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Middle Verbs in Icelandic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Madelyn Kissock
Madelyn Kissock
Affiliation:
Harvard UniversityDepartment of Linguistics77 Dunster StreetCambridge, MA 02138 [kissock@fas.harvard.edu]
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Extract

This paper presents an account of st-(middle) verbs in Icelandic that treats -st as the head of a functional phrase-object agreement (AgrO)- and argues that, consequently, st-formation is a syntactic rather than a lexical process. Supporting evidence includes the fact that -st is a clitic rather than an inflectional or derivational element attached to the verb. This analysis has the advantage that st-verbs, which on the surface appear disparate in their interpretation (e.g., reflexive vs. passive), can be unified under a single syntactic operation. The differences in interpretation fall out from argument structure properties of individual verbs. A consistent mapping between morphology and syntax is obtained.*

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Articles
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Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 1997, pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 1997

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