Unaccusative or unergative: The case of the English verb to die

Anna Dąbrowska

doi:10.18290/rh.2016.64.11-2

Anna Dąbrowska Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Wydział Nauk Humanistycznych

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh.2016.64.11-2

Słowa kluczowe: czasowniki nieakuzatywne; czasowniki nieergatywne; testy na nieakuzatywność; rozdźwięk w nieakuzatywności; interfejs między składnią a leksykonem; język angielski

Abstrakt

Nieakuzatywny czy nieergatywny – analiza angielskiego czasownika TO DIE ‘umrzeć’

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest zbadanie, do jakiej klasy czasowników nieprzechodnich należy czasownik TO DIE ‘umrzeć’ w języku angielskim, który jest zaliczany do semantycznie spójnej grupy tzw. czasowników znikania (obok czasowników takich jak: disappear, expire, lapse, perish, vanish). Aby określić czy badany czasownik jest nieakuzatywny czy nieergatywny, został on poddany powszechnie uznanym testom na nieakuzatywność (Perlmutter 1978; Burzio 1986; Levin i Rappaport Hovav 1995). Na podstawie wyników sześciu przeprowadzonych testów diagnostycznych pokazane jest, że badany czasownik w języku angielskim nie spełnia większości kryteriów na nieakuzatywność, a raczej reprezentuje grupę czasowników o niejasnym statusie syntaktycznym. Może być on zatem przykładem tzw. Unaccusative Mismatch ‘Rozdźwięku w nieakuzatywności’ (Levin 1986), tj. zjawiska, w którym dwa lub więcej testów diagnostycznych potwierdzających nieakuzatywność nie jest spełnionych przez dany czasownik (por. Grimshaw 1987; Zaenen 1993; Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995).

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