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2.5.1.3.Object experiencer psych-verbs

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This section discusses object experiencer verbs. Object experiencers can be either accusative or dative. In the former case we are dealing with causative psych-verbs, which can generally be used in two different ways: (i) they may take a causer subject, in which case they behave more or less like regular transitive verbs, or (ii) they may take a cause subject, in which case they exhibit behavior that is not typical for regular transitive verbs. To avoid lengthy descriptions like "causative psych-verb with a causer/cause subject", we will sometimes distinguish the two types by referring to them as transitive and nom-acc psych-verbs, respectively, as in the (a)-examples in (457). Object experiencer verbs with a dative object, like behagen'to please' in (457b), do not differ syntactically from the nom-dat verbs discussed in Section 2.1.3. Recall that the notion "object of emotion" in (457b) is used as a cover term for subject matter and target of emotion.

457

a.		PeterCauser	ergert	MarieExp.	transitive
		Peter	annoys	Marie

a'.		Die opmerkingenCause	ergeren	MarieExp.	nom-acc
		those remarks	annoy	Marie

b.		Zulk onbeleefd gedragObject of emotion	behaagt	henExp	niet.	nom-dat
		such impolite behavior	pleases	them	not

Because the nom-dat psych-verbs in (457b) simply constitute a semantic subclass of the nom-dat verbs, we begin with a very brief discussion of these in Subsection I, subsection II provides a more lengthy discussion of the transitive and nom-acc psych-verbs. Since transitive/nom-acc psych-verbs have been claimed to have an underlying structure similar to that of the periphrastic causative psych-construction in (458a), Subsection III compares these constructions and argue that this claim is indeed well founded.

458

a.		JanCauser	maakt	Marie boos.	periphrastic causative psych-verb
		Jan	makes	Marie angry

b.		Die opmerkingCause	maakt	Marie boos.	periphrastic causative psych-verb
		that remark	makes	Marie angry

Subsection IV concludes with a discussion of the inherently reflexive counterparts of causative psych-verbs like ergeren'to annoy'; an example is given in (459).

459

JanExp	ergert	zich	erg	(aan zijn oude auto).	reflexive psych-verb
Jan	annoys	refl	very	of his old car
'Jan is much ashamed (of his old car).'

I. nom-dat psych-verbs
II. Causative (transitive and nom-acc) psych-verbs
III. Periphrastic causative psychological constructions
IV. Inherently reflexive psych-verbs
V. A note on causative non-experiencer object verbs

[+] I. nom-dat psych-verbs

Objects of nom-dat verbs are normally assumed to be experiencers. It will therefore not come as a surprise that many of these verbs can be characterized as psych-verbs. Example (460) provides some examples that may be given this characterization.

460

Nom-dat psych-verbs selecting zijn'to be': bevallen'to please', meevallen'to turn out better than was expected', tegenvallen'to disappoint', (goed/slecht) uitkomen'to suit well/badly'Nom-dat psych-verbs selecting zijn'to be': bevallen'to please', meevallen'to turn out better than was expected', tegenvallen'to disappoint', (goed/slecht) uitkomen'to suit well/badly'

Nom-dat psych-verbs selecting hebben'to have': aanspreken'to appeal', aanstaan'to please', behagen'to please', berouwen'to regret', bevreemden'to surprise', spijten'to regret', tegenstaan'to pall on', voldoen'to satisfy', (niet) zinnen'to dislike'Nom-dat psych-verbs selecting hebben'to have': aanspreken'to appeal', aanstaan'to please', behagen'to please', berouwen'to regret', bevreemden'to surprise', spijten'to regret', tegenstaan'to pall on', voldoen'to satisfy', (niet) zinnen'to dislike'

The verbs in (460) differ from causative psychological verbs in that the subject of the construction is not a causer/cause. Instead, it seems more appropriate to characterize the subject as the object (target/subject matter) of emotion. This is compatible with the conclusion reached in Section 2.1.2 that the subject of a nom-dat verb is a DO-subject given that an object (subject matter/target) of emotion is normally an internal argument of the verb; cf. (421) in Section 2.5.1.1, sub ID.

461

a.		Dat pretparkObject of emotion	bevalt	JanExp.
		that amusement park	pleases	Jan

b.	Deze laffe daadObject of emotion	stond	ElsExp	erg	tegen.
	this cowardly deed	palled	Els	much	on
	'That cowardly deed disgusted Els.'

Since the verbs in (460) constitute a subset of the verbs in (88), we refer the reader to Section 2.1.2 for a more detailed discussion of them. Note, however, that the subject of a nom-dat verb is characterized as a theme there, because the notion of object of emotion is not directly relevant in that discussion.

[+] II. Causative (transitive and nom-acc) psych-verbs

This subsection is devoted to psych-verbs with an accusative experiencer. The claim that the experiencer is assigned accusative case cannot be directly substantiated for Dutch given the lack of morphological case marking, but can be made plausible by comparing the relevant Dutch verbs to their German counterparts (which normally do take an accusatively marked experiencer object) and/or by investigating the syntactic behavior of these verbs (e.g., by considering the question as to whether the experiencer can be promoted to subject by passivization). The verbs under consideration are causative in the sense that their subjects generally refer to a causer or a cause of the event. The causer and cause can be expressed simultaneously, but in that case the cause must be expressed in the form of an adjunct-PP; cf. example (462c). Experiencer objects are normally obligatory; they can only marginally be omitted in generic examples like ?dat soort opmerkingen kwetst'that kind of remark hurts'.

462

a.		JanCauser	kwetste	MarieExp.
		Jan	hurt	Marie

b.		Die opmerkingCause	kwetste	MarieExp.
		that remark	hurt	Marie

c.		JanCauser	kwetste	Marie met/door die opmerkingCause.
		Jan	hurt	Marie with/by that remark

Example (463) provides a representative sample of causative object experiencer verbs. The verbs in (463a) can all be used in a way similar to kwetsen in (462), that is, with either a causer or a cause subject. The causative object experiencer verbs in (463b), on the other hand, tend to prefer a cause subject (although some may occasionally occur with a causer).

463

Causative object experiencer verbs with a causer/cause subject: afstoten'to repel', alarmeren'to alarm', amuseren'to amuse', beledigen'to offend', bemoedigen'to encourage', boeien'to fascinate', ergeren'to annoy', fascineren'to fascinate', grieven'to hurt', hinderen'to bother', imponeren'to impress', interesseren'to interest', intrigeren'to intrigue', irriteren'to irritate', kalmeren'to calm', krenken'to hurt', kwetsen'to hurt', motiveren'to motivate', ontmoedigen'to discourage', ontroeren'to move', opfleuren'to cheer up', opmonteren'to cheer up', opvrolijken'to cheer up', opwinden'to excite', overrompelen'to take by surprise', overtuigen'to convince', overvallen'to take by surprise', prikkelen'to annoy', storen'to disturb', shockeren/choqueren'to shock', verbazen'to amaze', verbijsteren'to bewilder', verblijden'to make happy', vermaken'to entertain', verrassen'to surprise', vertederen'to move', vervelen'to annoy'Causative object experiencer verbs with a causer/cause subject: afstoten'to repel', alarmeren'to alarm', amuseren'to amuse', beledigen'to offend', bemoedigen'to encourage', boeien'to fascinate', ergeren'to annoy', fascineren'to fascinate', grieven'to hurt', hinderen'to bother', imponeren'to impress', interesseren'to interest', intrigeren'to intrigue', irriteren'to irritate', kalmeren'to calm', krenken'to hurt', kwetsen'to hurt', motiveren'to motivate', ontmoedigen'to discourage', ontroeren'to move', opfleuren'to cheer up', opmonteren'to cheer up', opvrolijken'to cheer up', opwinden'to excite', overrompelen'to take by surprise', overtuigen'to convince', overvallen'to take by surprise', prikkelen'to annoy', storen'to disturb', shockeren/choqueren'to shock', verbazen'to amaze', verbijsteren'to bewilder', verblijden'to make happy', vermaken'to entertain', verrassen'to surprise', vertederen'to move', vervelen'to annoy'

Causative object experiencer verbs with (preferably) a cause subject: aangrijpen'to move', beangstigen'to frighten', bedaren'to calm down', bedroeven'to sadden', benauwen'to oppress', bevreemden'to surprise', deprimeren'to depress', frustreren'to frustrate', opkikkeren'to cheer up', raken'to affect', verbitteren'to embitter', verheugen'to rejoice', verontrusten'to alarm', verwonderen'to surprise'Causative object experiencer verbs with (preferably) a cause subject: aangrijpen'to move', beangstigen'to frighten', bedaren'to calm down', bedroeven'to sadden', benauwen'to oppress', bevreemden'to surprise', deprimeren'to depress', frustreren'to frustrate', opkikkeren'to cheer up', raken'to affect', verbitteren'to embitter', verheugen'to rejoice', verontrusten'to alarm', verwonderen'to surprise'

The following subsections will extensively discuss the properties of these verbs. Special attention will be paid to the differences between the constructions in (462a&b) with a causer and a cause subject, respectively.

[+] A. The verb does not select an object of emotion

A remarkable fact about causative object experiencer verbs is that they do not occur with a subject matter of emotion. Whereas we have seen in (418), repeated here as the (a)-examples in (464), that constructions with the psych-adjective bang'afraid' may contain a causer, a cause and a subject matter of emotion, the (b)-examples in (464) show that a subject matter of emotion cannot be used with the almost synonymous causative verb beangstigen'to frighten'.

464

a.		PeterCauser	maakt	JanExp	met zijn verhalenCause	bang	voor spokenSubjM.
		Peter	makes	Jan	with his stories	afraid	of ghosts

a'.		Peters verhalenCause	maken	JanExp	bang	voor spokenSubjM.
		Peterʼs stories	make	Jan	afraid	of ghosts

b.		PeterCauser	beangstigt	JanExp	met zijn verhalenCause	(*voor spokenSubjM).
		Peter	frightens	Jan	with his stories	of ghosts

b'.		Peters verhalenCause	beangstigen	JanExp	(*voor spokenSubjM).
		Peterʼs stories	frighten	Jan	of ghosts

Perhaps we can even generalize this and claim that causative psych-verbs cannot occur with any object (subject matter/target) of emotion. If so, the verb interesseren'to interest' is an exception to the general rule, given that it seems to allow a voor-PP expressing the target of emotion.

465

PeterCauser/het verhaalCause	interesseerde	JanExp	voor dat onderwerpTarget.
Peter/the story	interested	Jan	for that topic
'Peter/the story interested the boys in that topic.'

Note in this connection that Pesetsky (1995: 61/283) claims that causative psych-verbs with a particle are able to select an object of emotion in English, whereas in Dutch this seems to be completely excluded. This can be seen by comparing the Dutch examples in (466) to their English renderings in the primed examples, which Pesetsky gives as fully acceptable.

466

a.		Het nieuws	vrolijkte	Sue op	(*over haar toestand).
		the news	cheered	Sue up	about her plight

a'.

The news cheered Sue up about her plight.

b.		De lezingen	wonden	Bill op	(*over klassieke muziek).
		the lectures	turned	Bill on	about classical music

b'.

The lectures turned Bill on to classical music.

[+] B. The verb is possibly a derived form

Subsections C to I below will show that the psych-verbs in (463) differ from regular transitive verbs in various respects. It has been suggested that these differences are due to the fact that causative object experiencer verbs are not simple forms but morphologically complex ones. Although this claim is not always easy to substantiate, the following subsections will show that there are reasons for assuming that it is indeed correct for a large number of these verbs.

[+] 1. Verbs derived from an adjective

That the causative psych-verbs in (463) are morphologically complex is, of course, uncontroversial for the deadjectival verbs in (467). Note that the prefixes ver- and be- may also express causation when the base adjective does not refer to a mental state, as is clear from ver-edel-en'to ennoble' and be-vochtig-en'to moisten'.

467

prefixed with ver-: blij'happy'-verblijden'to make happy', bitter'bitter'-verbitteren'embitter', teder'tender/soft'-vertederen'to move/soften'prefixed with ver-: blij'happy'-verblijden'to make happy', bitter'bitter'-verbitteren'embitter', teder'tender/soft'-vertederen'to move/soften'

prefixed with be-: angst'fear'-beangstigen'to frighten', droef'sad'-bedroeven'to sadden', moed'courage'- bemoedigen'to encourage', nauw'narrow'-benauwen'to oppress', vreemd'strange'-bevreemden'to surprise'prefixed with be-: angst'fear'-beangstigen'to frighten', droef'sad'-bedroeven'to sadden', moed'courage'- bemoedigen'to encourage', nauw'narrow'-benauwen'to oppress', vreemd'strange'-bevreemden'to surprise'

The fact that many of the verbs in (463) are prefixed with ver-, be- and ont- might be better understood if we assume that these affixes are responsible for the causative meaning aspect in all these cases.

[+] 2. The causative-inchoative alternation

There are verbs that can be used both as unaccusative and as transitive verbs. A prototypical verb that exhibits this alternation is breken'to break', which can be used both as an inchoative, unaccusative verb and as a causative, transitive verb. It has been claimed that the causer is introduced by a zero-morpheme that attaches to the (simple) unaccusative verb; see Section 3.2.3 for more discussion.

468

a.		Het glasTheme	breekt.
		the glass	breaks

b.		JanCauser	breekt	het glasTheme.
		Jan	breaks	the glass

Although Section 2.5.1.2, sub III, has shown that there are only a few unaccusative psych-verbs, the same alternation can be found with psych-verbs. The (a)- and (b)-examples of (469) show this for the verbs kalmeren/bedaren'to calm down' in (448a&b). The unaccusative verb schrikken'to get frightened' in (448c) does not participate in this alternation, but it is nevertheless possible to derive a causative form of it by making use of the prefix ver-, which results in the perhaps somewhat obsolete verb verschrikken'to frighten' (causative verschrikken is mainly known in its adjectival participial form verschrikt'frightened' and as part of the instrumental compound noun vogelverschrikker'scarecrow'). The somewhat formal example in (469c') is relevant, however, in that the prefix ver- is perhaps an overt counterpart of the postulated phonetically empty causative morpheme that derives the causative forms in the primed (a)- and (b)-examples in (469).

469

a.		Zijn boze vriendExp	kalmeerde	snel.
		his angry friend	calmed.down	quickly

a'.		JanCauser	kalmeerde	zijn vriend	snel.
		Jan	calmed.down	his friend	quickly

b.		MarieExp	bedaarde	snel.
		Marie	calmed.down	quickly

b'.		Zijn vriendelijke woordenCause	bedaarden	MarieExp	snel.
		his kind words	calmed.down	Marie	quickly

c.		JanExp	schrok	van de plotselinge verschijning van de geestCause.
		Jan	got.frightened	of the sudden appearance of the ghost

c'.	$	De plotselinge verschijning van de geestCause	verschrok Jan.
		the sudden appearance of the ghost	frightened Jan

Unaccusative psych-verbs with particles all have causative counterparts. Since the particle is claimed to function as a kind of predicate, the primed examples in (470) can probably be considered to be on a par with the causative non-psych-construction Jan breekt het glas in stukken'Jan breaks the glass to pieces'.

470

a.		JanExp	montert	helemaal	op.
		Jan	cheers	completely	up

a'.		PeterCauser	montert	JanExp	helemaal	op.
		Peter	cheers	Jan	completely	up

b.		PeterExp	fleurt	helemaal	op.
		Peter	cheers	completely	up

b'.		Maries opmerkingCause	fleurt	PeterExp	helemaal	op.
		Marieʼs remark	cheers	Peter	completely	up

c.		JanExp	kikkert	helemaal	op.
		Jan	cheers	completely	up

c'.		Die lekkere soepCause	kikkert	JanExp	helemaal	op.
		that tasty soup	cheers	Jan	completely	up

Note that it is not the case that all causative psych-verbs have an unaccusative counterpart; the other verbs in (463) do not or only with difficulty.

[+] 3. Verbs ending in -eren

Many causative psych-verbs are Latinate, or at least Romance, forms ending in -eren. Although there are no attested words from which these verbs are derived, it seems plausible that they are derived from non-verbal stems by means of affixation with the causative morpheme -eren. Table (471) shows that these postulated non-verbal stems can also be used to derive nouns and adjectives; cf. De Haas & Trommelen (1993:348) and Booij (2002:127-8).

471

stem	derived verb	derived noun	derived adjective
amus-	amus-eren to amuse	amus-ement amusement	amus-ant amusing
frustr-	frustr-eren to frustrate	frustr-atie frustration	frustr-erend frustrating
intrig-	intrig-eren to make curious	intrig-e intrigue	intrig-erend intriguing
irrit-	irrit-eren to irritate	irrit-atie irritation	irrit-ant irritating
stimul-	stimul-eren to stimulate	stimul-atie stimulation	stimul-erend stimulating

The idea that -eren is or can act as a causative morpheme is supported by the fact illustrated in (472) that it also derives causative object experiencer verb from nouns.

472

Denominal causative psych-verbs ending in -eren: alarm'alarm'-alarmeren'to alarm', charme'charm' - charmeren'to charm', motief'motive'-motiveren'to motivate', shock'shock'-shockeren'to shock'Denominal causative psych-verbs ending in -eren: alarm'alarm'-alarmeren'to alarm', charme'charm' - charmeren'to charm', motief'motive'-motiveren'to motivate', shock'shock'-shockeren'to shock'

[+] 4. Conclusion and caveat

The previous subsections have shown that for many causative psych-verbs there is reason for assuming that some causative affix is present, and that the verb is therefore complex, subsection III will show that, syntactically seen, causative psych-verbs resemble periphrastic causative constructions such as (473b), which might be considered as additional evidence for the assumption that the causative psych-verbs are morphologically complex.

473

a.		JanExp	is bang.
		Jan	is afraid

b.		De schaduwen op de muurCause	maken	Jan bang.
		the shadows on the wall	make	Jan afraid

It should be noted, however, that the presence of a (possibly phonetically empty) causative morpheme is not immediately plausible in all cases. The psych-verbs in (474a), for example, are probably denominal, but to our knowledge, there is no reason for assuming that the verbal ending -en is causative in nature. Moreover, the psych-verbs in (474b) do not seem to be derived at all as there does not seem to exist a base form that may be considered the input of the verb (in present-day Dutch, at least).

474

prikkel'stimulus'-prikkelen'to stimulate', schok'shock'schokken'to shock'

ergeren'to annoy', krenken'to offend', kwetsen'to hurt'

Of course, we may adopt a similar assumption for the verbs in (474b) as for Latinate verbs like irriteren'to irritate', and claim that they are derived from stems that only occur as bound morphemes. The adjectives and nouns in (475) can then be seen as derived directly from this stem. On this assumption, the two sets of verbs in (474a&b) would form a single class of problem for the assumption that all causative psych-verbs are complex.

475

erger-lijk'annoying', krenk-end'offensive', kwets-end'hurtful'

erger-nis'annoyance', krenk-ing'offence', kwets-uur'hurt'

[+] C. The semantic role of the subject

We have already noted that (in the majority of cases) the subject of an object experiencer verb can have the semantic role of causer or cause; cf. the discussion of (463). A question that should be raised is whether the role of causer can or should be distinguished from the thematic role of agent, since in many respects causers and agents behave in the same way. For example, agent-oriented adverbs like opzettelijk'deliberately' can readily be used with a causer subject; cf. the primeless examples in (476). In addition, the primed examples show that causative psych-verbs with a causer subject can readily be embedded under the volitional verb willen'want' or the causative verb laten'to make', which suggests that the causer is not only agent-like but also has control over the event.

476

a.		JanCauser	irriteert	MarieExp	opzettelijk.
		Jan	irritates	Marie	deliberately

a'.		JanCauser	wil	MarieExp	irriteren.
		Jan	wants	Marie	irritate

a''.		Peter laat	JanCauser	MarieExp	irriteren.
		Peter makes	Jan	Marie	irritate

b.		JanCauser	kwetst	zijn vriendExp	opzettelijk.
		Jan	hurts	his friend	deliberately

b'.		JanCauser	wil	zijn vriendExp	kwetsen.
		Jan	wants	his friend	hurt

b''.		Peter laat	JanCauser	zijn vriendExp	kwetsen.
		Peter makes	Jan	his friend	hurt

The examples in (477) show that causative psych-verbs with a cause subject behave totally differently in this respect: they do not allow the agent-oriented adverb opzettelijk, and they cannot be embedded under volitional willen or the causative verb laten, which shows that the cause subject certainly cannot be considered agentive.

477

a.	*	Jans jaloezieCause	irriteert	zijn vriendExp	opzettelijk.
		Janʼs jealousy	irritates	his friend	deliberately

a'.	*	Jans jaloezieCause	wil	zijn vriendExp	irriteren.
		Janʼs jealousy	wants	his friend	irritate

a''.	*	Peter laat	Jans jaloezieCause	zijn vriendExp	irriteren.
		Peter makes	Janʼs jealousy	his friend	irritate

b.	*	Jans opmerkingCause	kwetst	zijn vriendExp	opzettelijk.
		Janʼs remark	hurts	his friend	deliberately

b'.	*	Jans opmerkingCause	wil	zijn vriendExp	kwetsen.
		Janʼs remark	wants	his friend	hurt

b''.	*	Peter laat	Jans opmerkingCause	zijn vriendExp	kwetsen.
		Peter makes	Janʼs remark	his friend	hurt

It is important to note that the unacceptability of the examples in (477) has nothing to do with the inanimateness of the subject. In order to see this it should be noted that examples with a +human subject, like Jan irriteert MarieExp'Jan irritates Marie', are actually ambiguous between two readings; on the first reading the subject functions as the causer, and the example expresses that the irritation on the part of Marie is caused by some action of Jan; on the second reading, the subject functions as the cause and under this reading the example expresses that it is simply Jan's presence that irritates Marie. In the primed examples of (476), it is only the causer subject reading that survives. This can be illustrated in a slightly different way by means of the examples in (478), in which the +human subject is preferably construed as a cause: the preferred reading of this example is that it is the whining of the children that irritates the father. As long as we stick to this interpretation, the constructions in (478b-d) are unacceptable: these examples are only (marginally) acceptable under the less prominent interpretation of (478a) that the cause of the irritation is something other than the whining.

478

a.		Kinderen die jengelenCause	irriteren	hun vaderExp.
		children that whine	irritate	their father

b.	#	Kinderen die jengelenCause	irriteren	hun vader	opzettelijk.
		children that whine	irritate	their father	deliberately

c.	#	Kinderen die jengelenCause	willen	hun vader	irriteren.
		children that whine	want	their father	irritate

d.	#	Jan laat	kinderen die jengelenCause	hun vaderExp	irriteren.
		Jan makes	children that whine	their father	irritate

The examples in (478) therefore show that it is agentivity that is at stake: the cause subject of a causative psych-verb is not agentive. Another indication that cause subjects are non-agentive is that they may take the form of a clause, which is never possible with agentive subjects. The clause can be placed in sentence-initial or in sentence-final position; in the latter case, the subject position is normally occupied by the anticipatory subject pronoun het.

479

a.	[Dat	de muziek	zo hard	staat]Cause,	irriteert	de jongensExp.
	that	the music	so loud	is	irritates	the boys
	'The fact that the music is so loud is irritating the boys.'

Het