"unaccusative" meaning in English

See unaccusative in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˌʌnəˈkjuːzətɪv/ [UK, US]
Etymology: un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|un|accusative}} un- + accusative Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} unaccusative (not comparable)
  1. (linguistics, of a verb) Intransitive and having an experiencer as its subject, that is, the (syntactic) subject is not a (semantic) agent. Tags: not-comparable Categories (topical): Linguistics Hyponyms: intransitive Related terms: accusative
    Sense id: en-unaccusative-en-adj--miGwBfC Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with un- Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with un-: 53 47 Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Noun

IPA: /ˌʌnəˈkjuːzətɪv/ [UK, US] Forms: unaccusatives [plural]
Etymology: un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|un|accusative}} un- + accusative Head templates: {{en-noun}} unaccusative (plural unaccusatives)
  1. (linguistics) An unaccusative verb. Categories (topical): Linguistics
    Sense id: en-unaccusative-en-noun-XCmElB8N Categories (other): English terms prefixed with un- Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with un-: 53 47 Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for unaccusative meaning in English (4.2kB)

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "unergative"
    },
    {
      "word": "transitive"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "un",
        "3": "accusative"
      },
      "expansion": "un- + accusative",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "unaccusative (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Linguistics",
          "orig": "en:Linguistics",
          "parents": [
            "Language",
            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with un-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, Andrew Radford, Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the structure of English, University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, →OCLC, §9.6, page 352",
          "text": "The light-verb analysis sketched here also offers us a way of accounting for the fact that in Early Modern English, the perfect auxiliary used with unaccusative verbs was be (as we saw in §7.6), whereas that used with transitive and unergative verbs was have.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Intransitive and having an experiencer as its subject, that is, the (syntactic) subject is not a (semantic) agent."
      ],
      "hyponyms": [
        {
          "word": "intransitive"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-unaccusative-en-adj--miGwBfC",
      "links": [
        [
          "linguistics",
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        ],
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        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
          "agent",
          "agent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics, of a verb) Intransitive and having an experiencer as its subject, that is, the (syntactic) subject is not a (semantic) agent."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a verb"
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "accusative"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌnəˈkjuːzətɪv/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Unaccusative verb"
  ],
  "word": "unaccusative"
}

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "unergative"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "un",
        "3": "accusative"
      },
      "expansion": "un- + accusative",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unaccusatives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "unaccusative (plural unaccusatives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Linguistics",
          "orig": "en:Linguistics",
          "parents": [
            "Language",
            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with un-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Eloise Jelinek, “The Projection of Arguments”, in Miriam Butt, Wilhelm Geuder, editors, Voice and Transitivity as Functional Projections in Yaqui",
          "text": "We have seen that Unergatives and Unaccusatives differ in 1) permitting the derivation of an Impersonal Passive, and 2) in licensing purpose clauses, since Unergatives have active subjects, and Unaccusatives do not.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unaccusative verb."
      ],
      "id": "en-unaccusative-en-noun-XCmElB8N",
      "links": [
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          "linguistics"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics) An unaccusative verb."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌnəˈkjuːzətɪv/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Unaccusative verb"
  ],
  "word": "unaccusative"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "unergative"
    },
    {
      "word": "transitive"
    }
  ],
  "categories": [
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    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms prefixed with un-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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        "2": "un",
        "3": "accusative"
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      "expansion": "un- + accusative",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "unaccusative (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "word": "intransitive"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "accusative"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Linguistics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, Andrew Radford, Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the structure of English, University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, →OCLC, §9.6, page 352",
          "text": "The light-verb analysis sketched here also offers us a way of accounting for the fact that in Early Modern English, the perfect auxiliary used with unaccusative verbs was be (as we saw in §7.6), whereas that used with transitive and unergative verbs was have.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Intransitive and having an experiencer as its subject, that is, the (syntactic) subject is not a (semantic) agent."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "linguistics",
          "linguistics"
        ],
        [
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        ],
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        ],
        [
          "subject",
          "subject"
        ],
        [
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          "agent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics, of a verb) Intransitive and having an experiencer as its subject, that is, the (syntactic) subject is not a (semantic) agent."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a verb"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌnəˈkjuːzətɪv/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Unaccusative verb"
  ],
  "word": "unaccusative"
}

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "unergative"
    }
  ],
  "categories": [
    "English 5-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms prefixed with un-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
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        "2": "un",
        "3": "accusative"
      },
      "expansion": "un- + accusative",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "un- + accusative, from the fact that in a nominative-accusative language, the accusative case, which marks the direct object of a transitive verb, typically marks the non-volitional role. In unaccusative verbs, the non-volitional arguments do not take the accusative case.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unaccusatives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "unaccusative (plural unaccusatives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Linguistics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Eloise Jelinek, “The Projection of Arguments”, in Miriam Butt, Wilhelm Geuder, editors, Voice and Transitivity as Functional Projections in Yaqui",
          "text": "We have seen that Unergatives and Unaccusatives differ in 1) permitting the derivation of an Impersonal Passive, and 2) in licensing purpose clauses, since Unergatives have active subjects, and Unaccusatives do not.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unaccusative verb."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics) An unaccusative verb."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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        "US"
      ]
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  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Unaccusative verb"
  ],
  "word": "unaccusative"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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