Transitivity Alternations: What if a third variant in the causative alternation were possible (and real)?

MANGIALAVORI RASIA, MARÍA EUGENIA

Seminario; GLiF Seminars -GLiF Formal Linguistics Research Group; 2018

UPF-GLiF Formal Linguistics Research Group

Transitivity Alternations: What if a third variant in the causative alternation were possible (and real)? María E. Mangialavori Rasia National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) I draw on data from Romance and Greek to claim that the causative-inchoative alternation comprises a third variant allowed by the combinatorial system, which remains virtually undiscussed in the literature, even if available (and fully productive) in several languages. This variant poses significant challenges for current theories on transitivity alternations. By featuring a unique (external) argument interpreted by default not as undergoer but as cause/initiator (‎(1)c) and stative behavior, this construction (called here Stative Causative [SCC]) is unpredicted under standard accounts of change-of-state [COS] and challenges widely-accepted generalizations. First, SCCs challenge the general notion that the internal argument?which seems a stable argument in the alternation if the analysis is limited to the two well-known variants commonly analyzed ((1)a|b)?is a default constituent in the argument structure of COS verbs (Hale & Keyser [HK] 2002, Rappaport & Levin [RL] 2011). Second, by suggesting that the causative component may be independently realized, SCCs are a problem for a basic principle of event composition according to which the event structure of COS verbs combines two components (cause|process); and the former, if present, causally implicates the latter (2). Third, absence of internal-argument-introducing Vº would mean that interpretation of Spec,v as Initiator or Cause(r) cannot be purely structural (i.e., strictly obtained by merge of an unaccusative structure under vP, as claimed in HK 2002, Chomsky 1995, Zubizarreta&Oh 2007 i.a. Two important contrasts with English are key: (i)the default interpretation of the DP in (1)c as Initiator (vs. default undergoer interpretation in English), (ii)free availability of a synthetic stative variant in Romance/Greek as opposed to the analytic form required by English (e.g. Chocolate is fattening (1)c, Kosta?s haircut is annoying in (3)). I will propose that languages like Romance/Greek differ from English/German by systematically allowing the external-argument-introducing head CAUS/INITvº to combine with the Root (cf. direct composing with INITv, McIntyre 2004, intransitive incoporation Rosen 1996). This correctly predicts the production of an event and argument structure simpler than the causative (dyadic) structure (1)a, but at the same time, one that is diametrically different from the monoargumental variant (1)b, semantically (stative|eventive(COS)) and syntactically (unergative|unaccusative). To support our claim, we show that: (i) SCCs do not involve an unaccusative structure; crucially, presence of an internal argument, along with the corresponding Vº, gives rise to non-trivial minimal pairs (COS|SCC). (ii)This alternative extends to other classes of verbs with similar transitivity alternation (3). (iii) The option correlates with a nontrivial derivational alternative, where morphological marking can be related to realization of a nondefective Vº. Notably, the requirement of special (NAct) morphology in Greek is largely correlated to morphological (SE/SI) marking in Romance for realization of the internal-argument-introducing, eventive head (Vº). Importantly, our results are consistent with the general premise that syntactic projection of argument structure strictly correlates with event structure (HK 2002; RL 1995; Ramchand 2008 a.m.o.)(1)a. La pasta engorda a los niños. ?Pasta fattens the kids?CAUSATIVE/TRANSITIVE b. Los niños engordan. ?The kids fatten [up]? INCHOATIVE/UNACCUSATIVEc. La pasta engorda. (lit. Pasta fattens.)?Pasta is fattening?SCC/UNERGATIVE(2)a. e1 → e2 ( [V1[V2] HK 1993:69, 2002)b.[XCAUSE [BECOME[YSTATE]]] (RL1998:108)(3)El peinadode Kosta irrita(Spanish)Ta malja tu Kosta enoxlun.(Greek)the hair.pl the Kosta.gen annoy.3p*Kosta`s haircut annoys(English: syntactically)?Kosta´s haircut is annoying?. (English: semantically)(4)Atención: ??puerta alarmada (Spanish)?shocked door?(default Initiator/experiencer reading)Caution: alarmed door (English)(default Undergoer/Theme reading)