Bohnemeyer 2004: Split intransitivity, linking, and lexical representation #
Split intransitivity in Yukatek Maya is governed by event structure — specifically the distinction between internally- and externally-caused events (in the sense of [LRH95]) — rather than by lexical aspect alone (contra [KW99]).
Core Claims #
Three semantic information structures: event structure, participant structure, and lexical aspect. Event structure partially determines both; linking rules operate on event structure directly.
Internal causation determines the linking pattern under transitivization: internally-caused bases get applicative linking (added applied object → U, original S stays A); externally-caused bases get causative linking (added instigator → A, original S → U). The overt transitivizing suffix (-t ~ -s) usually tracks the linking pattern but can dissociate from it — see below.
Linking-by-viewpoint: imperfective aspect aligns with the head of the causal chain (accusative default); perfective aligns with the tail (ergative default).
Against aspect-based linking #
[KW99] propose lexical aspect as the sole linking-relevant property. Two classes of counterevidence:
- Degree achievements (grow, darken): aspectually like processes (atelic) but transitivize like state-change verbs (causative linking).
- Non-internally-caused active verbs (roll, buzz): take the applicative suffix -t (like internally-caused actives) yet show causative linking, because their bases are externally caused. Suffix and linking dissociate — which a purely aspect-based account cannot predict.
Causal chain and thematic hierarchy #
Position in the causal chain of subevents. A complex event decomposes into subevents ordered in a causal chain. Thematic relations are projected from this chain.
- head : CausalChainPosition
- tail : CausalChainPosition
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- Bohnemeyer2004.instDecidableEqCausalChainPosition x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The thematic hierarchy is asymmetric: no position both outranks and is outranked by the same position.
The marker assignment respects the hierarchy: an outranking position takes the subject marker (set-A) and the position it outranks takes the object marker (set-B). The split thus follows from rule (31) rather than being stipulated.
Linking by viewpoint #
§7 rule (32): viewpoint aspect selects which end of the causal chain provides the linking default.
- Imperfective viewpoints align with the initial (causing) subevent →
the highest-ranking role (
head) is the default → accusative pattern. - Perfective viewpoints align with the final (caused) subevent or the
chain as a whole → the lowest-ranking role (
tail) is the default → ergative pattern.
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The marker the sole argument (S) of an intransitive receives, derived by
composing rule (32) (viewpoint → default position) with rule (31)'s
hierarchy projection (position → marker, CausalChainPosition.marker).
The split falls out of the causal chain rather than being stipulated
per viewpoint.
- Head default (imperfective): S patterns with A → set-A
- Tail default (perfective): S patterns with U → set-B
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Linking by viewpoint derives the split #
The composed mechanism reproduces the Yukatek split recorded in the Fragment's
sArgumentMarker: perfective status → ergative (set-B), imperfective →
accusative (set-A).
Linking pattern under transitivization #
The argument-realization (linking) pattern produced by transitivization,
determined by the causation type of the intransitive base (rules 26–27).
This is the linking dimension — which participant is added and how the
original S is realized — NOT the overt suffix (see TransitivizerSuffix).
applicative: internally caused. The added applied object links to U (set-B); the original S keeps A (set-A).causative: externally caused. The added instigator links to A (set-A); the original S is demoted to U (set-B).
- applicative : LinkingPattern
- causative : LinkingPattern
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- Bohnemeyer2004.instDecidableEqLinkingPattern x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The causation type of the intransitive base determines the linking pattern (rules 26–27): internally caused → applicative linking; externally caused → causative linking.
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Predict the linking pattern of a Yukatek verb under transitivization from its causation type.
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Marker assigned to the added participant under each linking pattern.
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Marker assigned to the original S under each linking pattern.
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Applicative and causative linking are mirror images: each assigns to the added argument the marker the other assigns to the original S. The two patterns exhaust how a transitivized clause distributes set-A and set-B.
Transitivizing suffix vs linking #
The overt transitivizing suffix is lexically specified and usually tracks the linking pattern, but the two can dissociate — the paper's central argument against aspect-based linking. The suffix is paper-specific lexical data, so it lives here rather than in the Fragment.
The overt transitivizing suffix ([Boh04]): applicative -t
or causative -s. Distinct from LinkingPattern.
- applicativeT : TransitivizerSuffix
- causativeS : TransitivizerSuffix
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- Bohnemeyer2004.instDecidableEqTransitivizerSuffix x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The suffix each verb the paper documents takes under transitivization.
Lexically idiosyncratic — not a function of causation type or stem class
(cf. balak' vs péek, both active and externally caused, yet -t vs -s).
Verbs the paper does not document return none.
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For an internally-caused base the suffix tracks the linking: applicative -t with applicative linking.
For an externally-caused inactive base the suffix tracks the linking: causative -s with causative linking.
The paper's key argument against aspect-based linking: balak' "roll" and tsiirin "buzz" take the applicative suffix -t (like the internally-caused actives) yet show causative linking, because their bases are externally caused (ex. 10, 11, 22). Suffix and linking dissociate — a contrast a purely aspect-based account cannot predict.
péek "move" is active and externally caused like balak', yet takes the causative suffix -s — the suffix is lexically idiosyncratic, dissociating from causation type and stem class in the opposite direction from balak'.
Predictions for individual verbs #
"work" (internally caused active) → applicative linking. ex. (4): Túun meyah ich u=kòol → 'He's working on his milpa' Túun meyah-t-ik u=kòol → 'He's making his milpa'
"play" (internally caused active) → applicative. ex. (5).
"die" (inactive, externally caused) → causative. ex. (6): Túun kim-il Pedro → 'Pedro's dying' Juan=e' túun kim-s-ik Pedro → 'Juan is killing Pedro'
"fall" (inactive, externally caused) → causative. ex. (7).
"roll" (active class but externally caused) → causative linking. Despite being an active verb (same stem class as "work"), balak' shows causative linking because its base is not internally caused. ex. (10), (22): the original S is linked to U, and the added participant is the instigator linked to A.
"buzz" (active class but externally caused) → causative. ex. (11).
All positional verbs transitivize with causative linking, since they denote externally-caused state changes at the event-structure level. Control is a participant-structure property, not an event-structure one. ex. (25), §6.
Degree achievements: event type vs aspect #
Degree achievements are event-structurally state changes, not processes, even though they behave atelically.
§5: ka'n 'get tired' passes state-change diagnostics (resultative -a'n, universal quantifier láah) despite being atelic in the realization-under-cessation test.
Degree achievements transitivize like state-change verbs (causative linking), not like process verbs.
This is the first direct counterevidence against [KW99]'s aspect-based linking: rule (14) predicts applicative for degree achievements (since they are atelic, hence [-perf] bases), but they exclusively causativize. ex. (21).
Causation is orthogonal to stem class #
Active verbs are processes regardless of causation type.
All non-active intransitive classes are state changes.
The process/state-change distinction is orthogonal to causation type for active verbs: both internally-caused (meyah) and externally-caused (balak') actives are processes, but they differ in linking.
This is the core argument: linking under transitivization depends on causation type, not event type or aspect.
Conversely, verbs with the same causation type but different stem classes get the same linking — because it is causation, not class membership, that determines linking.
kim (inactive) and balak (active) are both externally caused → both causativize.
hàan "eat" is inactive by stem class but internally caused. ex. (9): hàan takes applicative -t (not causative -s), exactly as predicted by internal causation.
This directly refutes stem-class-based linking: if stem class determined transitivization, hàan (inactive) would causativize like kim "die". Instead, it applicativizes like meyah "work".
hàan patterns with internally-caused active verbs, not with its own (inactive) stem class, for linking.
hàan and kim are both inactive but get different linking because they differ in causation type.
Bridge to detransitivization #
The three Yukatek detransitivizations are instances of the cross-linguistic
valency-alternation typology (Syntax/ArgumentStructure/Alternation.lean).
That substrate keeps passive and anticausative distinct by the fate of the
initial A — passive denucleativizes it (retained in participant structure as
a possible oblique agent), anticausative suppresses it (removed entirely).
Detransitivization type in Yukatek, from rules (28)–(30).
- Antipassive (rule 28): removes the caused event, retaining the causing process. Active intransitives inflect like antipassive stems.
- Anticausative (rule 29): removes the causing event, retaining the caused state/change. Inactive intransitives inflect like anticausative stems.
- Passive (rule 30): like anticausative but adds PROC_C and instigator to the caused event.
- antipassive : DetransitivizationType
- anticausative : DetransitivizationType
- passive : DetransitivizationType
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- Bohnemeyer2004.instDecidableEqDetransitivizationType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Map each Yukatek detransitivization to its cross-linguistic valency alternation: antipassive → antipassivization (P denucleativized, A → S), anticausative → decausativization (A suppressed, P → S), passive → passivization (A denucleativized but retained, P → S).
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- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.antipassive.toAlternation = Syntax.ArgumentStructure.Alternation.antipassivization
- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.anticausative.toAlternation = Syntax.ArgumentStructure.Alternation.decausativization
- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.passive.toAlternation = Syntax.ArgumentStructure.Alternation.passivization
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All three detransitivizations are valency-decreasing. ex. (12): p'eh "chip" → antipassive p'èeh, passive p'e'h-el, anticausative p'éeh-el.
The fate of the initial A separates passive from anticausative — the distinction the coarser intransitivization typology collapses: passive denucleativizes A (kept in participant structure), anticausative suppresses it (removed).
Template-level detransitivization #
Detransitivization as a template-level operation. rules (28)–(30) decompose detransitivization in terms of which subevent is retained:
- Antipassive: retain the causing process → accomplishment → activity
- Anticausative: retain the caused change → accomplishment → achievement
- Passive: like anticausative but adds PROC_C + instigator (same template output as anticausative, with additional participant structure)
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- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.antipassive.templateResult = some Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.activity
- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.anticausative.templateResult = some Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.achievement
- Bohnemeyer2004.DetransitivizationType.passive.templateResult = some Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.achievement
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Antipassive yields a process (activity); anticausative/passive yield a state change (achievement). This connects to the event type distinction that governs verb class membership.
Anticausative template result matches Template.intransitiveVariant from
EventStructure.lean: both yield achievement from accomplishment.
Additional verb predictions #
All externally-caused manner-of-motion verbs causativize, regardless of their active stem class.
Additional positional verbs causativize (externally caused).
Degree achievements in the inactive class causativize despite lacking discrete end states — additional evidence beyond ka'n and na'k.
Bridge to split ergativity #
The linking-by-viewpoint mechanism derives the same alignment as the
SplitErgativity system parameterized by status category.
Yukatek's split is aspect-conditioned, like Hindi and Georgian. All three use perfective → ergative, imperfective → accusative (modulo language-specific factor types).