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I meant for this to go to the list, too.<br class="">
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<div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Robert Van Valin Jr <<a href="mailto:vanvalin@buffalo.edu" class="">vanvalin@buffalo.edu</a>><br class="">
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Re: [Lingtyp] terminological question about intransitive verbs</b><br class="">
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">May 12, 2021 at 10:18:15 EDT<br class="">
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">To:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Martin Haspelmath <<a href="mailto:martin_haspelmath@eva.mpg.de" class="">martin_haspelmath@eva.mpg.de</a>><br class="">
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<div class="">On May 12, 2021, at 09:24, Martin Haspelmath <<a href="mailto:martin_haspelmath@eva.mpg.de" class="">martin_haspelmath@eva.mpg.de</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div class="">I don't think there's anything wrong with "actor-holding - undergoer-holding", but why not simply "agentive – patientive"?<br class="">
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The term pair "actor/undergoer" was coined by Foley & Van Valin (1984: §2.1) in order to have a way to generalize over the following kinds of situations:<br class="">
<br class="">
<i class="">Colin (A) killed the taipan (U).</i><br class="">
<i class="">The avalanche (A) crushed the cottage (U).</i><br class="">
<i class="">The dog (A) sensed the earthquake (U).</i><br class="">
<br class="">
Van Valin also used "Actor" and "Undergoer" for two types of Lakota single-argument verbs, but it is well-known that there's a wide range of ways in which languages can have multiple valency constructions for single-argument verbs.</div>
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Francesca Merlan’s paper in the 1985 Nichols & Woodbury (eds) ‘Grammar inside and outside the clause’ volume is very important in this regard, as she shows that languages exhibiting split-intransitivity differ significantly in terms of the markedness of the
two major classes. For example, in Lakhota the so-called ‘active’ class is the smaller, more restricted class (must have an animate argument), while there is no such restriction on the verbs in the larger, unmarked class of so-called ’stative’ verbs. She
argues that in Iroquoian the situation is reversed: the unmarked class is the ‘active’ class, and the smaller, restricted class contains the ’stative’ predicates. Given the diversity she documents, it’s not obvious that terms like ‘actor/undergoer’ or ‘agentive/patientive’
are very useful as general typological labels.<br class="">
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For example, Russian has some single-argument verbs that take an Accusative argument (<i class="">menja tošnit</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>'I.ACC feel sick') and others that take a Dative argument (<i class="">mne nezdorovitsja</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>'I.DAT
feel sick'). Are both these valency classes "undergoer-holding"? Or maybe "actor-holding" because experiencers are sentient and therefore more like agents?<br class="">
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This example highlights another problem with these terms, namely the lack of clear criteria for assigning them when used outside of a well-defined theoretical framework.<br class="">
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Best,</div>
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Van<br class="">
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So for the stereotypical subdivision of single-argument verbs ("active – inactive" in Klimov 1977), maybe "agentive – patientive" is the best choice?</div>
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Best,<br class="">
Martin<br class="">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 12.05.21 um 12:24 schrieb Christian Lehmann:<br class="">
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The only or direct actant of an intransitive verb may be its actor (<i class="">run</i>) or its undergoer (<i class="">die</i>). This may be taken to be a feature of the verb's valency. There are then two valency classes of intransitive verbs. I know of the
following terms for these:<br class="">
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active - inactive (Klimov)<br class="">
agentive - non-agentive<br class="">
unergative - unaccusative (Perlmutter)<br class="">
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All of these pairs have terminological or conceptual problems (which I can name if desired). I have therefore been looking for better terms. I had called them<br class="">
actor-oriented - undergoer-oriented.<br class="">
However, I need the term 'oriented' in verbal grammar in a different sense, so I have to replace these. Currently, I call them<br class="">
actor-holding - undergoer-holding<br class="">
Not particularly elegant, are they?<br class="">
<br class="">
Are there good terms on the linguistic market (of the past two centuries) for what is meant by the above? Or failing this, brilliant neologisms?<br class="">
<br class="">
Grateful for suggestions,<br class="">
Christian<br class="">
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<p class="" style="font-size: 16.200000762939453px;">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br class="">
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
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