review torrego dependencies objects torrego esther 1998 dependencies objects linguistic inquiry monograph 34 cambridge massachusetts mit press 197 pages reviewed alex alsina universitat pompeu fabra barcelona book study overtly casemarked objects spanish pays attention similar phenomena languages particularly romance languages wellknown direct objects accusative objects spanish expressed full nps dps use author term alternate two forms depending various semantic syntactic properties dps withouth overt case morphology overtly casemarked dps overt case marker question preposition also marks dative objects study adopts minimalist program outlined chomsky 1992 1994 1995 framework developing analysis various phenomena investigation synopsis chapter 1 outlines theoretical framework book sketches content subsequent chapters chapter 2 presents various generalizations characterize spanish accusative objects marked dative preposition among generalizations correlations overt casemarking specificity overt casemarking telicity overt casemarking interpretation subject agent cause etc common element explanation generalizations idea marked accusative object raises overtly position outside vp specifier position functional category v takes vp complement example two following facts observed marked accusative requires may require telic interpretation event absent unmarked accusative objects affected interpretation animate object requires overt casemarking object suggested objects moved outside vp delimiting role predicates time position objects moved spec vp locus affectedness thus two different properties overt casemarking would made follow idea overtly casemarked objects spanish undergo overt movement spec vp likewise observation overt casemarking object requires subject interpreted agent cause linked idea overtly casemarked object specv p hypothesis causative agent role assigned v vp configuration torrego proposes two types marked accusatives one structural case inherent case marked accusative inherent causative agentive verbs affected objects structural verbs theoretical difference appealed order account asymmetry respect extraction marked accusative objects extractions illformed former class verbs latter presence extra structure created inherent case marker crucial element explanation contrast chapter 3 examines variation causative structures spanish argues variation largely conditioned case assignment much discussion based causative structure causee appears causative verb hacer make infinitive one goals chapter explain restrictions fairepar causative several spanish dialects dialects fairepar causative fully acceptable following situations 1 object clitic present 2 reflexive clitic present otherwise best verbs identified constructive accomplishments build casemarked objects chapter 4 analyzes constructions dative objects ditransitive verbs unaccusatives restrictions regarding constructions two objects identical casemarking examined chapter also deals contrasts presence absence doubling clitics comparison made double object constructions english analysis presented contrast raising constructions eem without dative argument acceptable unacceptable conclusions briefly summarized end critical discussion book mine linguistic puzzles concerning objects causative constructions clitics related phenomena spanish interest anyone concerned matters regardless analysis theoretical framework one may wish adopt book also interest linguists want find minimalist program applied particular empirical domain author done great job synthesizing data presenting generalizations need explained despite positive aspects book experienced serious frustrations reading data analysis data problem data minor one compared one fact many data presented alien varieties spanish speak familiar naturally claim know varieties spanish surprised discover data belong spanish know examples follow torrego presents contrast pp 5859 quienes les vieron quienes los vieron forms equally illformed clitic form parentheses included example la guerra los hizo subir page 101 claimed allow animate reading clitic los although also allows inanimate reading fact claimed hold spanish dialects preinfinitival causee hacer intransitive verb attested find causative structure highly marginal examples la maestra hizo los alumnos subir construction exemplified sentences hizo pedir yo analyzed book also alien main problem numerous discrepancies data makes hard evaluate difference interpretation data due difference data may obvious possible misanalysis actually data illustrate consider argument given support claim structure embedded hacer sentence like la guerra hizo subir los precios single unit p 102 torrego claims standard constituency tests indicate sequence subir los precios sentence constituent provides examples following support claim 38 lo que la guerra hizo es subir los precios war caused rise prices que ha hecho la guerra sino subir los precios war caused except rising prices translation sentences indicated glosses rather war raise prices war done raise prices 38a 38d respectively would tend believe torrego playing polysemy hacer subir hacer either causative verb meaning cause make generic transitive verb translatable subir either intransitive equivalent rise transitive equivalent raise examples 38 relevant torrego claim hacer must causative subir intransitive makes exemples acceptable even though perfect subir taken transtive verb whose unexpressed subject coreferential la guerra interpretation hacer would functioning causative verb counterpart shows conclusively variety spanish interpretation right instead subir use verb intransitive use get unacceptable result caer fall verb even though sequence caer los precios appear following causative verb hacer la guerra hizo caer los precios appear focused topicalized constituent verb see lo que la guerra hizo es caer los precios war caused fall prices b que ha hecho la guerra sino caer los precios war done caused except falling prices would conclude torrego data 38 provide evidence claim sequence subir los precios causative construction constituent examples include causative verb hacer course reach conclusion variety spanish familiar ungrammatical know examples could grammatical variety spanish analyzed torrego case conclusion would apply examples 38 would constitute relevant evidence claim investigation analysis second difficulty book analysis analyses provided trouble understanding many analyses given many cases fail derive predictions follow analysis tell would constitute counterexample analysis figure role given assumption plays analysis etc could well due deficiency part readers might experience difficulties next point problem cases 1 chapter 2 book starts list six generalizations marked accusative pp 1416 1 marked accusative cooccur doubling clitics dialects necessary condition clitic doubling 2 marked accusative objects interpreted specific 3 telicity requires marked accusative animate objects 4 subject clause marked accusative object agent cause 5 marked accusative restricted animates 6 affected animate objects require marked accusative indications given along generalizations follow unified analysis main idea underlying analysis object marked accusative raises specifier position functional category v takes vp complement ideally overt movement operation kind testable effects word order properties construction follow straightforwardly operation however torrego notes visible effect object raising word order motivation analysis rests entirely well explains generalizations listed generalizations explained attributing various properties correlate overt casemarking spec v vp position oneby one basis example proposed spec v vp specific interpretation presence object spec v vp may shift aspect predicate telic situation presence object spec v vp gives agentive interpretation subject etc one wonders analysis preferable one attributes properties directly overt casemarking cases oneby one stipulation properties required clear advantage attributing properties special phrase structure position weak evidence given 2 pp 23 ff torrego claims two types marked accusative marked accusative nonaffected objects structural case whereas marked acusative affected objects inherent case however claim faced major problem torrego notes simply disregards inherent quirky case generally accepted property preserved passivization argument inherent case nt lose change case marking clause passivized genitive dative case icelandic good example dative case spanish also good example case marking change active passive however marked accusative case affected objects spanish preserved see relevant examples p 28 torrego notes contrast spanish hindi dialects preserve accusative ko marking passives citing mohanan 1990 torrego goes say p 29 marked accusative affected objects inherent overt marking passivization could preserved marking datives genitives preserved icelandic passives remains seen whether relevant data dialects hindi confirm expectation relevant data dialects hindi confirm expectation examples mohanan 1990 also mohanan 1994 show agree identify inherent case case marking preserved passivization must conclude marked accusative case inherent dialects hindi case marking change passivization structural dialects hindi change passivization forced conclude structural spanish preserved passivization ignore evidence still conclude marked accusative case inherent case spanish devoid distinction structural case inherent case conceptual empirical substance standardly asociated torrego explicitly reject association 3 agentivity effect clauses marked accusative explained follows following suggestion chomsky 1995 causative agent role understood interpretation assigned v vp configuration since marked accusative assigned objects raise spec vp presence marked accusative implies existence v vp configuration therefore whenever marked accusative must agentive causative interpretation happens verbs allow alternation marked unmarked accusative object mean verbs alternate v vp configuration configuration second option spelled also way knowing consequences presence absence v vp configuration overt case marking corelation overt case marking properties agentivity 4 pp 34 ff torrego tries relate idea marked accusative affected objects lexical quirky case grimshaw 1990 theory quirky case marking grimshaw theory arguments argument structure ranked prominence two tiers aspectual tier thematic tier adopting theory torrego proposes p 36 argument subject object lexically quirky marked thematic aspectual prominence relative argument unclear one interpret proposal prominence comparative property less prominent b say prominence relative b either meaningless would true pair arguments argument structure necessarily true pair arguments b argument structure prominence relation b torrego goes state two arguments agentive telic transitive verb aspectually prominent true transitive verbs torrego goes conclude approach covers fact object agentive caustive verbs must lexically quirky case marked also covers fact overall phenomenon marked accusative case happens verbs agentive subjects fail see predictions derived 5 regarding animacy restriction overtly case marked objects torrego proposes term actor appropriate characterize class nominals appear marked accusative term animate motivation terminological change found existence expressions denoting inanimate entities take overt case marking following example p 55 45 el acido afecta los metales acid affects metals suspect presence marked accusative example verb semantics object torrego propose definition actor refers reader jackendoff 1983 characterization actor character actiontype event performs action given characterization hard see los metales metals example 45 interpreted argument performs action event would el acido acid torrego goes say distinction animates actor like nominals inanimates appear semantic nature odd claim make given notion actor proposed replace animate given semantic characterization motivation claim however found fact certain expressions specifically proper names humans used refer anything boat magazine beer always require overt case morphology following example 46 esconde barbara hide barbara suggested purely morphological property underlies overt case marking although indication given morphological property might possibly robust generalization overt case marking objects spanish restricted animates even though problem cases example 45 personified expressions 46 problems torrego gives explanation correlation case marking animate interpretation absence case marking inanimate interpretation see pairs ii iii ii esconde este hide one male animate entity b esconde este hide one inanimate entity iii veremos otra shall see another one female animate entity veremos otra shall see another one inanimate entity general remarks torrego often appeals intuition exposition analysis work details analysis following remark reminiscent chomsky style illustrates point p 139 end 3rd par whatever details intuitive account general approach seems quite plausible one work details account possible derive predictions therefore theory unfalsifiable work torrego part move towards deriving explanations general simple principles interact complex ways move welcome one careful land us vagueness imprecision style explanation appeal made principles often unstated imprecisely stated principles predictions claimed follow derivation predictions logical steps predictions follow worked possible know prediction theory really counterexample theory might danger reader torrego dependencies objects might impression explanations book style prevent impression torrego made greater effort terms exposition even means leading reader hand show various predictions derived necessary state crucial principles explicitly numbered items reader refer easily make assumptions representations also explicit give stepby step derivations various predictions references chomsky noam 1992 minimalist program linguistic theory mit working papers linguistics 1 chomsky noam 1994 bare phrase structure mit occasional papers linguistics 5 chomsky noam 1995 minimalist program mit press grimshaw jane 1990 argument structure mit press jackendoff ray 1983 semantics cognition mit press mohanan tara 1990 arguments hindi ph dissertation stanford university mohanan tara 1994 argument structure hindi stanford csli publications reviewer alex alsina professor titular universitat faculty translation interpretation universitat pompeu fabra barcelona spain ph stanford university 1993 research interests include syntax morphology morphosyntax argument structure linguistic theory reviewer address alex alsina facultat de traduccio interpretacio universitat pompeu fabra la rambla 3032 08002 barcelona spain alex alsina trad upf es