Causatives in Minimalism (Linguistik Aktuell Linguistics Today)

315 Pages·2011·2.13 MB·English

by  Mercedes Tubino Blanco

Causatives in Minimalism
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today (LA)
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today (LA) provides a platform for original monograph
studies into synchronic and diachronic linguistics. Studies in LA confront empirical
and theoretical problems as these are currently discussed in syntax, semantics,
morphology, phonology, and systematic pragmatics with the aim to establish robust
empirical generalizations within a universalistic perspective.
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General Editors
Werner Abraham Elly van Gelderen
University of Vienna / Arizona State University
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Advisory Editorial Board
Josef Bayer Christer Platzack
University of Konstanz University of Lund
Cedric Boeckx Ian Roberts
ICREA/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Cambridge University
Guglielmo Cinque Lisa deMena Travis
University of Venice McGill University
Liliane Haegeman Sten Vikner
University of Ghent University of Aarhus
Hubert Haider C. Jan-Wouter Zwart
University of Salzburg University of Groningen
Terje Lohndal
University of Maryland
Volume 179
Causatives in Minimalism
by Mercedes Tubino Blanco
Causatives in Minimalism
Mercedes Tubino Blanco
University of Sonora, México
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tubino Blanco, Mercedes.
  Causatives in Minimalism / Mercedes Tubino Blanco.
       p. cm. (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, issn 0166-0829 ; v. 179)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.  Causative (Linguistics) 2.  Minimalist theory (Linguistics)  I. Title.
P292.B53 2011
415’.6--dc22 2011014033
isbn 978 90 272 5562 4 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 8659 8 (Eb)
© 2011 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
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John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
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To Kip (twice)

Table of contents
Acknowledgements xiii
Abbreviations and symbols xv
Introduction xvii
chapter 1
Contrasts in causatives 1
1. Contrasts in causatives 1
2. Variation in lexical causatives: The causative-inchoative alternation 1
3. Variation in productive causatives 5
chapter 2
Theoretical framework 11
1. Introduction 11
2. Introducing Pylkkänen (2002, 2008) 11
2.1 The data 11
2.2 The lexical vs. productive distinction 12
2.3 Causation and the causer 13
2.3.1 Causation: An argument increasing phenomenon? 14
2.3.2 The interpretation of the causer-less causatives 15
2.3.2.1 The adversity interpretation: Japanese 15
2.3.2.2 The desiderative interpretation: Finnish 16
2.3.3 Concluding, causers are not intrinsic to causation 21
3. Pylkkänen’s pieces of causation 21
3.1 The syntax and semantics of Cause 21
3.1.1 Pylkkänen’s Cause 22
3.1.2 Cause: A little history 23
3.1.2.1 Larson’s VP-shells 23
3.1.2.2 Light verbs and complex predication 24
3.1.2.3 Light verbs with null phonological content 25
3.1.2.4 Different ‘flavors’ of v 26
3.1.3 Summary 28
3.2 Kratzer’s (1994, 1996) Voice 29
viii Causatives in Minimalism
4. Pylkkänen’s Voice-bundling parameter 33
4.1 Voice and Cause: Two different functional heads 33
4.2 The Voice-bundling parameter 34
5. Selection 36
5.1 Cause is parameterized for selection 36
5.1.1 Marantz (1997): Acategorial roots 37
5.1.2 The Selection parameter 39
5.2 Summary 44
6. Voice-bundling and selection working in tandem 44
6.1 Voice-bundling + Root selecting 45
6.2 Non-Voice-bundling Cause and embedded agents 47
6.3 Summary 48
6.4 Pylkkänen’s predictions 49
7. Discussion and conclusion 50
chapter 3
Exploring Root causatives 53
1. Introduction 53
2. Hiaki lexical causatives 54
2.1 Causatives in Hiaki 54
2.2 Japanese 55
2.3 Hiaki lexical causatives 57
2.3.1 Hiaki lexical v : Root selecting 58
CAUSE
2.3.2 Hiaki is non-Voice-bundling 65
2.3.3 Summary 67
2.4 Hiaki and Japanese lexical causatives contrasted 67
2.4.1 Unergatives do not root-causativize in Hiaki 67
2.4.2 The adversity interpretation of transitive die 72
2.5 Other suppletive forms in Hiaki 78
2.5.1 A case study: die crosslinguistically 79
2.5.2 Suppletion in lexical causatives 80
2.5.3 Kill as a suppletive lexical causative 82
2.6 Summary 84
3. Root causativization of unaccusatives and Voice-bundling 85
3.1 Suppletion cannot explain all cases 87
3.2 Testing unaccusativity 88
3.2.1 break 92
3.2.2 arrive and appear 93
3.2.3 break vs {arrive/appear} 94
3.3 The locative element 94
3.4 Word order and pro-loc in Romance 96
Table of contents ix
3.5 The deictic component and Voice-bundling 99
3.6 There-construction and locative inversion 103
3.7 Potential problems 105
3.7.1 Leave vs arrive 105
3.7.2 Japanese 109
3.8 Summary 111
4. Conclusion 112
chapter 4
English causatives with make: The role of agreement in causatives 115
1. Introduction 115
2. English productive causatives: Make 116
2.1 English v has different flavors 116
CAUSE
2.2 English make: Phase-selecting v 117
CAUSE
2.2.1 The concept of phase for Pylkkänen 117
2.2.2 On phases 118
2.2.3 VoiceP as a phase: Introductory ideas 119
2.3 Diagnostics 121
2.3.1 Internal VP modification 122
2.3.2 Intervening verbal morphology 123
2.3.3 Agentive modification under make 124
2.3.4 Intervening high applicative morphology 125
2.3.5 Causatives of unergatives and transitives 126
2.3.6 Unaccusative causatives 127
2.4 Summary 129
3. VoiceP is a phase 129
3.1 Passives contain VoiceP 129
3.2 Actives contain VoiceP: Evidence from ellipsis 132
3.3 The complement of make 136
3.5 Summary 143
4. Passive causatives with make 143
4.1 Passive make 144
4.2 A preliminary analysis 147
4.3 The nature of to in passive causatives 148
4.3.1 Hornstein et al. (2006) 148
4.3.2 Santorini & Heycock (1988) and Higginbotham (1983) 150
4.4 The role of T(ense) features in Agree relations:
Pesetsky & Torrego 154
4.4.1 The auxiliary do is an instance of T in C 154
4.4.2 That is an instance of T in C 155
4.4.3 Two types of T 156