Part of
Argument Structure and Syntactic Relations: A cross-linguistic perspectiveEdited by Maia Duguine, Susana Huidobro and Nerea Madariaga
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 158] 2010
► pp. 13–34
Edited by Maia Duguine, Susana Huidobro and Nerea Madariaga
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 158] 2010
► pp. 13–34
Aspectual composition in causatives
In this paper we examine the aspectual composition in non-derived verbs and in derived causative verbs. We consider two types of aspectual composition that can be found in languages: in the English type telicity of a verb is determined by the reference properties of its direct object; in the Russian type, an obligatory telic verb imposes quantization on its direct object. We present the data about those indirect causatives where, in a Russian type context, the English type of aspectual composition emerges. We propose that this occurs due to the event structure of the causative and the semantics and syntax of the aspectual operator responsible for the obligatory telicity.
