This article addresses the syntactic and semantic properties of causative stative predicates. We focus on two Spanish group of verbs: instrumental alternation verbs (bloquear ‘to block’, obstruir ‘to obstruct’) and object experiencing psych verbs (preocupar ‘to worry’, molestar ‘to annoy’). We show that, although both groups of predicates exhibit atelic and non dynamic (that is, stative) readings, their aspectual characterization is not properly accounted for by the stage level category (Pylkkänen 2000, Fábregas y Marín 2015). Instead, we claim that causative states are davidsonian states (cf. Maienborn 2005), that is, states with an event argument, which is claimed to be a necessary condition for causative relations. We motivate this conclusion from a model of syntax-semantics interface in which external arguments do not combine directly with (pure) states (Moreno Cabrera 2003), but must establish first a thematic relation with events (Jaque 2014).
Jaque Hidalgo, M. (2017). Causativity and stativity: some examples from Spanish. Boletín De Filología, 52(1), pp. 167–211. Retrieved from https://boletinfilologia.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/47582
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