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Re: Unaccusative vs unergative ...

From:Muke Tever <alrivera@...>
Date:Tuesday, April 17, 2001, 2:00
> The distinction between unaccusative and unergative verbs is structural.
The
> idea is this: Transitive verbs have two structural positions or
relations,
> which we could call the "subject" position/relation and the "object" > position/relation. Unergative verbs are intransitives in which the single > argument has the basic properties of a subject. In cases where unergative > verbs alternate with transitives, the subject of the unergative
corresponds
> to the subject of the transitive: > > Transitive: John ate the sushi. > Unergative: John ate. > > Unaccusative verbs are intransitives in which the single argument has some
of
> the properties usually associated with the object position/relation. In > cases where unaccusative verbs alternate with transitives, the subject of
the
> unaccusative corresponds to the object of the transitive: > > Transitive: John sank the ship. > Unaccusative: The ship sank.
[snip]
> Does that explain the difference adequately? If not, I'll try again...
I suppose the 'unergative' is so called because it appears in accusative or active languages only, and not in ergative ones? ... Yeah, um, I read somewhere that your "John ate" is an example of the antipassive, where (in English) the patient is marked by absence, and this type of construction (high-prominence agent in agent's core case[1], low-prominence patient in oblique case) wouldn't appear in ergative languages. [The ergative language would apparently have high-prominence agent in patient's core case and the low-prominence patient in the oblique] But, er, for 'the ship sank', for it to be unaccusative, I'd expect it to be the other passive, I mean, (agent in the oblique, patient in the patient's core case), which wouldn't be in accusative languages, but would in ergative or active langs. [Accusative langs like English would have agent in the oblique, patient in agent's core case, like in 'the ship sank' example.] Er, is that right or has my brain horrifyingly mangled another meme? *Muke! [1] Since I have no idea what it would normally be called, pretend the "agent's core case" is the normal case for an agent in a transitive sentence (nominative, etc) and the same, mutatis, for patient's. -- http://www.southern.edu/~alrivera/ Ha arkhan in ha dzaiwos zhoshirits rumalon k zhimon k.

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