GB401

Is there a class of patient-labile verbs?

Summary

The term ‘labileʼ is the most commonly used label for verbs which can be used transitively or intransitively without any formal change. A distinction is made between patient lability, more commonly referred to as P-lability, and agent lability or A-lability. P-lability stands for patient-preserving lability, that is, the P argument is preserved in the intransitive construction, as in I broke the stick[P] / The stick broke. A-lability stands for agent-preserving lability, that is the A argument is preserved in the intransitive construction, as in John[A] drinks tea / John drinks.

This question asks only about P-labile verbs. Semantically, two things can happen with P-labile verbs. In case of (a) argument structure modifying P-lability, an otherwise transitive verb is used in the intransitive construction encoding an argument structure from which the A argument of the transitive construction is absent. In case of (b) less common argument structure preserving P-lability, the verb in its intransitive use implies the same participants with the same roles as in its transitive use, but in the intransitive use, the A argument is not expressed and is interpreted as non-specific.

Procedure

1. Search for the terms ‘labile’, ‘lability’, ‘ambitransitive’ and ‘semitransitive’ in the description. If these terms are not mentioned, look up the sections on valency and transitivity in the description.
2. If no such sections exists, search for examples containing terms such as ‘burn’, ‘melt’ and ‘break’/‘broke’ and consider the relevant examples.
3. Decide whether you can find support for a set of P-labile verbs, according to the definition above. If you find examples for at least two verbs, code as 1.
4. If the source has detailed sections on valence and transitivity and labile verbs are not mentioned, code as 0.
5. If you cannot find enough information, code as ?.

Examples

English (ISO 639-3: eng, Glottolog: stan1293)

In English, some verbs can be used transitively, as in (1) or intransitively, as in (2). In the intransitive use of P-labile verbs there is no agent in the argument structure of the verb. English is coded 1 for this feature.

1. Transitive
(a) The child [A] broke the glass [P].
(b) The sun [A] melted the ice [P].
(c) The fire [A] burnt down the house [P].

2. Intransitive
(a) The glass broke.
(b) The ice melted.
(a) The house burnt down.

Awara (ISO 639-3: awx, Glottolog: awar1248)

"For a few semitransitive verbs, the subject of the transitive frame has the semantic role of agent, while the subject of the intransitive frame has the role of patient. For example, the verbs det ‘detach’ and buhapmäng ‘knot’ have a transitive frame with an agent subject and a patient object, [as in (1)] and an intransitive frame with a patient subject, [as in (2)]. As usual, subject-indexing is marked by a suffix on the verb. (In the examples, the subject-indexing suffixes and the argument with the role of patient are underlined.)" (Quigley 2002: 48) Awara is coded as 1.

(1) Transitive
a. Kopi   apme   de–wit.
   coffee later  detach–1SG.FUT
   ‘I’ll pick coffee later.’ (Quigley 2002: 48)

b. Nap  buhapmäng–Ø.
   rope knot–2SG.IMMEDIATE
   ‘Knot the rope.’ (Quigley 2002: 48)
   
(2) Intransitive
a. Kwalem   salin apme  de–ke          ep-ning              gämänä   ti–ke.
   tree.sp. seed  later detach–SS.PFV  come.down–2/3PL.FUT  red      be–SS.PFV
   ‘The ‘kwalem' seeds will detach and come down when they turn red.’ (Quigley 2002: 49)

b. Nap  täknga=yal=u        a=buhapmä–mäläk. 
   rope CL.rope=two.DEF=TOP PREDICATE.FOC=knot–2/3DU.PRS
   ‘The two ropes knotted.’ (Quigley 2002: 49)

Further reading

Creissels, Denis. 2014. P-lability and radical P-alignment. Linguistics 52(4). 911–944.

Dixon, R. M. W. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Letuchiy, Alexander. 2009. Towards a typology of labile verbs: Lability vs. derivation. In Alexandre Arkhipov & Patience Epps (eds), New challenges in typology: Transcending the borders and refining the distinctions, 223–244. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

References

Quigley, Susan R. 2002. Awara grammar essentials. Ukarumpa: SIL.

Related Features

• GB113 Are there verbal affixes or clitics that turn intransitive verbs into transitive ones?
• GB124 Is incorporation of nouns into verbs a productive intransitivizing process?
• GB147 Is there a morphological passive marked on the lexical verb?
• GB302 Is there a phonologically free passive marker (‘particle’ or ‘auxiliary’)?

Patron

Alena Witzlack-Makarevich