Editing Lexical semantics (section)

=== Transitivity alternations: the inchoative/causative alternation ===
{{main article|Causative alternation}}
The change-of-state property of Verb Phrases (VP) is a significant observation for the syntax of lexical semantics because it provides evidence that subunits are embedded in the VP structure, and that the meaning of the entire VP is influenced by this internal grammatical structure. (For example, the VP ''the vase broke'' carries a change-of-state meaning of the vase becoming broken, and thus has a silent BECOME subunit within its underlying structure.) There are two types of change-of-state predicates: [[inchoative]] and [[causative]].

Inchoative verbs are [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]], meaning that they occur without a direct object, and these verbs express that their subject has undergone a certain change of state. Inchoative verbs are also known as [[anticausative]] verbs.<ref name="An Overview of Lexical Semantics">{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Kent|title=An Overview of Lexical Semantics|journal=Philosophy Compass|date=2008|volume=3 |pages=119–134|doi=10.1111/j.1747-9991.2007.00101.x |url=http://www.lps.uci.edu/~johnsonk/Publications/Johnson.AnOverviewOfLexicalSemantics.pdf}}</ref> Causative verbs are transitive, meaning that they occur with a direct object, and they express that the subject causes a change of state in the object.

Linguist [[Martin Haspelmath]] classifies inchoative/causative verb pairs under three main categories: causative, anticausative, and non-directed alternations.<ref name="Haspelmath1">{{cite book|last1=Haspelmath|first1=Martin|title=Causatives and transitivity, edited by Bernard Comrie & Maria Polinsky|chapter=More on the typology of inchoative/causative verb alternations|journal=Causatives and Transitivity|date=1993|volume=23|pages=87–121|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3452966|doi=10.1075/slcs.23.05has|series=Studies in Language Companion Series|publisher=Benjamins|isbn=978-90-272-3026-3|url=https://zenodo.org/record/227093}}</ref> Non-directed alternations are further subdivided into labile, equipollent, and suppletive alternations.
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header =
| width = 160

| image1 = Vasebreak.png
|thumb
| caption1 = Underlying tree structure for (3a)

| image2 = Johnbrokevase.png
|thumb
| caption2 = Underlying tree structure for (3b)

}}
[[English language|English]] tends to favour [[Ambitransitive verb|labile alternations]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Piñón|first1=Christopher|title=A finer look at the causative-inchoative alternation|date=2001|pages=346–364|url=http://elanguage.net/journals/salt/article/viewFile/11.346/1719}}</ref> meaning that the same verb is used in the inchoative and causative forms.<ref name="Haspelmath1" /> This can be seen in the following example: ''broke'' is an intransitive inchoative verb in (3a) and a transitive causative verb in (3b).
{|
|-
| 
 (3) '''English'''<ref name="An Overview of Lexical Semantics" />
     a. ''The vase '''broke'''.''
     b. ''John '''broke''' the vase''.
|}
As seen in the underlying tree structure for (3a), the silent subunit BECOME is embedded within the Verb Phrase (VP), resulting in the inchoative change-of-state meaning (y become z). In the underlying tree structure for (3b), the silent subunits CAUS and BECOME are both embedded within the VP, resulting in the causative change-of-state meaning (x cause y become z).<ref name="WILEY Blackwell" />

English change of state verbs are often de-adjectival, meaning that they are derived from adjectives. We can see this in the following example:
{|
|-
| 
 (4) a. ''The knot is loose.''<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Tham | first1 = S | year = 2013 | title = Change of state verbs and result state adjectives in Mandarin Chinese | journal = Journal of Linguistics | volume = 49 | issue = 3| pages = 647–701 | doi=10.1017/s0022226713000261}}</ref>
     b. ''The knot loosened.''
     c. ''Sandy loosened the knot.''
|}
In example (4a) we start with a stative intransitive adjective, and derive (4b) where we see an intransitive inchoative verb. In (4c) we see a transitive causative verb.

==== Marked inchoatives ====
Some languages (e.g., [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], and [[French language|French]]), have multiple morphological classes of inchoative verbs.<ref name="Schafer">{{cite book|last1=Schafer|first1=Florian|title=The Syntax of (Anti-)Causatives|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=9789027255099|page=1|year=2008}}</ref> Generally speaking, these languages separate their inchoative verbs into three classes: verbs that are obligatorily unmarked (they are not marked with a [[reflexive pronoun]], [[clitic]], or [[affix]]), verbs that are optionally marked, and verbs that are obligatorily marked. The causative verbs in these languages remain unmarked. [[Martin Haspelmath|Haspelmath]] refers to this as the [[anticausative]] alternation.
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header =
| width = 170

| image1 = Zerbrach.png
|thumb
| caption1 = Underlying tree structure for (4a)

| image2 = Hanszerbrach.png
|thumb
| caption2 = Underlying tree structure for (4b)

}}
For example, inchoative verbs in [[German language|German]] are classified into three morphological classes. ''Class A'' verbs necessarily form inchoatives with the reflexive pronoun ''{{lang|de|sich}}'', ''Class B'' verbs form inchoatives necessarily without the reflexive pronoun, and ''Class C'' verbs form inchoatives optionally with or without the reflexive pronoun. In example (5), the verb ''{{lang|de|zerbrach}}'' is an unmarked inchoative verb from ''Class B'', which also remains unmarked in its causative form.<ref name="Schafer" />

: '''German'''<ref name="Schafer" />
{{interlinear |lang=de |number=(5) a.
|Die Vase '''zerbrach'''.
|the  vase  '''broke'''
|'The vase broke.'
}}
{{interlinear |lang=de |number={{hidden text|(5)}} b.
|Hans '''zerbrach''' die Vase.
|John  '''broke'''   the vase
|'John broke the vase.'
}}

{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header =
| width = 170

| image1 = offnete.png
|thumb
| caption1 = Underlying tree structure for (5a)

| image2 = Hansoffnete.png
|thumb
| caption2 = Underlying tree structure for (5b)

}}

In contrast, the verb ''öffnete'' is a ''Class A'' verb which necessarily takes the reflexive pronoun ''sich'' in its inchoative form, but remains unmarked in its causative form.

: '''German'''<ref name="Schafer" />
{{interlinear |lang=de |number=(6) a.
|Die Tür öffnete '''sich'''.
|the door opened '''REFL'''
|'The door opened.'
}}
{{interlinear |lang=de |number={{hidden text|(6)}} b.
|Hans '''öffnete''' die Tür.
|John opened the door
|'John opened the door.'
}}

There has been some debate as to whether the different classes of inchoative verbs are purely based in morphology, or whether the differentiation is derived from the lexical-semantic properties of each individual verb. While this debate is still unresolved in languages such as [[Italian language|Italian]], [[French language|French]], and [[Greek language|Greek]], it has been suggested by linguist Florian Schäfer that there are semantic differences between marked and unmarked inchoatives in [[German language|German]]. Specifically, that only unmarked inchoative verbs allow an unintentional causer reading (meaning that they can take on an "''x unintentionally caused y''" reading).<ref name="Schafer" />

==== Marked causatives ====
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| header =
| width = 190

| image1 = angbata.png
|thumb
| caption1 = Underlying tree structure for (7a)

| image2 = sirosa2.png
|thumb
| caption2 = Underlying tree structure for (7b)

}}
Causative morphemes are present in the verbs of many languages (e.g., [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], etc.), usually appearing in the form of an affix on the verb.<ref name="An Overview of Lexical Semantics" /> This can be seen in the following examples from [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], where the causative prefix ''pag-'' (realized here as ''nag'') attaches to the verb ''tumba'' to derive a causative transitive verb in (7b), but the prefix does not appear in the inchoative intransitive verb in (7a). [[Martin Haspelmath|Haspelmath]] refers to this as the [[causative]] alternation.

: '''Tagalog'''<ref name="An Overview of Lexical Semantics" />
{{interlinear |lang=tl |number=(7) a.
|Tumumba ang bata.
|fell    the child
|'The child fell.'
}}
{{interlinear |lang=tl |number={{hidden text|(7)}} b.
|'''Nag'''tumba ng bata si Rosa.
|'''CAUS'''-fall of child DET Rosa
|'Rosa knocked the child down.'
}}