Syntactic properties of ambitransitive verbs
Alexander Letuchiy
alexander_letuchiy at HOTMAIL.COM
Tue May 29 13:31:27 UTC 2007
Dear colleagues,
I am working on typology of labile (ambitransitive) verbs. Currently I am
interested in one particular issue:
Usually each ambitransitive verb is a usual transitive verb in its
transitive use and, on the other hand, a usual intransitive verb in its
intransitive use. E.g. the English verb "break" in (1) behaves like a usual
transitive verb and in (2) it behaves like a usual intransitive verb:
(1) I broke the vase.
(2) The vase broke.
I am looking for cases when at least one of uses of a labile verb is not
similar to non-labile transitive/non-labile intransitive verbs, i.e., when
labile verbs are a special morphosyntactic class. One example:
In Adyghe, all intransitive verbs can be causativized by means of the prefix
"Re-". This is not the case only for a subclass of intransitive uses of
labile verbs.
I would be grateful for further examples and discussions.
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Letuchiy, Moscow
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