Psych Verb Causation (@cite{kim-2024} UPH) #
@cite{kim-2024}
Types for the Uniform Projection Hypothesis: all Class II (object experiencer) psych verbs uniformly project Cause + Experiencer. The eventive/stative split comes from the causal source: mind-external percepts (eventive, extensional subject) vs mind-internal representations (stative, intensional subject).
Subject Matter (T/SM) is a causal adjunct mapping to the onset of the causal chain; its incompatibility with an overt Cause follows from the Onset Condition.
Key types #
| Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
CausalSource | External (percept) vs internal (representation) |
CausalChainPosition | Onset vs terminus in a two-link chain |
Key results #
subjectIntensional: internal source → intensional subject positiononsetCondition: causal adjuncts map to onset position- T/SM restriction: Cause occupies onset, SM wants onset → conflict
Source of causation for psych causatives (@cite{kim-2024} UPH).
Class II psych verbs uniformly project Cause + Experiencer. The aspectual distinction (eventive vs stative) comes from what the Cause picks out:
.external: mind-external percept/event ("the noise frightened John").internal: mind-internal representation via "stative causation" / maintenance relation — an existing mental representation maintains the experiencer's psychological state ("the problem concerns John")
- external : CausalSource
- internal : CausalSource
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Position in a two-link causal chain.
Class II psych verbs involve a causal chain from cause (onset) to experiencer's mental state change (terminus).
- onset : CausalChainPosition
- terminus : CausalChainPosition
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The Onset Condition: causal adjuncts (including Subject Matter) must map to the onset position of the causal chain.
This is the key to the T/SM restriction: if Cause already occupies onset and SM also requires onset, they conflict.
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Internal causal source implies the subject position is intensional.
When the cause is a mind-internal representation, the subject's referent depends on the experiencer's knowledge state, so substitution of co-referential terms can fail (Cicero/Tully).
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Is this a stative Class II reading? Stative ↔ internal source.
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Is this an eventive Class II reading? Eventive ↔ external source.
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@cite{pesetsky-1995}'s subdivision of the stimulus role.
Class II psych verbs take a stimulus/cause argument, but Pesetsky shows this role has two semantically distinct subtypes:
- Target (T): what the emotion is directed at "John fears the dog" — the dog is the target of fear
- SubjectMatter (SM): what the emotion is about "John worries about the exam" — the exam is the subject matter
The T/SM distinction controls PP frame selection (of for T, about for SM), cooccurrence with Cause (SM and Cause conflict via the Onset Condition), and the naturalness of the experiencer predicate (T-predicates are "natural", SM-predicates are "arbitrary" in Pesetsky's terms).
Crucially, T/SM has zero syntax: the syntactic structure is identical regardless of which subtype the stimulus has. The distinction is purely semantic/lexical.
- target : StimulusType
- subjectMatter : StimulusType
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Target stimuli select of-PP complements.
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Subject Matter conflicts with overt Cause (Onset Condition). Target does not — it occupies a different position in the causal chain.
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Derive stimulus subtype from causal source.
For Class II psych verbs, the T/SM distinction is determined by the causal source:
- External percept → Target: the percept IS the direct object of the emotion ("the noise frightened John" → frightened of the noise)
- Internal representation → Subject Matter: the representation is what the emotion is about ("the problem concerns John" → concerned about the problem)
For Class I verbs (fear, enjoy), T/SM is a per-use property selected by PP frame (of vs about), not a lexical property. A single Class I verb like "afraid" can take either T ("afraid of dogs") or SM ("afraid about the outcome"). So this derivation applies only to Class II, where the stimulus is the subject and the causal source is a lexical property.
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External causal source derives Target stimulus.
Internal causal source derives Subject Matter stimulus.
Derived SM conflicts with Cause; derived T does not. This connects the Onset Condition to the causal source: internal-source verbs can't cooccur with overt Cause because their derived SM stimulus competes for the onset position.
The causal source determines three properties simultaneously: stimulus subtype, PP frame, and Cause cooccurrence.