On English and German resultative and causative-resultative derived verbs

This study is based on two related semantic patterns as tertia comparationis called “resultative” and “causative-resultative”. It aims to provide answers to two guiding questions: what commonalities and differences between English and German can be identified in the way (causative-)resultativity is morphologically expressed in derived verbs? How can differences be explained in a way that relates to more general characteristics of the two languages? Examples of relevant verbs include enable, fossilise, narrow, solidify, scrap, tighten and beruhigen, erblinden, kristallisieren, personifizieren, spitzen, versteinern. One set of differences that emerges from the descriptive part as particularly striking and is consequently focused on concerns the number of verbs that have (a) only the resultative meaning; (b) only the causative-resultative meaning; and (c) both meanings: there are significantly more derived (causative-)resultative verbs that express only resultativity in German than in English. Most of the English verbs express both resultativity and causative-resultativity; none expresses resultativity to the exclusion of causative-resultativity.