Experiencers across languages: On the typology of the psych-alternation in morphology, syntax, and discourse

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Elisabeth Verhoeven
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: from 2009 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 117800389

The overall aim of this project is to determine the universal and typological properties of the syntax and semantics of experiencer verbs based on precise empirical methods. In the first funding period, the project has focused on the cross-linguistic experimental and observational investigation of selected non-canonical experiencer-object properties (= psych-effects) examining their syntactic vs. pragmatic nature. In the next period, the focus will be on the typology of the psych-alternation (cf. interessieren (concern) vs. sich interessieren (be concerned)). In particular, the project will investigate the role of the morphological root of psych verbs and the syntactic and semantic properties of the morphological processes that occur in cases of psych-alternations (causativization, decausativization, conversion, double derivation). In a typological investigation, the project will collect and analyze the relevant morphological facts of experiencer verbs in 30 languages. This cross-linguistic examination will be the evidential basis for a typologically adequate theory of experiencers. Furthermore, the project will investigate the relevance of the morphological differences between languages quantitatively (a) for the semantics and syntax of psych verbs and (b) for the realization of experiencer events in discourse. In a sample of six languages, which represent different morphological types of the causative alternation (Icelandic, Finnish, Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian), the project will carry out parallel experiments and corpus studies. The experimental studies will examine semantic and syntactic properties of the experiencer verbs. The influence of these properties on the behaviour of the respective verbal constructions in discourse will be tested in quantitative corpus studies.The project contributes to the current theoretical discussion on the causative alternation and will enrich this line of research with insights from a sample of languages that exceeds the currently discussed ones both in number and diversity. Furthermore, the project will make a significant contribution to lexical typology and the cross-linguistic investigation of the directionality in transitivization/detransitivization (Nichols et al. 2004) by examining the potential influence of typological variables on the cross-linguistic distinction at issue. Finally, the project will make an innovative contribution to the contemporary paradigm of cross-linguistic corpus investigations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants