The Lexicon–Syntax Interface: Root Semantics As An Indirect Determinant Of Intransitive Verb Syntax In Cree

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the (Northern East) Cree intransitive verb final (verbalizing suffix) -piyi ‘move’, which occurs in eventive unaccusatives and in two classes of unergative: vehicular motion verbs and verbs of emission. Generally, Algonquian intransitive finals systematically correlate with an external argument, or an internal argument, but not with both. We argue that -piyi is no exception, correlating with an internal (theme) argument. A null verb final, which correlates with an external argument (an internal causer), derives the unergatives, in which cases -piyi is lexicalized into a complex root. Root semantics are an indirect predictor of verb type in that they reflect patterns of legitimate pairing with either -piyi or the null final; e.g., -piyi pairs with root[STATE] to yield an unaccusative, while the null final pairs with the lexicalized root [root[PATH]+piyi] to yield an unergative. This analysis is compatible with a little-v analysis of finals (among others, Ritter and Rosen 2010). The unaccusatives have a spontaneous occurrence reading which, following Davis and Demirdache (2000), we attribute to -piyi suppressing the “causing process” sub-event in a causative representation. Our analysis is thus compatible with the view that some, if not all, unaccusatives are semantically causative (among others, Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995).