LINGUIST List 21.2796
Sat Jul 03 2010
Diss: Morphology: Weiss: 'Das italienische Suffix -izza(re) und der...'
Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang
<mfonlinguistlist.org>
1. Karin
Weiss,
Das italienische Suffix -izza(re) und der linguistische Kausativitätsbegriff/The Italian Suffix -izza(re) and the Linguistic Notion of Causativity
Message 1: Das italienische Suffix -izza(re) und der linguistische Kausativitätsbegriff/The Italian Suffix -izza(re) and the Linguistic Notion of Causativity
Date: 29-Jun-2010
From: Karin Weiss <karin.weisst-online.de>
Subject: Das italienische Suffix -izza(re) und der linguistische Kausativitätsbegriff/The Italian Suffix -izza(re) and the Linguistic Notion of Causativity
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Institution: Universität Hamburg
Program: Department of General Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2010
Author: Karin M Weiss
Dissertation Title: Das italienische Suffix -izza(re) und der linguistische Kausativitätsbegriff/The Italian Suffix -izza(re) and the Linguistic Notion of Causativity
Dissertation URL: http://www.sub.uni-hamburg.de/opus/volltexte/2010/4620/
Linguistic Field(s):
Morphology
Subject Language(s): Italian (ita)
Dissertation Director:
Tanja Kupisch
Wolfgang J Meyer
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation explores Italian verbs that are derived from the suffix-izza(re). As these derived verbs very often denote an event that causes achange of state (COS) in one of the entities involved, -izza(re) isnormally classified as a causative suffix. Based on an extensive corpusanalysis, this dissertation aims at showing that the verbs derived from-izza(re) are considerably more heterogeneous than had been assumed. Thenext step then, is to find out which factors are responsible for thesedeviations from the assumed causative standard case and its particularsemantic and syntactic properties. This requires a closer look at theinfluence of the suffix (or perhaps, of several homophonic instances), theinfluence of the word-internal sister constituent (i.e. the nominal,adjectival, or possibly root base), and the impact of the word-externallinguistic and extralinguistic context. This might allow us to determinethe potentially systematic contribution of the suffix -izza(re). Afterhaving introduced the key features of the theoretical framework, I try toclarify the notion of causativity, followed by the determination of thesyntactic and semantic features that specify causative verbs in particular.Next, the data analysis makes clear that the hitherto tacitly assumeduniform notion of change of state has to be abandoned. Therefore, I proposeto differentiate between the standard COS and three further resultativestates, i.e. change of location (COL), change of feature (COF), and changeof psychological state (COSPsy). This differentiation does not only allowconclusions to be drawn on the concept of linguistic causativity, but alsosupplies us with a crucial criterion with regard to the intendedclassification of verbs derived by -izza(re). Based on the presentinvestigation, I propose a classification of seven different verb types:standard causative, location, locatum, means, psychV, depiction, and modus.
The theoretical framework I adopted is the model of Distributed Morphology(Halle & Marantz 1993), according to which the verbalizing suffix-izza(re) is an instance of the functional category little v. As one ofthe dissertation's findings I note that the seven -izza(re) verb types arethe results of the merger of three different little v-variants: vcaus,vpsycaus , and vag. Accordingly, the suffix as vocabulary item is specifiedin three different entries. Taking into account the discussed linguisticand extralinguistic factors, these entries allow a remarkablepredictability regarding the outcome of the word formation process by-izza(re). This study includes an excursus investigating the Italiansyntactic causative constructions (fare + infinitive) which, by contrast,illuminates the contribution of the morphological item-izza(re) and serves to refine the proposed definition of linguisticcausativity.
Page Updated: 03-Jul-2010
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