Psych verbs in Uyghur

Abstract

English psych verbs fall into three types, namely, Subject Experiencer (SE), Object Experiencer (OE) and Dative Experiencer (DE) verbs. Unlike English SE verbs, noncausative Uyghur verbs fall into two categories: accusative and oblique psych verbs according to the case marking of their objects. Apart from typical transitive constructions [NP8 NP0 VERB], Uyghur employs light verb constructions of the type [N/ADJ bol-/qil-]. We argue that light verb constructions of the type [NP8 NP-Ace N/Adj qil-] are analytical causative configurations. Oblique psych verbs occur in light verb constructions of the type [NPs NP-ABL/-DAT ADJ/N-ACC bol-/qil-], in which bol- functions as BECOME, while qil functions as no/GET, and the latter is an analytical causative configuration. Our classification of Uyghur non-causative verbs into accusative and oblique psych verbs has ramifications for causativizations ofUyghur verbs. For example, the causative morpheme cannot be attached to accusative psych verbs, but is perfectly fine with oblique psych verbs. We argue that morphological causatives in Uyghur are lexical causatives in nature, as Uyghur has relatively few zero causatives like the English verbs worry and please. Uyghur analytical causative constructions of the type [NP8 NP-ABLI-DAT ADJIN-ACC] correspond to English make constructions. The fact that the Target/Subject Matter restriction is dissolved in analytical causative constructions in Uyghur in turn supports our analysis of morphological causatives as lexical causatives and light verb constructions as analytical causatives.