关键词: 英语动词die, 词汇语义, 同源状语, 非宾格属性

Abstract: While an unergative verb has an external argument but no direct internal argument, an accusative verb has a direct internal argument but no external argument. The distinction between the two classes of intransitive verbs is fully semantically determined and syntactically represented. The verb die in English describes a non-volitional event of its single argument referent and is thus a typical unaccusative verb, taking a theme direct internal argument. The surface unaccusativity of die is manifested in the there-construction, in which the single argument remains in its base-generated position, that is, the syntactic position of the object. This paper argues against the unergative analysis of die. It is shown that the cognate NP that die takes is not argumental but adverbial; hence, it occupies the adjunct position rather than the object position. Only unergative verbs can take argumental cognate objects. It is concluded that the argumental cognate object construction qualifes as a diagnostic of unaccusativity and it is the argument structure of an intransitive verb that determines whether or not that verb will be found in this construction.