The verbal transitivity continuum in Estonian
The article summarizes the previous findings of research on transitivity in Estonian verbs and offers analysis based on the 2019 Estonian National Corpus to prove a six-stage transitivity continuum in Estonian. The following verb groups are distinguished: 1) strictly intransitive verbs, 2) generally intransitive verbs, 3) prototypical labile (ambitransitive) and polysemic labile verbs, 4) transitive verbs used as intransitives with the focus on activity, 5) generally transitive verbs, and 6) strictly transitive verbs. For the aforementioned groups, five representative verbs have been selected, whose syntactic-semantic features have been controlled through the corpus materials by using Sketch Engine software functions Word Sketch, Concordance, and Shuffle. For each verb, the first 500 results have been analysed. The further research needs are also discussed.
Dixon, R. M. W., Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald 2000. Introduction. – Changing Valency: Case Studies in Transitivity. Ed. by R. M. W. Dixon, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 9–29.
Erelt, Mati 2017a. Öeldis. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 93–239.
Erelt, Mati 2017b. Öeldistäide. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 278–288.
Erelt, Mati 2017c. Ellips. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 590–602.
Erelt, Mati 2017d. Rinnastus. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 603–646.
Erelt, Mati 2017e. Sekundaartarindiga laused. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 756–840.
Goldberg, Adele E. 2001. Patient arguments of causative verbs can be omitted: The role of information structure in argument distribution. – Language Sciences 23 (4–5), 503–524.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(00)00034-6
Hopper, Paul J., Sandra A. Thompson 1980. Transitivity in grammar and discourse. – Language 62 (2), 251–299.
https://doi.org/10.2307/413757
Horita, Yuko 1996. English cognate object constructions and their transitivity. – English Linguistics 13, 221–247.
https://doi.org/10.9793/elsj1984.13.221
Keenan, Edward L., Matthew S. Dryer 2007. Passive in the world’s languages. – Language Typology and Syntactic Description. Vol. I: Clause Structure. Ed. by Timothy Shopen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 325–361.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511619427.006
Kehayov, Petar, Virve-Anneli Vihman 2014. The lure of lability: A synchronic and diachronic investigation of the labile pattern in Estonian. – Linguistics 52 (4), 1061–1105.
https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2014-0016
Kilgarriff, Adam, Vít Baisa, Jan Bušta, Miloš Jakubíček, Vojtěch Kovář, Jan Michelfeit, Pavel Rychly, Vít Suchomel 2014. The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. – Lexicography 1, 7–36.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40607-014-0009-9
Kitahara, Ken-ichi 2010. English Cognate Object Constructions and Related Phenomena: A Lexical-Constructional Approach. PhD Dissertation. University of Tsukuba.
Kont, Karl 1963. Käändsõnaline objekt läänemeresoome keeltes. (= Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituudi uurimused IX.) Tallinn.
Kulikov, 1999. May he prosper in offspring and wealth: A few jubilee remarks on the typology of labile verbs and Sanskrit púşyati ’prospers; makes prosper’. – Typology and Linguistic Theory: From Description to Explanation. For the 60th birthday of Aleksandr E. Kibrik. Ed. by Ekaterina V. Rakhilina, Yakov G. Testelets. Moscow: Languages of Russian Culture, 224–244.
Lavidas, Nikolaos 2013. Null and cognate objects and changes in (in)transitivity: Evidence from the history of English. – Acta Linguistica Hungarica 60 (1), 69–106.
Lehrer, Adrienne 1970. Verbs and deletable objects. – Lingua 25, 227–253.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(70)90036-7
Letuchiy 2006a = Александр Б. Летучий 2006а. Типология лабильных глаголов: Семантические и морфосинтаксические аспекты. Диссертация. Москва.
Letuchiy 2006b = Александр Б. Летучий 2006b. Лабильность в русском язы-
ке: случайность или закономерность? – Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies. International Conference „Dialogue 2006“ Proceedings, 343−347.
Letuchiy 2013 = Александр Б. Летучий 2013. Типология лабильных глаголов. Москва: Языки славянской культуры.
Lorenzetti, Maria I. 2008. The null instantiation of objects as a polysemy-trigger. A study on the English verb see. – Lexis. Journal of English Lexicology 1, 59–83.
https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.769
Luraghi, Silvia 2004. Null objects in Latin and Greek and the relevance of linguistic typology for language reconstruction. – Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Ed. by Karlene Jones-Bley, Martin E. Huld, Angela D. Volpe, Mirriam R. Dexter. (= Journal of Indo-European Monograph Series 49.) Washington: Institute for the Study of Man, 235–256.
McMillion, Alan 2006. Labile Verbs in English: Their Meaning, Behavior and Structure. PhD Dissertation. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Metslang, Helena 2008. Sihitisesarnased määrused: kui sarnased? – Lähivõrdlusi. Lähivertailuja 18, 108–143.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5128/LV18.06
Metslang, Helle 2017. Sihitis. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 258–277.
Metslang, Helle, Külli Habicht, Tiit Hennoste, Anni Jürine, Kirsi Laanesoo, David Ogren 2017. Artikkel õnnesoovidega. Komitatiivi funktsioonidest eri aegade ja registrite eesti kirjakeeles. – Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri. The Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics 8 (1), 149–178.
https://doi.org/10.12697/jeful.2017.8.1.09
Neshcheret, Nataliia 2016. Passive Construction with Intransitiive Verbs: Typology and Distribution. M.A Thesis. Kiel: University of Kiel.
Næss, Åshild 2007. Prototypical Transitivity. (= Typological Studies in Language 72.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.72
Næss, Åshild 2011. The grammar of eating and drinking verbs. – Language and Linguistic Compass 5 (6), 413–423.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2011.00279.x
Onozuka, Hiromi 2007. Remarks on causative verbs and object deletion in English. – Language Sciences 29 (4), 538–553.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2006.01.002
Rätsep, Huno 1978. Eesti keele lihtlausete tüübid. Tallinn: Valgus.
Tamm, Anne 2012. Scalar Verb Classes: Scalarity, Thematic Roles, and Arguments in the Estonian Aspectual Lexicon. Firenze: Firenze University Press.
https://doi.org/10.36253/978-88-6655-055-6
Torn, Reeli 2002. The status of the passive in English and Estonian. – RCEAL Working Papers in English and Applied Linguistics 7. Ed. by H. Hendrik. Cambridge: Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, 81–106.
Veismann, Ann, Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang 2017. Määrus. – Eesti keele süntaks. Toim. Mati Erelt, Helle Metslang. (= Eesti keele varamu III.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 300–375.
Velasco, Daniel G., Carmen P. Muñoz 2002. Understood objects in functional grammar. – Working Papers in Functional Grammar 76.
https://home.hum.uva.nl/fg/working_papers/wpfg76.pdf
Võrgumaterjalid
ENC19 = Jelena Kallas, Kristina Koppel 2020. Eesti keele ühendkorpus 2019 [Estonian National Corpus 2019]. Center of Estonian Language Resources.
https://doi.org/10.15155/3-00-0000-0000-0000-08489L (01.02.2021)
Kallas, Jelena, Mai Tiits, Maria Tuulik, Kristina Koppel, Madis Jürviste 2015. Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik (veebiversioon).
https://doi.org/10.15155/3-00-0000-0000-0000-05925L
