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Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 12: Selected papers from the 45th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Campinas, Brazil
Edited by Ruth E.V. Lopes, Juanito Ornelas de Avelar and Sonia M. L. Cyrino
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 12] 2017
► pp. 29–48

Chapter 3
What’s up with dative experiencers?

| Institutt for Språk og Kultur | UiT-Norges Arktiske Universitet
| University of Seville
| Western Michigan University

In this paper we discuss the argument structure of psych verbs in connection with information structure, particularly object experiencer psych verbs (OEPVs), which select an accusative and/or dative argument. We propose that the natural order available in all-focus sentences for dative OEPVs is OVS, whereas the order for accusative OEPVs is SVO. Any rearrangement of these two patterns is caused by a different information structure interpretation.

Keywords: psych verbs, dative, experiencer, argument structure, information structure, thetic word order
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ordering facts with and without datives
    • 2.1The contrasts
    • 2.2This is not a lexical property: Alternations with the same verb
    • 2.3An aspectual contrast
    • 2.4Argument restrictions
  • 3.The two vP structures
    • 3.1The structure of dative experiencer verbs
    • 3.2An intervention effect
    • 3.3The structure of the accusative construal
  • 4.Movement without information structure consequences
    • 4.1Dative experiencers are not quirky
    • 4.2Only high datives are potential interveners
    • 4.3Theoretical consequences
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.12.03fab
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