Split Intransitivity

The so-called Unnacusative Hypothesis or Split Intransitivity entails the existence of two kinds of intransitive verbs (unergative and unnacusative), a gradual semantic distinction, associated to features of telicity or agentivity and reflected –to a greater or lesser extent– in certain morpho-syntactic behaviors of languages. Well then, taking into account the crosslinguistic studies on split intransitivity, my purpose is to show that this distinction between the two basic types of intransitivity may not only be extended to Latin but can also help us to understand such apparently disparate phenomena as the extension of the internal accusative or cognate object (vitam vivere), the formation of agent nouns in –tor or the impersonal passivization with intransitive verbs (acriter pugnatur).

Split-intransitive systems of argument marking provide an excellent
opportunity to study the structure of the lexical-semantic representations
that underlie argument structure alternations and argument linking rules.
Yukatek Maya has a typologically rare split-intransitive pattern of argument
marking controlled by overt aspect-mood marking. Krämer & Wunderlich
(1999) have advanced an analysis according to which the linking of
thematic relations to syntactic arguments is governed by lexical aspect as
the sole lexical-semantic property linking principles are sensitive to in this
language. Critical evidence against this proposal comes from the transitivity
alternations of three classes of intransitive verbs: ‘degree achievement’
verbs, ‘non-internally-caused’ process verbs, and posture verbs. Transitivity
alternations emerge as being governed by the distinction of internally- vs.
externally-caused events. The Yukatek facts suggest that argument linking
operates on a lexical information structure (‘event structure’) that partially
determines (and thus also underspeficies) both lexical aspect and participant
structure.

This presentation demonstrates that Popoloca (Popolocan, Otomanguean; Mexico) has three-way split intransitivity in which both agentivity and lexical aspect are relevant. First I classify the non-derived verbs to establish the semantic motivations of split intransitivity, examining the use of the pronominal sets in transitive predicates to confirm the split. Second I show some diachronic changes which have obscured the semantic motivations.

The western variety of Peninsular Spanish possesses a type of causative construction in which an intransitive lexeme is used transitively. This phenomenon , called lability, is attested in three specific verbs: caer ('to fall'), quedar ('to stay') and entrar ('to enter'). As a consequence, they can induce a direct object at the expense of the standard forms tirar ('to throw'), dejar ('to leave') and meter ('to put in'). Lability has not been studied in depth for Spanish and, with this paper, I attempt to pinpoint its current extension as well as the possible semantic factors that prompt the transitivisation of these verbs.

The Guaykuruan language family consists of four living languages – Kadiwéu, Toba, Pilagá and Mocoví – and Abipon, which is now extinct. All these languages are (or were, in the case of Abipon) spoken in the South American Gran Chaco region, which extends from the south of Brazil, over the southeast of Bolivia and the west of Paraguay to the north of Argentina. The Guaykuruan languages have typically been described in the literature as belonging to the 'hierarchical alignment' type, an alignment system which is cross-linguistically rare, but well-represented in South America. Additionally, Toba, Pilagá and Mocoví are all known as active-inactive or split-S languages, whereas Kadiwéu has typically been seen as an ergative language. The aim of the present thesis is to nuance these analyses, and come to a more detailed, fine-grained image of the alignment patterns found in the verbal cross-referencing systems in declarative main clauses of the Guaykuruan languages. The methodology used in this endeavour is twofold. On the one hand, I examine whether or not the Guaykuruan languages adhere to four characteristics posited in the literature as defining features of hierarchical systems: referential hierarchy effects, obviation, explicit direction marking, and the maintenance of transitivity in inverse scenarios. On the other hand, I approach alignment from a construction-specific, person-by-person and morpheme-by-morpheme point of view. This makes it possible to express the alignment system of every grammatical person in a language in terms of subsystems which conform to classical nominative-accusative, ergative-absolutive or other alignment patterns. By averaging the percentages of the alignment systems of every separate person for which these subsystems account, the total alignment system of a language can be calculated. The application of this methodology to the Guaykuruan languages led to several interesting findings. Firstly, it was noted that Pilagá and Toba each have a number of morphemes which align [Sa, O] vs. [So, A], an alignment system not noted before in the literature on any language, as far as I know. Secondly, two continuums were found in the data. On the one hand, the geographical location of the Guaykuruan languages seems to be a reliable predictor for the strength of ergative and activeinactive characteristics. Both systems are strongest in Kadiwéu, the northernmost language, and diminish in strenght the further one goes to the south. 
Hierarchical characteristics and accusative alignment, on the other hand, do not conform to this same continuum. There is still a clear divide between Kadiwéu and the three other languages, with Kadiwéu showing by far the strongest hierarchical effects and the weakest accusative alignment. The internal variation between Mocoví, Pilagá and Toba, however, corresponds to the Guaykuruan family tree rather than to their geographical location. In the last part of this thesis, I propose that the geographical effects visible in the distribution of alignment systems in the Guaykuruan languages can be plausibly explained by recurring to language contact. In particular, it is not inconceivable that Kadiwéu maintained ergativity and hierarchical effects to a stronger degree than the three other languages because of its close relationships to a number of Arawakan and Tupí-Guaranían languages. The stronger presence of accusativity in Toba, Pilagá and Mocoví, then, I attribute to the influence they plausibly experienced from the Matacoan languages, and in particular Wichí. The accuracy of these posited areal effects is an interesting topic for further research, as is a possible explanation for the internal differences between Toba, Pilagá and Mocoví.

The article discusses how split intransitivity phenomenon is observed in Turkish in terms of aspectual notions such as agentivity and telicity; different grammatical constructions such as impersonal passives and adjectival passives, and derivational morphology. It observes that agentivity is the key factor affecting split intransitivity in Turkish alongside telicity and these determine the unaccusative-unergative distinction of verbs of manner of motion, verbs of emission and reflexive verbs in Turkish. The article proposes that verbs of emission seem to be unaccusative while reflexives behave more like unergatives. Our findings imply that variable behavior of intransitive verbs can be handled under an event structure analysis where different functional heads give theta role to a NP merged in their domain. Thus, there is no need for a lexical derivation or rule for accounting the facts on unaccusativity.

RESUMO: Neste artigo, exploramos o alinhamento morfossintático do Chiquitano Migueleño. Seguindo a análise de Sans (2013), consideramos as três principais classes verbais e chegamos à conclusão de que uma dessas classes compreende derivações verbais restritas a uma construção específica (a "construção de objeto marcado"). Na construção não marcada, o alinhamento do Chiquitano pode ser descrito como "agentivo-tripartido", apresentando uma cisão intransitiva. Apenas verbos transitivos ocorrem na construção de objeto marcado, impossibilitando uma caracterização dessa construção em termos de alinhamento morfossintático. Levantamos ainda uma hipótese de acordo com a qual os "marcadores de classe" teriam sua origem em marcadores de caso posposicionais.

Como es sabido, las lenguas distinguen dos tipos fundamentales de verbos intransitivos, inergativos e inacusativos, según que el sujeto sea Agente (luchar, bailar, saltar) o Paciente (morir, caer, llegar), respectivamente.  Se trata de una distinción gradual, de naturaleza semántica, y que se refleja en determinados comportamientos morfosintácticos en lenguas tipológicamente muy diversas (Burzio 1986, Sorace 2000, Manente 2008). Esta distinción entre estos dos tipos básicos de intransitividad es también extensible al latín (Baños 2015): así, los verbos inergativos presentan con frecuencia un acusativo interno (pugnam pugnare), documentan nombres de agente en -tor (pugnator) o se emplean en pasiva impersonal (acriter pugnatur), tres fenómenos vedados, en mayor o menor medida, a los verbos inacusativos.
Pues bien, el propósito de esta comunicación es mostrar cómo el empleo de venio in + ac. (“llegar”) e incido (“caer”) en colocaciones verbo-nominales del tipo in mentem venire (“venir a la mente”) o in morbum incidere (“caer en la enfermedad”) es un buen ejemplo de la validez de la distinción  entre los dos tipos de verbos intransitivos en latín. Y es que venio e incido configuran colocaciones diatéticamente pasivas en congruencia con el carácter inacusativo de estos dos verbos intransitivos. La elección del verbo colocativo está, en tales casos, semánticamente condicionada.

This article compares the alignments of the languages from the Arawakan family, one of the largest linguistic families of South America; in other words, how these languages encode the arguments of intransitive and transitive predicates. It had been shown that most of these languages are characterized by split intransitivity, more precisely by what will be called nominative-absolutive alignment, where an intransitive predicate takes nominative or absolutive agreement according to semantic, pragmatic or morphosyntactic factors. Two major subtypes are observed. In the first, one set of person markers is lexically assigned to a particular intransitive predicate, while in the second, depending on non-lexical factors, a predicate can accept one set or the other. After providing some information on the terminology used, we focus on the different motivations and realizations of this alignment. We also point to other alignments like nominative-accusative or tripartite and the possible diachronic changes who could have led to their presence within the Arawakan family. The study is based on first and second hand data.