The case of unaccusative mismatch in English

Abstract

The paper examines the unaccusative-unergative dichotomy of predicates, with a special focus laid on the class status of the verb TO DIE in English. The paper begins with a view of unaccusativity in the light of the Lexicon-Syntax Interface. Further, the verb TO DIE is tested against the six syntactic unaccusativity diagnostics valid for English. In consequence, the first three diagnostics (auxiliary selection, causative alternation and resultative constructions) do not work for the verb TO DIE, while the last three diagnostics (adjectival participle, there-insertion, locative inversion) appear to have been satisfied. This would lead us to the conclusion that the verb TO DIE should be regarded as a real example of an Unaccusative Mismatch (Levin 1986).

Keywords

• intransitive predicates
• unaccusativity diagnostics
• reflexive constructions
• adjectival principles
• there-insertion and locative inversion