O– and D–Predicates: A Semantic Approach to the Unaccusative–Unergative Distinction

Abstract

In this paper a conceptually based distinction between two classes of semantic predicates is proposed D–prediates, which encode object definig properties, and O–predicates, which encode optional properties. While the distinction between the properties is conceptually motivated, the two corresponding predicate classes are defined with reference to a logically based notion of ‘(predicate)field’. It is argued that on the basis of this distinction the differences in the grammatical behaviour of unaccusaive and unergative verbs in German can be derived and do not require any form of syntactic representation because the properties that are usually taken to be an indication of the class membership of intransive verbs follow from the status of the properties encoded by the two types of semantic predicates.