The Nature of Psych Detransitivization in Romance and Germanic
A Typological Approach
Abstract
Romance and Germanic languages exhibit the psych alternation, deriving intransitive subject-experiencer predicates from transitive object-experiencer verbs, using markers of reflexive origin. The appropriate syntactic classification of Romance and Germanic detransitivized psych verbs, e.g. as anticausatives or antipassives, is under debate. This paper proposes a typologically oriented approach to the question, based on patterns of voice syncretism: The study shows that the common denominator of psych detransitivization markers is an anticausative function, and discusses how this approach may complement theoretical reasoning and language-specific hypothesis building.
open access | peer reviewed
Submitted: Feb. 24, 2025 | Accepted: May 12, 2025 | Published April 29, 2026 | Language: en
Keywords Voice syncretism • Detransitivization • Romance and Germanic languages • Anticausative • Grammatical voice • Typology • Psych verbs • Psych alternation
Copyright © 2026 Niklas Wiskandt. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-962-7/006