Chapter 13. Changes in the argument and event structure of psych verbs in the history of Spanish

Abstract

This chapter offers a detailed study of changes affecting the argument structure of Spanish psych verbs that appear with a dative experiencer (EXP). After proposing a three-way classification of these verbs based on their etymological origin, the chapter traces two parallel, but interconnected, diachronic paths: the first one involves the development from transitive (or pronominal) to unaccusative constructions with a dative EXP, whereas the second one concerns the evolution from dynamic to stative events. The use and decrease of the passive in Classical Spanish is also shown to play a role in this change: to wit, passive and unaccusative structures with a dative EXP are structurally similar, as the prepositional agent phrase and the dative EXP originate in the same position

This research was supported by the research projects FFI2014-56968-C4-4-P and FFI2017-87140-C4-2-P (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), the research groups 2014 SGR 1013 and 2017 SGR 634 (Generalitat de Catalunya), and the research grant FPU12/01445. We are grateful to two reviewers for their accurate comments and suggestions, and also to the audiences of two congresses where this research was presented, namely the X Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Española (Universidad de Zaragoza, 2015) and the 18th Diachronic Generative Syntax Conference (Ghent University, 2016)