Zuni Accusative Intransitives

Abstract

Zuni presents the typologically interesting case of possessing two intransitive constructions with an accusative case‐marked (structural) object. While the presence of accusative case more generally has been attributed to the assignment of an agent thematic role, the correlation between semantic interpretation and accusative vs. nominative case in Zuni intransitives indicates instead that properties of subevent structure are at work. The case is made that the notion of eventivity is a grammatically complex one; whereas some languages bundle the components of eventivity (including agents and causing process) together, Zuni represents the more uncommon case in which the causing process is isolatable in the grammatical structure of the language. Accusative case in Zuni eventive intransitives may be attributed to morphology that encodes this causing process subevent.