Causative Alternation
In linguistics, causative alternation is a phenomenon in which certain verbs that express a change of state (or a change of degree) can be used transitively or intransitively.Levin, Beth. "Causative Alternation". ''English Verb Classes and Alternations''. Chicago: University Press of Chicago, 1993. 26–27. Print.Schäfer, Florian. 2009. "The Causative Alternation". Language and Linguistics Compass 3.2: 641. Print. A causatively alternating verb, called a labile or ergative verb, such as "open", has both a transitive meaning ("I opened the door") and an intransitive meaning ("The door opened"). When causatively alternating verbs are used transitively they are called causatives since, in the transitive use of the verb, the subject is ''causing'' the action denoted by the intransitive version. When causatively alternating verbs are used intransitively, they are referred to as anticausatives or inchoatives because the intransitive variant describes a situation in which the ''the ...
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Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguistics is concerned with both the cognitive and social aspects of language. It is considered a scientific field as well as an academic discipline; it has been classified as a social science, natural science, cognitive science,Thagard, PaulCognitive Science, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). or part of the humanities. Traditional areas of linguistic analysis correspond to phenomena found in human linguistic systems, such as syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences); semantics (meaning); morphology (structure of words); phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages); phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language); and pragmatics (how social con ...
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Burzio's Generalization
In generative linguistics, Burzio's generalization is the observation that a verb can assign a theta role to its subject (grammar), subject position if and only if it can assign an accusative case to its grammatical object, object. Accordingly, if a verb does not assign a theta role to its subject, then it does not assign accusative case to its object. The generalization is named after Italian linguist Luigi Burzio, based on work published in the 1980s, but the seeds of the idea are found in earlier scholarship. The generalization can be logically written in the following equation: θ ↔ A Where: θ = Subject Theta Role A = Accusative Case Burzio’s generalization has two major consequences: # Burzio's generalization recognizes two classes of intransitive verbs. With unaccusative intransitive verbs (e.g., ''fall''), the single argument bears the theme theta role, and the subject is understood ...
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