A Diachronic Study of the Causative Alternation of English Psych Verbs

In this paper, we first examine the long-term syntactic changes of the psych verbs worry, grieve, delight, and thrill, which exhibit causative alternation in Modern English. We then investigate shifts in preference between the causative (i.e., experiencer-object, EO) and the inchoative (i.e., experiencer-subject, ES) constructions of these verbs using COHA, a diachronic corpus of Late Modern English. The analysis of COHA reveals that each verb followed a different path with regard to EO vs. ES preference. Notably, the use of the passive voice was particularly strong over time when compared to EO and ES in the active voice. This finding contrasts with previous claims that the passive has been in decline in recent English. This paper explains the persistent use of the passive in terms of thematic hierarchy.