Unaccusative verb

Unaccusative verbs are a subclass of intransitives. Their single arguments denote direct objects in relational grammar and GB, instead of agent-like participants. Thus unaccusatives are defined syntactically rather than semantically.

Examples

English unaccusatives are fall, arrive or melt. In German there are unaccusative verbs like entgleiten (slip) or zerbrechen (break).

Comments

In English as well as in German, unaccusatives differ from other verbs in the selection of their perfective auxiliary. The unaccusatives take a form of to be or sein, respectively, whereas the other verbs take a form of to have or haben, respectively.

Synonyms

• Ergative verb
• Inactive verb
• Stative verb

Antonyms

• Accusative verb
• Unergative verb
• Active verb
• Agentive verb

Origin

The name "unaccusative" denotes that the single argument of the intransitive verb does not behave like the subject of a transitive verb, which would be expected in an accusative alignment. It was introduced by Perlmutter (1978), but originally coined by G. Pullum (cf. Pullum 1988).

See also

• Inactive verb
• Stative verb
• Telicity
• Unergative

References

• Bußmann, Hadumod. 2002. Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. Stuttgart: Kröner. (ISBN 3-520-45203-0)
• Perlmutter, David M. 1978. "Impersonal passives and the unaccusative hypothesis." Berkeley Linguistic Society 4: 157-189.
• Pullum, Geoffrey. 1988. Topic...Comment: Citation etiquette beyond thunderdome. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6.4: 579-588.

Other languages

German unakkusativisches Verb