Notable are the extensive discussions of verbs of motion, verbs of emission, and various types of verbs of change of state. The authors then introduce rules that determine the syntactic expression of the arguments of the verbs investigated and examine the interactions among them. The proper treatment of verbs that systematically show multiple meanings - and hence variable classification as unaccusative or unergative - is also considered. In the final chapter, the authors argue that the distribution of locative inversion, a purported unaccusative diagnostic, is determined instead by discourse considerations. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 26.

Contents:

Ch. 1. Introduction. 1.1. Unaccusativity Introduced. 1.2. Approaches to Unaccusativity. 1.3. Deep versus Surface Unaccusativity. 1.4. Assumptions about Lexical Representations

Ch. 2. The Anatomy of a Diagnostic: The Resultative Construction. 2.1. The Distribution of Resultative Phrases. 2.2. The Syntax of the Resultative Construction. 2.3. Semantic Restrictions on the Resultative Construction. 2.4. Alternative Accounts of the Resultative Construction

Ch. 3. The Causative Alternation: A Probe into Lexical Semantics and Argument Structure. 3.1. A Causative Analysis of Alternating Unaccusative Verbs. 3.2. A Closer Look at the Causative Alternation. 3.3. Verbs of Existence and Appearance

Ch. 4. The Linking of Arguments. 4.1. The Linking Rules. 4.2. Ordering the Linking Rules. 4.3. Comparison with Other Approaches

Ch. 5. Verbs with Multiple Meanings. 5.1. Rule-Governed Variable Behavior. 5.2. Consequences for Lexical Representation.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.