Experiencer im Sprachvergleich: Zur Typologie der Psych-Alternation in Morphologie, Syntax und Diskurs
Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Experimentelle Linguistik, Typologie, Außereuropäische Sprachen
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The project addressed research questions on the syntax, semantics and discourse properties of psych constructions triggered by systematic morpho-syntactic distinctions implemented in the socalled psych alternation, i.e. systematically related structures that accommodate the experiencer in a higher vs. lower syntactic position; cf. e.g. the object vs. subject alternation in fascinate vs. be fascinated. The key achievements and insights on the morphological typology of the psych alternation are: • We developed a highly adaptive cross-linguistically applicable, scenario-based elicitation method for the lexico-syntactic domain of alternating psych predicates. • We created a typological database of parallel morphological and syntactic data on the psych alternation for 26 languages from 5 macro-areas, encoding 24 categories. • Our results support previous typological observations on valency-orientation for the psych domain: languages favor a specific derivational directionality (in terms of transitivizing, intransitivizing, underspecified), with varying degrees of admixture from other strategies. • Directionality patterns can be partly predicted by areality; in particular, Indo-European languages stand out in being highly intransitivizing and in showing the least amount of variability in terms of coexisting strategies. • Morphological alignment is a strong predictor for valency orientation in the psych domain, the strongest correlation holding between ergative alignment and an underspecified (=undirected) alternation. • Morphologically rich languages systematically abandon the binary canonically assumed for causative alternations in favor of a triad of stative - inchoative - causative forms, owing to the inherent stativity of experiential situations. The project investigated the typological differences in morphological structure in their impact on the semantics and syntax of experiential verbs. When considering agentive/eventive readings of psych predicates, both transitivizing and detransitivizing languages did not differ concerning the semantics in crucial aspectual and role properties of their verbs. In particular, we found that • EO predicates mostly differ from canonical accomplishment predicates in denoting causation of (the initiation of) a state, and in being atelic. • (Gradient) agentivity (of the stimulus subject) is the crucial predictor for the possibility of cancelling a culmination reading (in line with the Agent Control Hypothesis). Results from the crosslinguistic corpus study regarding the impact of morphological directionality on subject choice and argument linearization reveal the following: • In languages with non-canonical EO verbs (Greek, German) experiencer-first effects appear if additional factors (=asymmetries in animacy or in referentiality) license experiencer fronting whereas in languages with canonical EO verbs (Chinese, Turkish), there was no significant difference between canonical verbs and EO verbs in object fronting related to thematic role. • Differences in the type of psych alternation did not play out in the corpus results: Choice of subject in natural (written) discourse is prominence-related and can be explained by effects of animacy, referentiality, and thematic role, i.e. all languages independent of different morphosyntactic properties (transitivizing/detransitivizing; (non-)canonicity of EOs; specific alternation strategies of (medio)passive, (anti-)causative) displayed very similar effects.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
- 2017. Scales or features in verb meaning? Verb classes as predictors of syntactic behavior. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 31: 165-194
Verhoeven, Elisabeth
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00007.ver) - 2019. Reflexivizing Spanish psych-verbs: Ambiguities across classes. In Jenny Audring, Nikos Koutsoukos and Christina Manouilidou (Eds.), The 12th Mediterranean Morphology Meetings (MMM12), 42-53. Online Proceedings, University of Ljubljana. Pasithee
Machicao y Priemer, Antonio and Fritz-Huechante, Paola
- 2019. Tiers for fears and other emotions: A crosslinguistic approach to psych lexis and syntax. In Anja Gattner, Robin Hörnig, Melanie Störzer and Sam Featherston (eds.), Proceedings of Linguistic Evidence 2018, 326–340. Tübingen: University of Tübingen
Rott, Julian and Elisabeth Verhoeven
(Siehe online unter https://dx.doi.org/10.15496/publikation-32606) - 2020. Agentivity and nonculminating causation in the psych domain: Cross-linguistic evidence from Spanish and Korean. Glossa 5 (1): 128.1-35
Fritz-Huechante, Paola, Elisabeth Verhoeven, and Julian Rott
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.896) - 2020. Boundaries at play: Se in the Spanish psych domain. Lingvisticæ Investigationes 43 (1), 62-94
Machicao y Priemer, Antonio and Paola Fritz-Huechante
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00040.mac) - 2020. Valence orientation and psych properties: Towards a typology of the psych alternation. Open Linguistics 6, 1-23
Rott, Julian A., Elisabeth Verhoeven, and Paola Fritz-Huechante
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2020-0020)
