Thematic interpretations of intermediate external arguments are post-syntactic derivatives: lessons from causee

Abstract

External arguments have long been argued to hold a special status in the literature on argument structure. Recent works have converged on the view that their thematic interpretations are post-syntactic derivatives. However, most of these studies focus exclusively on arguments serving as the highest arguments within certain domains, leaving the thematic interpretations of intermediate external arguments understudied. This study aims to address this research gap by exploring the different causee interpretations in the Teochew mue -causative and kə -causative. I demonstrate that, like other external arguments, intermediate ones also have their thematic interpretations contextualized through syntactically-oriented event structural interpretation as post-syntactic derivatives. However, intermediate external arguments, such as causees, require a more complex two-step contextualization mechanism. In this mechanism, the complement-oriented approach, widely adopted to analyze the highest external arguments, provides only the initial interpretation, which is further modified during subsequent syntactico-semantic derivations.