English causative alternation: A sign-based constructional approach

English causative alternation is largely consideredto be controlled by the semantic content of a lexical entry. However, clarifying the extentof this belief has been challenging. This paper proposes an SBCG analysis utilizing thefeature structures and inheritance hierarchies of HPSG to address these challenges,bypassing the need for inferential conceptual structure or arity operations. Unliketraditional theories where lexical entries directly function as lexemes in syntax, thisapproach suggests that terminal lexemes inherit constraints from both supertype lexemesand lexical entries. This method avoids issues arising from treating one alternant asthe base of derivation and pursues grammatical rigor by model-theoretically definingalternation elements. The possibility of alternation is determined by the unificationpotential of feature types within a type hierarchy, thereby reconciling the productiveaspects of causative alternation with lexical idiosyncrasies.