Variable argument realization in Lithuanian impersonals
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James E. Lavine
Abstract
This article considers the kind of information that is relevant for determining argument structure, and how this information is encoded syntactically. The approach I take here, anchored largely in Reinhart’s (2002) Theta System, contributes both to the widely discussed question of underspecification in argument structure and to our understanding of a specific construction in Lithuanian, the Transitive Impersonal. The Transitive Impersonal is a construction in which accusative appears on a predicate’s Theme argument in the absence of a higher Agent. The Transitive Impersonal is one alternate in a systematic impersonalization alternation, in which the source of causation is crucially not fixed in the lexicon, but rather admits variable realization, either as a canonical (nominative) Agent or a non-volitional Causer, the latter marked by an oblique relation or not realized overtly in the syntax at all, but interpreted semantically. I advance a causative theory of accusative for which I adduce independent evidence from the Icelandic Fate Construction.
Abstract
This article considers the kind of information that is relevant for determining argument structure, and how this information is encoded syntactically. The approach I take here, anchored largely in Reinhart’s (2002) Theta System, contributes both to the widely discussed question of underspecification in argument structure and to our understanding of a specific construction in Lithuanian, the Transitive Impersonal. The Transitive Impersonal is a construction in which accusative appears on a predicate’s Theme argument in the absence of a higher Agent. The Transitive Impersonal is one alternate in a systematic impersonalization alternation, in which the source of causation is crucially not fixed in the lexicon, but rather admits variable realization, either as a canonical (nominative) Agent or a non-volitional Causer, the latter marked by an oblique relation or not realized overtly in the syntax at all, but interpreted semantically. I advance a causative theory of accusative for which I adduce independent evidence from the Icelandic Fate Construction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
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Case marking and case alternations
- Long-distance Genitive of Negation in Lithuanian 37
- Argument marking in Baltic and Slavonic pain-verb constructions 83
- Variable argument realization in Lithuanian impersonals 107
- The nominative case in Baltic in a typological perspective 137
- Differential Argument Marking with the Latvian debitive 199
- Contexts for the choice of genitive vs. instrumental in contemporary Lithuanian 259
- The directive/locative alternation in Lithuanian and elsewhere 333
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Extending argument structure
- Verbal prefixation and argument structure in Lithuanian 363
- Resultative secondary predicates in the Baltic languages 403
- On periphrastic causative constructions in Lithuanian and Latvian 427
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Nominalizations and their arugument structure
- Argument realization in Latvian action nominal constructions 461
- Lithuanian nominalizations and the case marking of their arguments 523
- Language index 551
- Name index 553
- Subject index 555
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Case marking and case alternations
- Long-distance Genitive of Negation in Lithuanian 37
- Argument marking in Baltic and Slavonic pain-verb constructions 83
- Variable argument realization in Lithuanian impersonals 107
- The nominative case in Baltic in a typological perspective 137
- Differential Argument Marking with the Latvian debitive 199
- Contexts for the choice of genitive vs. instrumental in contemporary Lithuanian 259
- The directive/locative alternation in Lithuanian and elsewhere 333
-
Extending argument structure
- Verbal prefixation and argument structure in Lithuanian 363
- Resultative secondary predicates in the Baltic languages 403
- On periphrastic causative constructions in Lithuanian and Latvian 427
-
Nominalizations and their arugument structure
- Argument realization in Latvian action nominal constructions 461
- Lithuanian nominalizations and the case marking of their arguments 523
- Language index 551
- Name index 553
- Subject index 555
