Definition:
An unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose sole argument (subject) is a patient or theme — the entity that undergoes the action or changes state — rather than an agent that initiates the action. Examples include “arrive,” “fall,” “melt,” “appear,” and “die.” The subject of an unaccusative verb behaves syntactically more like an object than a true subject.
In-Depth Explanation
The unaccusative/unergative distinction, proposed by Perlmutter (1978) and developed within the Unaccusative Hypothesis (Burzio, 1986), divides intransitive verbs into two classes based on the role of their subject:
| Verb Type | Subject Role | Examples (English) | Examples (Japanese) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unaccusative | Patient/theme (undergoer) | arrive, fall, melt, break | 着く (tsuku), 落ちる (ochiru), 溶ける (tokeru), 開く (aku) |
| Unergative | Agent (doer) | run, laugh, talk, work | 走る (hashiru), 笑う (warau), 話す (hanasu), 働く (hataraku) |
Diagnostic: Ask “Did the subject do something, or did something happen to it?” If something happened to it → unaccusative. If the subject performed an action → unergative.
Why this matters linguistically:
In many languages, unaccusative subjects show syntactic behaviors typically associated with objects:
- Italian/French: Unaccusatives use “essere/être” (be) as their auxiliary, while unergatives use “avere/avoir” (have). “È arrivato” (he arrived) vs. “Ha corso” (he ran).
- Dutch: Unaccusatives also select “zijn” (be) vs. “hebben” (have).
- Japanese: The unaccusative/unergative distinction interacts with several grammatical phenomena:
Causativization: Japanese has systematic transitive/intransitive pairs where the intransitive member is often unaccusative: 開く (aku, to open [intr.]) / 開ける (akeru, to open [tr.]), 壊れる (kowareru, to break [intr.]) / 壊す (kowasu, to break [tr.]).
が (ga) vs. を (wo): Unaccusative subjects take が but share semantic properties with を-marked objects.
For Japanese learners, recognizing unaccusative verbs helps with the transitive/intransitive verb pair system — one of the more challenging aspects of Japanese grammar.
Related Terms
See Also
Research
- Perlmutter, D. M. (1978). Impersonal passives and the unaccusative hypothesis. Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 4, 157–189. — The original unaccusative hypothesis.
- Burzio, L. (1986). Italian Syntax: A Government-Binding Approach. Reidel. — Formal development of the unaccusative/unergative distinction with Burzio’s Generalization.