Unaccusativity in English

Organization
Intransitive verbs: a homogeneous class?

Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

On there-sentences

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English There sentences

(1) a. eat an apple/see him: direct object b. rely on John: prepositional object c. wait for the train: prepositional object d. fall down __ : no object

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

The traditional approach:

Verbs which are Accusative case

assigners: Vt Verbs which cannot assign Accusative case: Vi

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

(2) a. John is running. b. John is sleeping. c. They danced yesterday. d. She didnt fall down.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

(2)
a. John is running. b. John is sleeping. c. They danced yesterday. d. She didnt fall down. one-argument verbs

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

(3) a. They rely on you.

b. *They rely.

(4) a. You can depend on me. b. *You can depend.

two-argument verbs a DP = external argument a PP = indirect internal argument

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Intransitive verbs: (i) with one argument/mono-argumental/monadic (ii) with two arguments Today: Intransitives with one argument

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Are mono-argumental intransitives all alike?

Organization

(i) How it all began:

Perlmuttter (1978) two types of mono-argumental intransitives

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

(5)
a. The boys ran to the station. b. A lot of snow melted on the streets. c. The stone rolled down the hill.

the boys : Agent a lot of snow : Patient the snow: Theme

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

TASK 1: Identify the semantic role of the argument:

The stone fell down the road. The child ran to the fence. The child stumbled down a stone. He fell down. The flowers withered in the garden. John left the country.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

some mono-argumental intransitives assign

the role of Agent to their argument, others assign the role of non-Agent
= a semantic difference

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Perlmutter (1978) :

Vi: [+agentivity] Vi: [-agentivity]

There are two sub-classes of one-argument verbs

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

The class the verb belongs to is semantically

predictable [agentivity vs. non-agentivity]

The two classes evince different syntactic

properties The difference is semantically predictable and syntactically encoded

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

A. Unaccusatives [non-agentivity]

fall, wither, stumble, appear, exist, be, etc.

A. Unergatives [agentivity]

run, dance, work, talk, walk, etc.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

no external causer unergative

e.g. cough, sneeze, hiccough, belch, burp

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Unaccusatives

Unergatives agentivity theta-role = Agent

non-agentivity theta-role =Patient/Theme

The stone rolled down the hill.

The children rolled their way across the field.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Semantically predictable?

Task 2: unaccusative or unergative?

He hammered on the table. We sneezed a lot with hay fever.

The yolk oozes out.

The bells were clanging.

A cluster of stars glowed above us.

They ran to the store.

He grumbled himself calm.

Task 2

He hammered on the table. (unergative)

We sneezed a lot with hay fever. (unergative)

The yolk oozes out. (unaccusative)

The bells were clanging. (unaccusative)

A cluster of stars glowed above us.

(unaccusative) They ran to the store. (unergative) He grumbled himself calm. (unergative)

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

So far.

unaccusatives [- agentive] : e.g. fall down unergatives [ + agentive]: e.g. dance

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

One more semantic difference: unaccusatives: mainly telic events (6) a. *The ship arrived for 10 hours. b. The flowers withered in 2 days. c. The lake froze halfway. unergatives: mainly atelic events (7) a. They danced for 10 hours. b. *They danced in 10 hours. c. *They danced halfway.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

and syntactically encoded? < prototypical subject: Agent the argument of unergatives: subject-like properties
< prototypical object: Patient/Theme the argument of unaccusatives: object-like properties

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Unaccusatives [ _ V DP ] __ roll the stone __ fall the child

Unergatives [DP V _ ] The child ran __ The man laughed __

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Unaccusatives:

VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP fall the child

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unacusativity diagnostics in English

Unaccusatives:

Unergatives

VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP fall the child

VP 3 Spec V DP 3 V _ laughed the child

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

unaccusatives have a D-Structure internal argument

unergatives have a D-Structure external argument

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

BUT:
(8) a. ___fell the child .

b. The child fell. vs. (9) I ate the apple.

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Burzios Generalization: a verb which has no external argument cannot assign Accusative case (prototypical) unaccusatives do not project an external argument they cannot assign Accusative case, not even to cognate objects:

(10) She smiled a beautiful smile. [unergative +cognate object] (11) *They fell a bad fall. [*unaccusative + cognate object]

Summing up
Unaccusatives their argument:Patient/Th
select an internal argument lack an external argument

Unergatives their argument : Agent

select an external argument lack an internal argument

are unable to assign

can assign Accusative case

Accusative case
mainly telic events

in special configurations
mainly atelic events

unaccusatives

unergatives

VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP

VP 3 Spec V DP 3 V ___

Task 3: Give the D-structure representation of the following Ss

The children all laughed. The stone rolled down the hill. She smiled a beautiful smile. The book fell off the table. The flowers in the garden withered.

Perlmutters list

(1)non-agentive: burn, fall, drop, sink, float, slide, slip, glide,

hang, dangle, sway, wave, tremble, shake, drown, stumble, trip, roll, succumb, dry, blow away, boil, seethe, lie (involuntary), sit(involuntary), bend (involuntary) (2) inchoatives: melt, freeze, evaporate, redden, darken, yellow, rot, decompose, germinate, sprout, bud, wilt, wither, increase, decrease, blush, explode, die, vanish, disappear.

Perlmutters list

(3) verbs of existing and happening: exist, occur, happen, take,

place, result. (4) aspectual predicates: begin, commence, start, stop, cease, continue, end, resume, halt, proceed, terminate (5) the so-called duratives: last, remain, stay, survive (6) verbs denoting non-voluntary emission of stimuli that impinge on the senses: shine, sparkle, glitter, glisten, glow, jingle, clink, clang, snap, crackle, pop, smell, stink (Perlmutter 1978:162163)
<http://www.unibuc.ro/prof/avram_l/docs/2013/ian/26_13_31_36Avram_200 6_Chapter_4.pdf>

Introduction Mono-argumental intransitives Unaccusativity diagnostics in English

Semantically predictable and

syntactically encoded

Types of diagnostics
(1) Diagnostics which show that the argument was

base-generated in the complement position of V (and then moved to Spec IP) < Q: does the argument have the properties of a constituent which merges in the complement position of V?

Types of diagnostics
(2) Diagnostics which show that the only argument of V occupies the complement position of V (it merged and has remained in a VP-internal position)

< Q: does the argument occur in the complement position of V?

Task 4: Are all the sentences below well-formed?

a. b. c. d. e.

There developed a problem. There appeared a ship on the horizon. There was a boy in the garden. There melted a lot of snow on the streets. There laughed many children in the park.

Task 4

a. b. c. d.

There developed a problem. There appeared a ship on the horizon. There was a boy in the garden. *There melted a lot of snow on the streets. e. * There laughed many children in the park. Intransitive verbs differ with respect to there-sentences

Task 5: Are all the sentences below well-formed?

a. b. c. d.

The river froze solid. The door slid open. John laughed sick. John laughed himself sick. e. The river froze itself solid. f. They ran their shoes threadbare.

Task 5

a. The river froze solid. = a resultative phrase b. The door slid open. c. *John laughed sick. d. John laughed himself sick. e. *The river froze itself solid. f. They ran their shoes threadbare. Intransitives behave differently with respect to resultative phrases

Task 6

rusted pipes decayed vegetation recently arrived guest an existed solution a trembled tree

Task 6

rusted pipes decayed vegetation recently arrived guest *an existed solution *a trembled tree
Intransitive verbs behave differently with respect to the ability of their past participle of being used as a noun modifier

Task 7

In the distance appeared a beautiful ship. In the forest melted a lot of snow. In the attic broke many windows.

Task 7

In the distance appeared a beautiful ship. *In the forest melted a lot of snow. *In the attic broke many windows.

The inventory There-sentences

In the distance appeared a beautiful ship.

Preposition phrase

the subject in post-V

position = location locative inversion

Unaccusativity diagnostics in English There-sentences

In the distance appeared a beautiful ship. = OK

BUT: * In the forest melted a lot of snow. * In the attic broke many windows. Not all intransitives can occur in locative inversion structures

Summing up
one-argument intransitives do not represent a

homogeneous class. They behave differently with respect to:

there-sentences locative inversion resultative phrases the ability of their past participle of occurring as a pre-noun modifier cognate object

So far.
Diagnostic There-sentences Locative inversion Unaccusatives yes yes Unergatives no no

Resultative phrases

yes

The past participle can occur DPinternally Cognate object

Yes if [+telic]

only with a fake reflexive or with a DP (possession relation) no

no

yes

There-sentences

(1) a. *There smiled many students. b. *There danced a girl in the street.
(2)a. There was a book on the table. b. There remained two students in the room.

Unergatives cannot occur in there-sentences

Task 1

(3) a. There melted a lot of snow in the streets. b. There dried all the clothes on the clothes line. c. There burned a flag in a corner of the room. d. There smoldered a flag in a corner of the room.

Task 1

(3) a.*There melted a lot of snow in the streets. b.* There dried all the clothes on the clothes line. c.*There burned a flag in a corner of the room. d.*There smoldered a flag in a corner of the room. Unaccusatives denoting a definite change of state cannot appear in there-constructions.

There-sentences

Only unaccusatives which denote existence and coming into existence ( i.e. existence in a general sense) can appear in thereconstructions.

There-sentences

(4) There stood a man in the doorway.

There V DP (PP)

inside verbals unstressed non-deictic there in sentenceinitial position an intransitive (unaccusative) verb the DP argument is placed in post-verbal position/ adjacent to the verb

There-sentences

(5) a. There darted into the room a little boy.

b.*There darted a little boy into the room. (6) a. Suddenly there walked into the room a unicorn. b.* Suddenly there walked a unicorn into the room. (7) a. There ran into the room a man so handsome that he must have been a movie star. b. * There ran a man into the room...

There-sentences

There V PP DP

outside verbals The domain of outside verbals is not restricted to unaccusatives (typically: unergatives of motion) Outside verbals : not an unaccusativity test

Task 2

(8)There came to his mind her beautiful and intelligent face. (Quirk et al.) (9)Once upon a time there lived on the other side of the forest a monster who demanded yearly tribute. (10)There walked into the courtroom two people I had thought were dead. (11) There swam towards me someone carrying a harpoon. (12)There danced towards us a couple dressed like Napoleon and Josephine. (13) Late at night there crept into the village a silent band of soldiers.

Task 2

(8)There came to his mind her beautiful and intelligent face.

(Quirk et al.) (9)Once upon a time there lived on the other side of the forest a monster who demanded yearly tribute. (10)There walked into the courtroom two people I had thought were dead. (11)There swam towards me someone carrying a harpoon. (12)There danced towards us a couple dressed like Napoleon and Josephine. (13)Late at night there crept into the village a silent band of soldiers.

There-sentences: so far..

There-sentences:
(i) Outside verbals : There V PP DP

(ii) Inside verbals : There V DP ...

Only inside verbals are an unaccusativity diagnostic

There-sentences Verbs which can occur in inside verbals: Verbs of existence: be, exist, remain, float, linger, lurk, etc. Verbs of sound existence: echo, resonate, resound, reverberate, sound Verbs of group existence: abound, crawl, creep, swarm (14) There lingered perhaps an echo of grimness, and an echo of something else (15) Through my mind there reverberated the words from Portrait of a Lady, Memories of my dead life, and Paris in the Spring

There-sentences Verbs of appearance: appear, arise, begin, break, burst, dawn, derive, develop, emanate, emerge, flow, follow, gush, happen, etc. (16) a.In 1983, there appeared a new study of the issue by Dr R.E. b.Gradually there arose a faint humming from outside the tent as people gathered to talk . c.In 1542 there began almost a decade of fighting. d.At this moment, up in the wood, there broke out an excited yelping.

There-sentences

+ verbs of sound emission (clink, jingle) (17)There ticked a grandfather clock in the hall. + verbs of light emission (gleam, glitter, glow, shine) (18)There sparkled a diamond on her finger. There shone yet another distant sunlit hilltop.

+ verbs of motion (fall, hang, dangle, lie, stretch, swing) (19) There dangles a shiny new briefcase from his hand. From her right ear there dangled a long silver cascade of tiny orbs.

There-sentences

unergatives cannot occur in there-sentences

unaccusatives which denote a definite

change of state cannot occur in theresentences

ONLY prototypical unaccusatives (verbs

of existence) can occur in there-sentences

There-sentences

Unaccusatives fall into two classes: (i) Unaccusatives which have a transitive counterpart

(20) The soup cooled. achievement: BECOME be _ (21) John cooled the soup. accomplishment CAUSE BECOME be _

There-sentences

(22) a. The window broke. b. Pat broke the window. (23) a. The sky cleared. b. The wind cleared the sky. (24) a. The door opened. b. John opened the window.

There-sentences

(ii) unaccusatives with no transitive counterpart:

verbs of existence (25) a. * He appeared a book on the table. b. * Her job lived my mother in Boston. c. *The thief disappeared the bicycle.

Task 3 : Which of the following sentences are illformed?

There remained three men in the room.

There stood six statues of the martyrs on the lawn. There was a moments silence. There followed a great flood of indignation in the

newspaper. There appeared a shadowy figure in the doorway.

Task 3: Which of the following sentences are ill-formed?

There remained three men in the room. There stood six statues of the martyrs on the

lawn. There was a moments silence. There followed a great flood of indignation in the newspaper.

.
Task 4: Which of the following sentences are ill-formed?

There sparkled a magnificent diamond on her

finger. There withered all the flowers in the vase. There danced many beautiful girls in that room. There dried all the grapes. There lingered the smell of onion all over the kitchen.

Task 4: Which of the following sentences are ill-formed?

There sparkled a magnificent diamond on her

finger. *There withered all the flowers in the vase. *There danced many beautiful girls in that room. *There dried all the grapes. There lingered the smell of onion all over the kitchen.

Task: Which of the following sentences are ill-formed?

There lurked danger in the air.

There are working three students in the

garden. There talked three policemen to the crowd. There melted all the ice cream in the cup. Once upon a time there lived on the other side of the forest a monster who demanded yearly tribute.

Task 4: Which of the following sentences are illformed?

There lurked danger in the air.

*There are working three students in the

garden. *There talked three policemen to the crowd. *There melted all the ice cream in the cup. Once upon a time there lived on the other side of the forest a monster who demanded yearly tribute.

Task 5: Which of the following sentences are illformed?

There dried all the clothes on the

clothes line. There appeared a man in the valley. There swam three boys to the shore. There barked a dog in the distance.

Task 5: Which of the following sentences are ill-formed?

*There dried all the clothes on the

clothes line. There appeared a man in the valley. *There swam three boys to the shore. *There barked a dog in the distance.

Summing up
There-sentences (inside verbals):
(i) Prototypical unaccusatives, i.e. verbs of

existence and verbs of appearance = OK (ii) Unaccusatives which denote a definite change of state: NO (iii) Unergatives: NO (iv) Transitives: NO

There-sentences

Why can only verbs of existence occur in there-sentences? + why are unergatives excluded? + why are unaccusatives which denote a change of state excluded?

There-sentences

A semantic explanation:
there-sentences (existential sentences) are interpreted as expressing the coming into being of some entity and the location of this entity < some early analyses of there-sentences focused on the idea of location:
(26) There is a God (in the universe).

There-sentences

Lyons (1967) it might appear reasonable to say that all existential sentences are at least implicitly locative the sentences containing there express propositions concerning existence, which means that there is associated with the idea of existence. some linguists have analysed it as an existential operator

< there co-occurs with a locative PP

There-sentences

A syntactic explanation:

< the different D-structures of the two classes of intransitives

(i) With unaccusatives the argument merges in

complement position (ii) With unergatives the argument merges in the Specifier position

I There -sentences

Unaccusatives

Unergatives

VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP fall
the child

VP 3 Spec V DP 3 V _ laughed the child

There-sentences

There remained two students in the room. Case position Theta-role position

There-sentences

IP 3 Spec I there 3 I VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP rolled the stone

There-sentences

IP 3 Spec I there 3 I VP 3 Spec V 3 V PP 2 5 V DP rolled the stone on the floor

A challenge:

(27) a. Once there ruled a king who had no ears. b. *Once there ruled a king with an iron hand. = basically unergative = OK = actually reinterpreted as unaccusative

There-sentences

IP 3 Spec I there 3 I VP 3 Spec V 3 V DP ruled a king

A challenge

(28) a. *There screamed the panther. b. In this alternate world, millions of years ago, there screamed the panther, there laughed the hyena, all was as if in our own sphere. (Kuno and Takami 2004)

Summing up

Internal verbals, i.e. there-sentences = there V DP (PP) = an unaccusative diagnostic (i) They prefer Vs of existence (ii) Unergatives which occur in such sentences are reinterpreted as unaccusatives

Task
There once lived a king who had three daughters. There has just appeared a new book by Chomsky. There danced a student in the hall. There ate an apple the girl. There laughed several students during the lecture. There occurred a tragic event yesterday. There walked two prison guards into the courtroom. There walked into the courtroom two prison guards. There sang a tall woman on the stage. Suddenly there ran out of a hidden crack a very tiny mouse.

Task
There once lived a king who had three daughters. There has just appeared a new book by Chomsky. * There danced a student in the hall. * There ate an apple the girl. * There laughed several students during the lecture. There occurred a tragic event yesterday. * There walked two prison guards into the courtroom. There walked into the courtroom two prison guards. *There sang a tall woman on the stage. Suddenly there ran out of a hidden crack a very tiny mouse.

One more challenge

Unaccusatives which denote a definite change of state are banned from there-sentences: *There melted all the ice. one possible solution: maybe only verbs of existence have the internal organization of Burzios (1986) classic unaccusative VP structure (Kural 2004) vs. definite change of state unaccusatives < BECOME be _

Summing up
there-sentences allow only verbs of existence
the there-sentences test suggests that only verbs of existence

are prototypical unaccusatives: _ V DP

they can occur in there-sentences because their argument

merges in complement position

unergatives which occur in there-sentences are recategorized

as prototypical unaccusatives

Summing up
one-argument intransitives do not represent a

homogeneous class. They behave differently with respect to:

there-sentences locative inversion resultative phrases the ability of their past participle of occurring as a pre-noun modifier.