Transitivity in natural syntax: Accusative languages

Abstract

The framework of this paper is Natural Syntax initiated by the author in the tradition of (morphological) naturalness as established by †Willi Mayerthaler and Wolfgang U. Dressler.Natural Syntax is a developing deductive theory. The naturalness judgements are couched in naturalness scales, which follow from the basic parameters (or "axioms") listed at the beginning of the paper. The predictions of the theory are calculated in what are known as deductions, the chief components of each being a pair of naturalness scales and the rules governing the alignment of corresponding naturalness values.Natural Syntax is exemplified here with language data (all taken from Hopper & Thompson 1980) bearing on transitivity phenomena in accusative languages. © School of English, Adam Mickiewicz University.