Passivization possibilities in double-accusative constructions

Authors

  • Vera Lee-Schoenfeld
  • Gabriele Diewald

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v2i0.4050

Keywords:

double-accusative verbs, passivization, dative case, kriegen/bekommen (‘get’) passive, diachronic corpus study, double-object construction, verbal argument structure, structural case, inherent case, lexical case

Abstract

Based on a diachronic corpus search, this paper proposes that dative rather than accusative-marking on the first object of German double-accusative verbs like lehren 'teach' (as also discussed in Lang 2007) and the corresponding passivization possibilities stem from the first object being interpreted as Recipient (sympathy-invoking co-participant, see Lehmann et al. 2004) rather than animate Patient and the second object being interpreted as inanimate Patient rather than adverbial accusative. In addition, a formal case-based account of German active and passive (di)transitive constructions is offered, making a three-way distinction between (i) structural, (ii) predictable inherent, and (iii) idiosyncratic lexical case (in line with Woolford 2006).

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Published

2017-06-12

How to Cite

Lee-Schoenfeld, Vera, and Gabriele Diewald. 2017. “Passivization Possibilities in Double-Accusative Constructions”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 2 (June): 9:1–14. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v2i0.4050.