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    2.2.3.Resultative constructions
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    This section provides an extensive discussion of the resultative construction. Our focus will be on the verb types that enter this construction. It will be shown that the absence or presence of an internal argument (theme) determines the resulting pattern. The examples in (191) show that if a verb lacks an internal argument, an additional argument functioning as the logical subject of the predicate must be introduced.

    Example 191
    a. Jan loopt (*het gras).
      Jan walks     the grass
    b. Jan loopt *(het gras) plat.
      Jan walks     the grass  flat

    If the verb already has an internal argument, this internal argument may but need not surface as the subject of the resultative predicate; the dollar sign indicates that under normal circumstances the use of the marked adjective would not be expected.

    Example 192
    a. Jan veegt de vloer/$bezem.
      Jan sweeps  the floor/broom
    b. Jan veegt de vloer schoon/$kapot.
      Jan sweeps  the floor  clean/broken
    b'. Jan veegt de bezem kapot/$schoon.
      Jan sweeps  the broom  broken/clean

    Verbs with more than one internal argument do not seem to be possible in the resultative construction, but we will show that this may be due to independent reasons. The discussion in this section essentially adopts the analysis given in Hoekstra (1988). Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995:ch.2) provide a number of problems for this proposal based on English, which are, in turn, for a large part countered in Hoekstra (2004:399ff.). We also refer the reader to Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995) for a discussion of a number of semantic approaches to the resultative construction.

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    [+]  I.  Verbs without an internal argument

    This subsection discusses resultative constructions based on main verbs without an internal argument, that is, the intransitive and impersonal verbs from Table 6. The addition of a complementive to such verbs requires that we also add an extra argument that will function as the subject of a complementive. In the case of impersonal verbs the non-referential subject pronoun het'it' must be dropped. The general pattern is therefore as given in (193).

    Example 193
    a. Intransitive verbs: NP V ⇒ NP V NP Predicate
    b. Impersonal verbs: het V ⇒ NP V Predicate
    [+]  A.  Intransitive verbs

    Example (194) provides some cases of intransitive verbs with a complementive. The complementive can be adjectival or adpositional in nature. Despite the fact that the object is not an internal argument of the verb, which is clear from the fact that it is only licensed if the complementive is present, it is assigned accusative case by it. This is clear from the fact illustrated by the primed examples that passivization is possible.

    Example 194
    Adjectival and adpositional complementives
    a. Jan huilde zijn ogen helemaal *(rood).
      Jan cried  his eyes  completely     red
    a'. Zijn ogen zijn helemaal rood gehuild.
      his eyes  are  completely  red  cried
    b. Jan blies de kruimels *(van de tafel af).
      Jan blew  the crumbs     from the table
    b'. De kruimels werden van de tafel af geblazen.
      the crumbs  were  from the table  blown
      'The crumbs were blown from the table.'

    In order to enter the construction, the accusative object should not only be able to be part of the set denoted by the complementive, but it should also be plausible that the activity denoted by the verb can have the expressed effect of changing the state this object is in. Although one can imagine that Jan causes his eyes to become red by performing the act of crying, it is much less plausible that he causes another person to become red by performing this activity. Other effects on another person may be conceivable, however, and this accounts for the contrast between the examples in (195a) and (195b).

    Example 195
    a. $ Jan huilde Marie helemaal rood.
      Jan cried  Marie completely  red
    b. Jan huilde Marie helemaal nat.
      Jan cried  Marie completely  wet

          Particle verbs are often analyzed in a way similar to the resultative constructions in (194). Example (196), for instance, shows that the accusative object requires the particle to be present as well; if the particle is dropped, the object must be dropped as well. It should be noted, however, that it is often not obvious that the particle is predicated of the accusative object given that verb + particle collocations often have a non-compositional meaning. We refer the reader to Section P1.2.4, sub II for a more detailed discussion of this.

    Example 196
    Verbal particles
    a. De menigte jouwde de spreker *(uit).
      the crowd  jeered  the speaker     prt.
      'The crowd jeered at the speaker.'
    b. De hond blafte de postbode *(na).
      the dog  barked  the postman  after
    c. Peter werkt de zaak verder *(af).
      Peter works  the case  further    prt.
      'Peter finishes the remainder of the case.'

    Combinations that are more or less idiomatically fixed also occur in the case of APs and PPs. Some examples are given in (197) and (198).

    Example 197
    a. Zij praten die beslissing goed.
      they  talk  that decision  good
      'They justify that decision.'
    b. De rechter spreekt de verdachte vrij.
      the judge  speaks  the suspect  free
      'The judge acquits the suspect.'
    c. Zij zwegen die man dood.
      they  kept.silent  that man  dead
      'They ignored that man completely.'
    Example 198
    a. Jan werkte Peter [PP de kamer uit].
      Jan worked  Peter  the room  out.of
      'Jan got rid of Peter.'
    b. Ze gooide hun geld [PP over de brug].
      they  threw  their money  over the bridge
      'They wasted their money.'

          Special are cases such as (199), in which the additional argument takes the form of a simplex reflexive pronoun that is interpreted co-referentially with the subject of the clause.

    Example 199
    a. Jan schreeuwt zich schor.
      Jan shouts  refl  hoarse
    b. Jan werkt zich suf.
      Jan works  refl  dull

    Although the examples in (199) can be taken literally (Jan is getting hoarse/dull as the result of the activity he is performing), they also allow an interpretation in which they mainly bring aboutan amplifying effect; example (199a) may express that Jan is shouting very loudly or for a long time, and (199b) that Jan is working very hard or even above his powers. Many cases exist that cannot readily be interpreted literally and whose function is thus limited to inducing this amplifying effect, and people are in fact continuously inventing new combinations; some more or less conventional examples are given in (200).

    Example 200
    a. Jan lacht zich rot/slap.
    AP
      Jan laughs  refl  rotten/weak
      'Jan is laughing himself silly.'
    b. Jan werkt zich te pletter/uit de naad.
    PP
      Jan works  refl  to pieces/out of  the seam
      'Jan is working terribly hard.'

    Example (201) suggests that it is possible in this amplifying reading to use a wide range of nominal phrases, which is normally impossible in resultative constructions; cf. Section 2.2.1, sub II.

    Example 201
    Hij lacht zich een aap/breuk/ongeluk/kriek.
      he  laughs  refl  a  monkey/fracture/accident/kriek
    'He laughs himself silly.'

    It seems doubtful, however, that we are dealing with nominal complementives in (201). Whereas the examples in (200) imply that the reflexive accusative object (and hence the subject of the clause) becomes part of the set denoted by the AP or PP (albeit that the property is more or less metaphorically construed), this is not the case in (201a); it is not claimed that the subject of the clause is becoming a monkey, a fracture, an accident or whatever kriek may denote, but rather that a monkey, fracture, an accident or a kriekcomes intoexistence as the result of performing the act of laughing; in this respect, (201) is just like the regular transitive construction Jan bouwde een huis, which expresses that the house is coming into existence as the result of performing the act of building. In short, the nominal construction in (201) resembles double object constructions like Marie sloeg Jan een blauw oog'Marie punched Jan and thus gave him a black eye', in which the noun phrase een blauw oog again does not function as a complementive but as a direct object that refers to an entity that comes into existence as the result of the activity denoted by the verb slaan'to hit'.
          Another structurally similar example, which lacks the amplification effect, is given in (202a). That the noun phrase een kasteel in this example does not function as a complementive but as a direct object is clear from the fact that the past/passive participle can at least marginally be used attributively in the (b)-example; Section 2.1.2, sub IIID, has shown that attributive use of past participles is only possible if the modified noun corresponds to the internal argument of the input verb of the participles. We will return to the use of the simplex reflexive in (201a) in Section 2.5.2, sub II.

    Example 202
    a. Peter droomde zich een kasteel.
      Peter dreamed  refl  a castle
    b. ? het gedroomde kasteel
      the  dreamed  castle

    Observe further that the double object construction in (201) should not be confused with those in (203). In these constructions the simplex reflexive zich functions as an inalienable possessor of the nominal complement and not as the subject of the predicatively used PP; cf. Section 3.3.1.4. These cases are therefore regular resultative constructions. Confusingly, these examples are also most naturally interpreted with an amplifying reading, but this also holds for the synonymous resultative construction in (203b'), which does not involve a reflexive possessor but a possessive personal pronoun.

    Example 203
    a. Hij lacht zich de tranen in de ogen.
      he  laughs  refl  the tears  in the eyes
      'He laughs like mad.'
    b. Hij schreeuwde *(zich) de longen uit het lijf.
      he  shouted    refl  the lungs  out.of  the body
      'He shouted extremely loud.'
    b'. Hij schreeuwde de longen uit zijn lijf.
      he  shouted  the lungs  out.of  his body
      'He shouted extremely loud.'

          We conclude this subsection with a brief discussion of motion verbs like lopen'to walk' and rennen'to run', subsection IIB3 will show that these verbs pattern like unaccusative verbs if they take a spatial complementive. Here we want to show, however, that they may also behave like regular intransitive verbs. The examples in (204a-c) show that the addition of a complementive requires the presence of an additional argument. Example (204c') shows that the PP can readily be replaced by a particle (provided that the object is inanimate).

    Example 204
    a. Jan loopt zijn schoenen *(kapot).
      Jan walks  his shoes     broken
    b. Marie reed het kind *(dood).
      Marie drove  the child    dead
    c. Jan reed Marie *(naar huis).
      Jan drove  Marie    to home
    c'. Jan reed de auto/?Marie *(weg).
      Jan drove  the car/Marie     away

    As in the case of the other intransitive verbs, the construction with a simplex reflexive can be used to amplify the activity denoted by the verb. Example (205a) is again ambiguous between a resultative and an amplifying reading, whereas (205b) is most naturally construed with an amplifying reading. For completeness' sake, (205c) provides an example of the non-resultative nominal construction of the type in (201).

    Example 205
    a. Jan rent zich suf/te pletter.
    AP/PP
      Jan runs  refl  dull/to smithereens
    b. Jan rent zich rot/uit de naad.
    AP/PP
      Jan runs  refl  rotten/out of the seam
    c. Jan loopt zich een ongeluk/het apelazarus.
      Jan walks  refl  an accident/the apelazarus
      'Jan walks his legs off.'

    The examples in (206) are again resultative constructions in which the simplex reflexive acts as the inalienable possessor of the complement of the PP. These examples are again most naturally interpreted with an amplifying reading, but this also holds for the synonymous resultative constructions in the primed examples with a prenominal possessive pronoun.

    Example 206
    a. Jan loopt zich de benen uit het lijf.
      Jan walks  refl  the legs  out.of  the body
      'Jan is walking his legs off.'
    a'. Jan loopt de benen uit zijn lijf.
      Jan walks  the legs  out.of  his body
    b. Jan loopt zich het vuur uit de sloffen.
      Jan walks  refl  the fire  out.of his mules
      'Jan is wearing himself out.'
    b'. Jan loopt het vuur uit zijn sloffen.
      Jan walks  the fire  out.of  his mules
    [+]  B.  Impersonal (weather) verbs

    Weather verbs typically occur with the non-referential subject pronoun het'it'; the primeless examples in (207) show that referential subjects like de jongen'the boy' or zijn vingers'his fingers' are normally excluded. The primed examples show, however, that a referential subject becomes possible if a complementive is added. The complementive can be either an adjectival or an adpositional phrase.

    Example 207
    a. Het/*De jongen regent.
      it/the boy  rains
    a'. De jongen regent nat.
      the boy  rains  wet
    b. Het vriest/*Zijn vingers vriezen.
      it freezes/his fingers  freeze
    b'. Zijn vingers vriezen van zijn handen af.
      his fingers  freeze  from his hand  af

    If weather verbs were regular intransitive verbs, the findings of Subsection A would lead us to expect that the logical subject of the complementive surfaces as an accusative noun phrase, as in (208). The ungrammaticality of these examples can therefore be taken as evidence in favor of the idea that the pronoun het is not an external argument of the weather verb but just an expletive filling the subject position.

    Example 208
    a. * Het regent de jongen nat.
      it  rains  the boy  wet
    b. * Het vriest zijn vingers van zijn handen af.
      it  freezes  the fingers  from his hands  af

    A potential objection to our claim that the pronoun het is not an external argument of the verb is that, as Subsection IIB3, will show, intransitive motion verbs alternate with unaccusative motion verbs; Jan heeft gewandeld'Jan has walked' versus Jan is naar Groningen gewandeld'Jan has walked to Groningen'. We may therefore be dealing with a similar alternation in (207). This possibility cannot be dismissed out of hand, but it should be pointed out that the verb frame alternation in question is normally restricted to motion verbs; the burden of proof therefore seems to be on those who would wish to claim that the weather verbs exhibit a similar alternation. Empirical evidence for this is, however, hard to find. Given that het is non-referential, it is clearly not agentive either, and this implies that the sufficient tests for claiming intransitive status for the weather verbs will fail for independent reasons: agentive er-nominalization is excluded (* regener'rain-er') because it requires the subject of the verb to be agentive, and the same thing holds for impersonal passivization (* Er wordt geregend).
          That the resultative constructions in the primed examples in (207) are unaccusative and consequently involve a DO-subject is clear from the following facts: (i) the verbs take the auxiliary zijn in the perfect tense (whereas they take hebben if no complementive is present), (ii) the construction does not allow impersonal passivization, and (iii) the past participle can be used attributively to modify a noun corresponding to the subject of the corresponding clause. This is illustrated in (209) for example (207a').

    Example 209
    a. De jongen is/*heeft nat geregend.
    cf. Het heeft/*is geregend
      the boy  is/has  wet  rained
    b. * Er wordt door de jongen nat geregend.
      there is  by the boy  wet  rained
    b'. de nat geregende jongen
      the  wet  rained  boy

    We can safely conclude from this that it is safe to conclude that in the primed examples in (207) the subject of the complementive has been moved into the subject position of the clause, and thus voids the need of to insert the expletive het. This is schematically represented in (210).

    Example 210
    a. ____ regent ⇒ Het regent
    het insertion
      rains  it  rains
    b. ____ regent [de jongen nat] ⇒ De jongeni regent [ti nat]
    movement
      rains   the boy  wet  the boy  rains wet

          Since the pronoun het is not referential, it cannot be the antecedent of the simplex reflexive zich; example (211a) shows that as a result, the amplifying reflexive construction is not possible. The (b)-examples show that this construction is not possible with a DO-subject either but this is for different reasons. Example (211b) is unacceptable because the noun phrase Jan is not licensed; it neither functions as an argument of the verb nor as an argument of the complementive (which takes zich as its subject). And example (211b'), in which Jan and zich could in principle be licensed as subjects of, respectively, suf'dull' and nat'wet', is ungrammatical because a clause may contain one complementive at the most; see Section 2.2.1, sub IV.

    Example 211
    a. * Het regent zich suf/te pletter.
      it  rains  refl  dull/to smithereens
    b. * Jan regent zich suf/te pletter.
      Jan  rains  refl  dull/to smithereens
    b'. * Jan regent zich suf nat.
      Jan  rains  refl  dull  wet

    For completeness' sake, we want to mention the resultative construction in (212a). This example is exceptional in that the verb vriezen'to freeze' seems to take an external (agentive) subject; this suggestion is confirmed by the fact that passivization, as in (212b), is possible. Given that the subject pronoun ze'they' in (212a) functions as an external argument, we correctly predict that this example must contain an additional accusative argument that functions as the subject of the complementive.

    Example 212
    a. In deze fabriek vriezen ze groente droog.
      in this factory  freeze  they  vegetables  dry
      'In this factory, they are freeze-drying vegetables.'
    b. In deze fabriek wordt groente droog gevroren.
      in this factory  is  vegetables  dry  freeze
    [+]  II.  Verbs with one internal argument

    This subsection discusses resultative constructions with verbs that normally take an internal argument, that is, the transitive and monadic unaccusative verbs in Table 6 from Section 2.1.6. In contrast to what is the case with verbs without an internal argument, the addition of a complementive does not have the result that an additional noun phrase is added; see Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995: Section 2.1). The subject of the complementive often corresponds to the internal argument of the transitive verb but this is not necessarily the case. The general pattern is therefore as given in (213), in which the indexes on the NPs indicate that the subject of the complementive can be either identical to the one that we find in the non-resultative construction or different.

    Example 213
    a. transitive verbs: NP V NPi ⇒ NP V NPi/j Predicate
    b. unaccusative verbs: NPi V ⇒ NPi/j V Predicate

    The fact that the noun phrase that the complementive is predicated of may but need not correspond to the internal argument of the main verb raises the question as to what the relation between the verb and that noun phrase is.

    [+]  A.  Transitive verbs

    This subsection discusses resultative constructions based on transitive verbs. We will begin by showing that the verbs entering this construction cannot denote achievements, subsections 2 to 4 will investigate the relation between the verb and the direct object in more detail and will show that despite the fact that the verb assigns accusative case to the object, the latter cannot be considered an argument of the former: the object is semantically selected by the complementive. We conclude with a discussion of resultative constructions in which the object has the form of a simplex reflexive and a number of other more special cases.

    [+]  1.  The verb cannot be an accomplishment

    Transitive verbs may enter the resultative construction if they denote an activity, as in (214), but not if they denote an accomplishment, as in (215). This contrast is due to the fact that complementives introduce a unique point of termination of the event, namely, the point at which the object reaches the state denoted by the complementive. Since activities and accomplishments differ by definition with respect to whether they inherently express such a point of termination, the contrast between (214) and (215) can be accounted for by assuming that complementives can only be added if the verb itself does not inherently express a point of termination, that is, if the verb denotes an activity.

    Example 214
    Activities
    a. De soldaten bombarderen de stad (plat).
      the soldiers bomb  the city   flat
    b. Marie sloeg de hond (dood).
      Marie beat  the dog   dead
    c. Jan verft zijn haar (zwart).
      Jan dyes  his hair   black
    Example 215
    Accomplishments
    a. De soldaten vernietigen de stad (*plat).
      the soldiers  destroy  the city     flat
    b. De illusionist hypnotiseert de vrijwilliger (*stil).
      the magician  hypnotizes  the volunteer   silent

    The generalization that accomplishment verbs cannot occur in resultative constructions can be unified with our earlier generalization in Section 2.2.1, sub IV, that clauses cannot contain more than one complementive by adopting the following natural assumption: clauses include at most one point of termination of the event.

    [+]  2.  The accusative object is not an argument of the verb

    This subsection argues that the accusative object of the resultative construction is not an argument of the verb, but of the complementive. That this is not at all evident will be clear from the examples in (216) and (217). The examples in (216) show that transitive verbs like malen'to grind', prakken'to mash' and vegen'to sweep' select a direct object that denotes the theme of the activity; if the direct object refers to, e.g., an instrument that is used in performing the activity, the examples become unacceptable.

    Example 216
    a. Jan maalt het meelTheme/*de molensteenInstrument.
      Jan grinds  the flour/the millstone
    b. Jan prakt zijn aardappelsTheme/*zijn vorkInstrument.
      Jan mashes  his potatoes/his fork
    c. Jan veegt de vloerTheme/*de bezemInstrument.
      Jan sweeps  the floor/the broom

    The same restriction holds for the resultative constructions in (217). Note that the judgments only hold for the interpretations indicated by the subscripts; each of the noun phrases marked by an asterisk can also be interpreted as a theme, which gives rise to a marked result in (216a&b) for reasons related to our knowledge of the world but which is easily possible in (216c).

    Example 217
    a. Jan maalt het meelTheme/*de molensteenInstrument fijn.
      Jan grinds  the flour/the millstone  fine
    b. Jan prakt zijn aardappelsTheme/*zijn vorkInstrument door de groente.
      Jan mashes  his potatoes/his fork  through the vegetables
    c. Jan veegt de vloerTheme/*de bezemInstrument schoon.
      Jan sweeps  the floor/the broom  clean

    The correspondence between the examples in (216) and (217) thus seems to suggest that the verb also imposes semantic selection restrictions on the accusative noun phrase that functions as the subject of the complementive. This hypothesis is refuted, however, by the examples in (218), in which the accusative object corresponds to the instrument rather than the theme of the verb; this will be clear from the fact that the acceptability judgments on these examples are reversed if the complementive is omitted; cf. (216).

    Example 218
    a. Jan maalt de molensteen/*het meel kapot.
      Jan grinds  the millstone/the flour  broken
    b. Jan prakt zijn vork/*zijn aardappels krom.
      Jan mashes  his fork/his potatoes  crooked
    c. Jan veegt de bezem/?de vloer aan flarden.
      Jan sweeps  the broom/the floor in rags

    The data in (218) strongly suggest that it is just the complementive that imposes selection restrictions on the accusative object. Note that as a result it is sometimes not easy to determine whether the resultative construction is based on a transitive verb. This holds especially if the transitive verb can be used as a pseudo-intransitive verb like eten'to eat' or roken'to smoke'. The primeless examples in (219) are acceptable both with and without the direct object, and as a result we may claim either that the accusative noun phrase replaces the internal argument of the transitive verb or is added to the pseudo-intransitive verb.

    Example 219
    a. Jan eet (brood).
      Jan eats   bread
    a'. Jan eet zijn ouders arm.
      Jan eats  his parents  poor
    b. Jan rookt (sigaretten).
      Jan smokes  cigarettes
    b'. Jan rookt zijn longen zwart.
      Jan smokes  his lungs  black
    [+]  3.  The role of our knowledge of the world

    Since the referents of the instruments in (217) normally cannot be assigned the properties denoted by the complementives as a result of the activity denoted by the verb, these examples are semantically deviant. Since the properties denoted by the complementives in (218) are not applicable to the referents of the theme arguments, the latter cannot be used for the same reason. But since the instruments can have these properties, and since it is plausible that they get these properties by being used as an instrument for the activity denoted by the verb, they give rise to a fully acceptable result. This shows that our acceptability judgments on the examples in (217) and (218) depend not only on argument selection but also on our knowledge of the world; see Subsection IA, where we reached the same conclusion on the basis of the examples in (220), which likewise show that the activity denoted by the verb must be able to affect the object such that it will get the property denoted by the adjective.

    Example 220
    a. $ Jan huilde Marie helemaal rood.
      Jan cried  Marie completely  red
    b. Jan huilde Marie helemaal nat.
      Jan cried  Marie completely  wet

          That knowledge of the world may be involved is also clear from the fact that the subject of the complementive may have other semantic functions than theme or instrument. We illustrate this by means of the examples in (221) and (222). The examples in (221) provide cases in which the subjects of the complementives correspond to the theme of the verb (the thing being cleaned).

    Example 221
    a. Peter wast zijn handen schoon.
      Peter washes his hands clean
      'Peter washes his hands clean.'
    b. Peter veegt de vloer schoon.
      Peter sweeps  the floor  clean

    The examples in (222), however, are cases in which the noun phrase corresponding to the theme of the verb appears as part of a prepositional complementive and the subject of that complementive corresponds to something that is located on the object that is being cleaned. Since the relation between the direct object and the verb is indirect, defined in terms of the noun phrase that corresponds to the internal argument of the verb, it seems implausible that this relation can be defined in terms of selection restrictions directly imposed by the verb.

    Example 222
    a. Peter wast de verf van zijn handen.
      Peter washes  the paint  from his hands
    b. Peter veegt het stof van de vloer.
      Peter wipes  the dust  from the floor

          Example (223) provides another case that shows that knowledge of the world may be involved in our acceptability judgments. Example (223a) shows that the verb slaan'to beat' may take an animate noun phrase like Jan as its direct object, whereas an inanimate noun phrase like de tanden gives rise to a pragmatically odd result. In the resultative construction in (223b), however, the noun phrase de tanden gives rise to a fully grammatical result, whereas the noun phrase Jan cannot be used since this would again give rise to an implausible interpretation.

    Example 223
    a. Peter sloeg Jan/*de tanden.
      Peter beat  Jan/the teeth
    b. Peter sloeg de tanden/$Jan uit zijn mond.
      Peter beat  the teeth/Jan  out.of  his mouth

    For completeness' sake, note that it is possible to say Peter sloeg Jan de tanden uit de mond, but in this example Jan does not function as the subject of the predicatively used PP, but as the dative possessor of the nominal complement of this PP: "Peter hit the teeth out of Jan's mouth".

    [+]  4.  Case assignment

    Although Subsection 2 has shown that accusative objects of resultative constructions do not function as internal arguments of the transitive verbs heading these constructions, but as subjects of the complementives, they are assigned accusative case by the verbs. This is clear from the fact that they become the subjects of the clause if the verbs are passivized.

    Example 224
    a. De stad wordt (door de soldaten) plat gebombardeerd.
      the city  is   by the soldiers  flat  bombed
    b. De hond wordt (door Marie) dood geslagen.
      the dog  is   by Marie  dead  beaten
    c. Zijn haar wordt (door Jan) zwart geverfd.
      his hair  is   by Jan  black  dyed
    [+]  5.  Resultative constructions with the weak (simplex) reflexive zich

    As in the case of intransitive verbs, the simplex reflexive zich may occur as the subject of the complementive, and again the resulting construction can often be interpreted in such a way that the resultative has an amplifying effect. First consider the examples in (225), which are most naturally understood in a literal way; the referent of the reflexive (and hence of the subject of the clause) is understood as becoming part of the set denoted by the complementive as a result of the activity denoted by the verb. Interestingly, the theme argument of the transitive verb can often be optionally expressed by means of an additional PP, provided that the simplex reflexive is not construed as the theme itself. In (225a), the reflexive is not only the subject of the complementive, but is also understood as the theme of the activity, and hence the addition of the theme-PP gives rise to an unacceptable result; the number sign indicates that the PP can only be used as an adverbial phrase of place. In (225b), on the other hand, the simplex reflexive is not understood as the theme of the event and the addition of the PP aan die taartjes'on those cakes' is fully acceptable.

    Example 225
    a. Peter veegt zich schoon (#op die vloerTheme).
      Peter wipes  refl  clean   on that floor
    b. Jan eet zich vol (aan die taartjesTheme).
      Jan eats  refl  full   on those cakes

    The examples in (226) are most naturally interpreted as involving amplification, and it is interesting to note that in such examples the theme argument can always be expressed by means of an additional PP.

    Example 226
    a. Peter veegt zich suf/te pletter (op die vloerTheme).
      Peter sweeps  refl  dull/to smithereens   on that floor
    b. Jan eet zich suf /te pletter (aan die taartjesTheme).
      Jan eats  refl  dull/to smithereens   on those cakes

    For completeness' sake, we also give examples of the non-resultative reflexive nominal construction in (227); in cases like these the theme argument of the verb can also be expressed by means of a PP.

    Example 227
    a. Peter veegt zich het apelazarus (op die vloerTheme).
      Peter sweeps  refl  the apelazarus   on that floor
      'Peter rinses/wipes himself to blazes.'
    b. Jan eet zich een ongeluk (aan die taartjesTheme).
      Jan eats  refl  an accident   on these cakes
    [+]  6.  Three special cases

    We conclude this subsection by discussing three special cases of the resultative construction. First consider the examples in (228), which show that the accusative object is obligatory; omission of the objects from examples such as (214) normally leads to ungrammaticality. This is, of course, to be expected given that the complementive must be predicated of some noun phrase and the external argument of the verb is not a suitable candidate for that.

    Example 228
    a. De soldaten bombarderen *(de stad) plat.
      the soldiers  bomb     the city  flat
    b. Marie sloeg *(de hond) dood.
      Marie beat     the dog  dead
    c. Jan verft *(zijn haar) zwart.
      Jan dyes     his hair  black

    There are, however, some exceptional constructions in which the accusative object can be dropped: example (229a) is a fixed expression, in which the implied object is interpreted generically, and example (229b) is an advertisement slogan for a washing powder, in which the implied object is contextually determined and refers to the laundry. The fact that the object is semantically implied is apparently sufficient to license the presence of the complementive in these cases.

    Example 229
    a. Geld maakt niet gelukkig.
      money  makes  not  happy
      'Money doesnʼt make one happy.'
    b. Omo wast door en door schoon.
      Omo washes  through and through  clean
      'Omo washes your laundry thoroughly clean.'

          The second special case involves verbs that seem to shift their meaning in the resultative construction. A typical example is the verb maken'to make' in (230). In the transitive construction in (230a) it means "to repair", or is interpreted as a verb of creation meaning "to make". In the resultative construction in (230b), on the other hand, this meaning has bleached and what remains is just a causative interpretation; the example expresses that Jan is performing some unspecified activity that causes the chair to break.

    Example 230
    a. Jan maakt de stoel.
      Jan makes/repairs  the chair
      'Jan is making/repairing the chair.