Acc./Dat. object alternation with fear verbs in Latin

Abstract

This work analyses the casual alternation between the accusative and dative cases for expressing the object of verbs of fear in Latin. First, it defines the two participants in any psychological event, the Experiencer and the Stimulus, and the two syntactic positions in which these entities can appear, either as subject or as object. Next, the alternations between accusative and dative with action verbs and with fear verbs are explained. The study draws two conclusions: from a semantic point of view, the dative characterises the Stimulus as what Pesetsky calls the Subject Matter of the emotion, and the accusative is the Target of the emotion; from a syntactic point of view, both constituents are argumental.