Experiencer troubles: A reappraisal of the predicate-based asymmetry in child passives
Name
Experiencer troubles A reappraisal of the predicate-based asymmetry in child passives.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.1 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ae35098118c7523be2f07936205e81f3
Author(s)
Aravind, Athulya
Koring, Loes
Date Issued
October 17, 2022
Journal
Language Acquisition
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Citation
Aravind, A., & Koring, L. (2022). Experiencer troubles: A reappraisal of the predicate-based asymmetry in child passives. Language Acquisition, 30(1), 76–100.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Children’s understanding of passives of certain mental state predicates appears to lag behind passives of so-called actional predicates, an asymmetry that has posed a major empirical challenge for theories of passive acquisition. This paper argues against the dominant view in the literature that treats the predicate-based asymmetry as theoretically irrelevant. We instead propose a novel account that locates the problem in the syntax of experiencer constructions. Synthesizing theoretical and developmental evidence, we build a case for an early misanalysis of transitive subject-experiencer constructions as unaccusatives – structures that, by design, cannot passivize.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2022.2115373
