The argument structure of morphological causatives
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2005. The argument structure of morphological causatives. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 40, 27-89.
- On the basis of material from a number of different languages The argument structure of morphological causatives argues that the derivation of morphological causatives involves reference to semantic (thematic) relations, and that the derivational relationship is subject to universal principles governing the distribution of semantic relations, notably the role criterion. The causative relationship does not at all invoke grammatical relations – as in Comrie's (1975) or (1985) formulations – or relations based on configuration or linear precedence. This is in accord with the position that such non-semantic relations are not part of argument structure (Anderson 1997). Reference to grammatical relations in the formulation of such a morphological relationship also falls foul of the absence of a general theory of objecthood and object type; and any apparent language-particular reference of this kind – such as might be extrapolated from Rosen's contention that the case marking of the non-subject arguments of causatives patterns 'exactly as case marking does in VPs in general in the language' (1990: 220) – is, in so far as it is appropriate, derivative of a general formulation based on semantic relations. Morphological causatives based on non-intransitives involve the addition of a locative relation to the ergative (and so subject) argument of the base verb or the conferring of circumstantial status on it. The first of these gives a derived transitive an argument structure like that of a ditransitive, which underlies the observed case-marking. A concluding suggestion extends the locative-adding formulation to intransitive-based forms. It is also argued that syntactically-based 'clause-union' analyses are undesirable; instead, the morphological rule deriving causatives increases the syntactic potential of the verb.
- 63 pages, 438kb
Autor:
Anderson, John M.
Jahr:
2 005
Bereich:
NG
Papers PDF:
