Unaccusativity and the syntax of imperatives in East Circassian

Abstract

This paper presents novel evidence for the syntactic distinction between unergative and unaccusative verbs in East Circassian (or Kabardian. The evidence concerns a particular strategy of forming imperatives -- simultaneous causativization and reflexivization -- which is only applicable to unaccusative predicates. I argue that this type of imperative involves the promotion of the internal argument to the a higher position through the use of the causative morpheme which has been grammaticalized to mark imperative mood. The observed patterns suggest that imperative mood, while generally associated with the CP-layer, must be sensitive to the structure of vP.