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The debate over the relation between grammatically relevant (specifically, what we term event referential) and idiosyncratic aspects of verb meaning has produced a considerable literature. Some authors, such as Levin and Rappaport Hovav, have appealed to figurative uses of verbs as a source of data when the analysis of their literal uses has been controversial, a move that has sometimes been criticized. However, the question of whether figurative uses of verbs preserve the event referential properties of their literal counterparts and are therefore a valid source of data has not, to our knowledge, been systematically explored. We offer two detailed cross-linguistic case studies of Spanish and English verbs to provide an argument that figurative verb uses indeed are a reliable source of evidence for identifying event referential components of meaning: In each case study we find clear evidence for the preservation of these components across uses, indicating that these aspects of meaning both constrain and facilitate figurative uses of verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prefixed verbs in Latin may take an argument in the dative case, interpreted as the ground of the spatial relation codified by the preverb. This phenomenon is constrained by the semantics of that spatial relation: while preverbs encoding a location, a goal, or a source of motion generally accept the dative argument, preverbs encoding a route do not. I propose a syntactic analysis of this phenomenon, framed within the Spanning framework. I assume an analysis of the spatial dative as an applied argument interpreted as a possessor of the final location of motion. Developing a configurational theory of spatial relations, I show how only the syntax-semantics of the preverbs interpreted as encoding a location, be this final (a goal), initial (a source), or unrelated to motion (a static location), is compatible with the projection of an Appl(icative)P integrating the dative argument. By the same token, pure route preverbs, involving a path but not a location, are correctly predicted to disallow the projection of ApplP, and hence the spatial dative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I offer a syntactic approach to the formation of complex denominal verbs in Latin. Two basic types of prefixed locative denominal verbs can be distinguished in this language: location ones "agglutinate" a PP expressing location, whereas locatum ones contain a noun expressing the locatum object. Assuming a syntactic distinction between Incorporation and Conflation in denominal verb formation, I claim that prefixed location verbs are formed via Incorporation (i.e. Internal Merge), whereas prefixed locatum verbs are formed via Conflation (i.e. External Merge). Unprefixed locative verbs can only be interpreted as locatum predicates, but unlike prefixed locatum verbs, they are analyzed as involving a possessive relation and as being formed via incorporation. The present approach also provides an explanation of why Romance locatum verbs, unlike location ones, are not necessarily prefixed. It is also claimed that unprefixed and prefixed locatum verbs in Romance are formed via incorporation rather than via conflation, its reason being related to the typological shift from the presence of a typical conflation pattern in satellite-framed Latin to a lack of it in verb-framed Romance languages. Finally, I show that Latin prefixed denominal verbs and prefixed deadjectival ones are all telic and project a ResultP in syntax. In contrast, this projection can be argued to be absent from unprefixed denominal and deadjectival verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to expand the crosslinguistic scope of the study of the expression of habituality in language, and to provide further support for the claim that the expression of habituality is basically independent from that of tense and aspect, although it closely interacts with it. The argument for this independence is based on the following findings: First, habituality in Biblical Hebrew is not marked morphologically: any verbal form of the verb system can serve as a basis to express habituality irrespective of its aspectual and temporal qualities. In this respect, the periphrastic form hāyā qōṭēl receives special attention, since although it does not appear in episodic occurrences, it nevertheless patterns with non-recurring positional predicates (e.g., stand, live as in She used to live here), illustrating that it selects statives that can hold over prolonged periods of time, subsuming habituals, rather than being exclusively dedicated to the expression of habituality. Second, and most importantly, this pattern is diachronically stable. When observing Early and Late Biblical Hebrew, nothing alters in the way verbal forms pattern in clauses expressing habituality, even though the make-up of the verbal systems has changed over time. Additionally, the findings confirm the importance of paying attention to the availability of habitual interpretation with and without a modifying quantificational expression, by lending support to the correlation established between the bareness of habituals and their aspectual properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists a clear association between animacy and the grammatical function of transitive subject. The grammar of some languages require the transitive subject to be high in animacy, or at least higher than the object. A similar animacy preference has been observed in processing studies in languages without such a categorical animacy effect. This animacy preference has been mainly established in structures in which either one or both arguments are provided before the verb. Our goal was to establish (i) whether this preference can already be observed before any argument is provided, and (ii) whether this preference is mediated by verbal information. To this end we exploited the V2 property of Dutch which allows the verb to precede its arguments. Using a visual-world eye-tracking paradigm we presented participants with V2 structures with either an auxiliary (e.g. Gisteren heeft X ... 'Yesterday, X has ...') or a lexical main verb (e.g. Gisteren motiveerde X ... 'Yesterday, X motivated ...') and we measured looks to the animate referent. The results indicate that the animacy preference can already be observed before arguments are presented and that the selectional restrictions of the verb mediate this bias, but do not override it completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses whether capacity to license an internal argument and eventivity are default properties of so-called change-of-state verbs. I draw attention to the claim that, in certain languages, the causative-inchoative alternation extends to a third, external-argument-only variant with stative behavior. Productivity and systematicity raise a host of problems for current generalizations on the Causative Alternation and change-of-state verbs for various reasons, starting from the long-held claim that unique arguments of change-of-state verbs are by default internal. Insofar as the causative component is independently realized in a noneventive, nonepisodic frame, this variant challenges (a) a widely agreed rule of event composition, whereby cause, if present, causally implicates process; (b) the claim that cause(r) interpretation of the external argument is a byproduct of transitivization. The present discussion: (a) brings out a crosslanguage contrast bearing on default (cause/undergoer) interpretation of unique arguments in equipollent alternations; (b) provides new empirical data supporting the stativity of the (causative) outer v head; (c) substantiates important predictions in the literature (e.g. that verbs of causation should have stative readings; that external-argument-only variants of Object-Experiencer verbs should be found); (d) captures further verb classes allowing the alternation; and (e) shows crucial contrasts with other transitive-(in/a)transitive alternations involving null/arb objects. Aspect and determination of different (a)atransitivity alternations are central throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument structure of verbs is pretty uniform across languages. Thus, verbs of 'falling' involve a Theme and an optional Causer and verbs of 'working' an Agent. Aspect is relevant to that uniformity as well since the former verbs will be telic and the latter durative. Stative verbs form a third main class. I first show that, when (spoken/written) languages change, the basic argument structure and aspect don't change for most unaccusatives and unergatives. There are, however, systematic reports (e.g. Rosen 1984; Keller & Sorace 2003; Randall et al 2004) that certain verbs are unergative in one language and unaccusative in another and that verbs alternate between different aspects (e.g. Levin & Rappaport Hovav 2014). I examine a few verbs diachronically that are ambiguous in the Keller & Sorace work, i.e. verbs of continuation and of controlled motional process, and conclude that a more fine-grained system is helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I give an analysis of the syntax of the antipassive construction in the Eskimo-Aleut language family. In this account, I follow previous works, such as Benua (1997), Basilico (2004, 2012), Aldridge (2012), and Johns and Kučerová (2017) and posit that the antipassive, oblique argument occupies a different position than the transitive, absolutive object. However, I do not argue that the absolutive direct object argument and the oblique antipassive object occupy the same base position. Instead, I analyze the antipassive marker as an element which creates an argument position: it turns the verb to which it is attached from a predicate of events into a relation between an event and an entity, introducing the undergoer thematic role predicate and its argument. By considering that the antipassive morpheme introduces an argument, rather than saturating or demoting one, we explain a number of interesting phenomena: why 'agentive' verbs do not appear with an antipassive morpheme while 'patientive' verbs do, why the antipassive is associated with the inchoative as well as the applicative, and why transitive impersonal verbs do not undergo antipassivization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the phenomenon of lability (ambitransitivity), in other words, the ability of a verb to be either transitive or intransitive. I analyze the historical development of verbs which are currently labile in modern Russian. The main group of Russian labile verbs includes verbs of motion. On the basis of corpus and dictionary data, I conclude that the behavior of the lexemes under analysis is far from being uniform. However, interestingly, for most of them, e.g., lit' 'flow/pour', gonjat' 'run, drive/chase, pursue', and kružit' 'go round, turn, roll', the proportion of the intransitive use grows throughout the period under analysis, though for the verb kapat'/kapnut' 'drop, pour in drips', in contrast, the transitive use becomes more and more frequent. In the cases when the intransitive use becomes more frequent, the semantic change matches the statistical one. In the beginning, verbs of this subtype were only used intransitively in a restricted type of contexts (e.g., for gonjat' 'run, drive/chase, pursue', hunting contexts represent this restricted class), where the intransitive use might be a result of object omission. Later on, the semantic range of the intransitive use became wider and the lability was no longer semantically related to object omission. I conclude that the emergence of an intransitive use of a strictly transitive verb or the increase of the number of intransitive uses is often accompanied by semantic changes: first, a verb is used intransitively in a very restricted range of contexts (for the verb gonjat' these include hunting contexts). Then, the range of contexts and the semantics of the intransitive use becomes wider, the number of intransitive uses grows and the verb becomes canonically labile with both uses being equally or almost equally frequent. Importantly, the borderline between A- and P-lability is not as strict as it is put sometimes: P-lability (the causative/non-causative alternation) can in some cases be traced back to A-lability (object omission). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to an article in this issue of the journal by Stefan Müller and Stephen Wechsler titled "Lexical approaches to argument structure," focusing on the usage of lexical and phrasal approaches to English language argument structure. Topics include the constructional approach to grammar, the terminological issues of sentence constructions, and sets of semantic constraints and valence information in verbs.

The article focuses on the usage of argument structure constructionist (ASC) approach in verb template. Mentioned is the usage of an idiom in lexical representations, along with the dynamic processes in verb's arguments. Also discussed is the utilization of constructionist approaches in the lexicon of single words.

In this paper I examine an animacy-related encoding alternation in Dutch generally observed with verbs denoting physical contact. This largely unnoticed pattern in Dutch is reminiscent of the phenomenon of Differential Object Marking (DOM) as attested in a large number of languages. I will argue that the Dutch pattern should indeed be interpreted as DOM albeit of a specific type. I claim Dutch DOM to be an instance of paradigmatic DOM used to signal a thematic difference between two groups of objects, that of animate and inanimate ones. Crucially, animate, but not inanimate, undergoers exhibit the property of sentience, a predicate entailment shown to be associated with the undergoer argument of physical contact verbs in Dutch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used free association and verbal fluency tasks to investigate verbargument constructions (VACs) and the ways in which their processing is sensitive to statistical patterns of usage (verb type-token frequency distribution, VAC-verb contingency, verb-VAC semantic prototypicality). In experiment 1, 285 native speakers of English generated the first word that came to mind to fill the V slot in 40 sparse VAC frames such as ‘he ____ across the. . . .', ‘it ____ of the. . . .', etc. In experiment 2, 40 English speakers generated as many verbs that fit each frame as they could think of in a minute. For each VAC, we compared the results from the experiments with corpus analyses of verb selection preferences in 100 million words of usage and with the semantic network structure of the verbs in these VACs. For both experiments, multiple regression analyses predicting the frequencies of verb types generated for each VAC show independent contributions of (i) verb frequency in the VAC, (ii) VAC-verb contingency and (iii) verb prototypicality in terms of centrality within the VAC semantic network. VAC processing involves rich associations, tuned by verb type and token frequencies and their contingencies of usage, which interface syntax, lexis and semantics. We consider the implications for the mental representation of VACs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the processing correlates of core verb features used to generate verb typologies. The aim was to contrast the effects of verb inter-nal structure (as in semantic/conceptual features e.g., Jackendoff [1991]; Levin and Rappaport Hovav [2005]) with argument structure and argument realization in sentence processing. To this end, we designed a self-paced reading task with internal structure and argument realization as variables in verb processing. Re-sults showed that absence of a prototypical Agent or mismatch between thematic hierarchies and argument realization yields longer processing times possibly due to some form of thematic reanalysis or as a reaction to a "surprise" effect by the human processor while detecting a non-expected thematic assignment. No ef-fects of verb internal structure were found. We take this result as an indication that argument structure and argument realization play an important role in verb recognition during sentence processing. We further propose that this reflects their prominent role in verb representation and we suggest that this finding could give additional support to verb classifications based on verb argument structure features compared to those based on internal structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aspect Hypothesis assumes that - in early interlanguages - the perfective past spreads from telic to atelic verbs because events occuring in the past are easier to be associated with predicates having an inherent endpoint in their lexico-conceptual representation. In this study it is questioned whether for initial L2ers knowing the general meaning of a verb entails knowing also its actional template and that learners have innate principles that drive them to distinguish telic and atelic verbs from scratch. Data from our experiment of prompted narrative suggest that L1 English, L2 Italian tutored learners — although having knowledge of some telic verbs of motion — prefer to use the underspecified andare 'go' and to build telicity compositionally. The overuse of most frequent and "basic verbs" and the promotion of adjuncts to the rank of real arguments is a challenge for both the Aspect Hypothesis and the parametric view to the acquisition of the tense-aspect system in a second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I show that in Tseltal (Mayan), constructions with aspectual auxiliary only admit third-person internal arguments, whereas embedding verbs that assign ergative case exhibit no such restriction. I offer an account of this contrast in terms of multiple-agree account of person-case constraint (PCC, Anagnostopoulou 2003; Anagnostopoulou 2005; Bejar and Rezac 2003) and inherent case theory of ergative case (Woolford 1997; Legate 2008; Aldridge 2007; Anand and Nevins 2006 inter alia). I show that the presence of PCC effects with aspectual verbs and absence of this restriction with transitive embedding verbs is predicted by these two theories. I then extend my account of PCC in Tseltal to show that some nominal ergative splits can be accounted for using the same framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]