1982/06/01 by Alice C. Harris · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Linguistics and language evolution
paper · doi:10.2307/414100
openalex publication_date 1982/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
It has been observed that many languages exhibit a semantic, syntactic, or morphological correlation between the direct objects of transitive verbs and the surface subjects of certain inactive intransitives. The Unaccusative Hypothesis (UH) proposes, within the framework of Relational Grammar, that final subjects of this type are initial direct objects. This paper shows that several morphological and syntactic processes in Georgian refer to just these nominals, thus supporting the UH. It further shows that, although the semantic relations of nominals to verbs is not irrelevant, those morphological and syntactic processes which refer to initial direct objects cannot be stated simply on the basis of semantics.