Alternations of psych predicates

Niklas Wiskandt’s PhD project (2020–2025) & ongoing related work with graduate students & cooperation partners

News

  • November 2025: The defense of Niklas Wiskandt’s PhD thesis will take place on December 10.
  • August 2025: Two talks (Blanchard-Rooney & Wiskandt; Schamne & Wiskandt) were presented as part of a workshop on syntactic alternations at SLE’s annual conference in Bordeaux.
  • June 2025: Several papers by project participants have received positive evaluations from anonymous peer reviewers for publication in the edited volume Psych Predicates in R0mance Languages.
  • May 2025: Publication alert! The paper „Verb-LVC pairs with experiencer objects in German: Differences in usage and meaning“ (Wiskandt & Turus 2025) has been published.
  • April 2025: Publication alert! The paper „Light verb constructions with experiencer objects in Germanic and Romance – A corpus-based contrastive perspective on ‚make‘ and ‚give‘ patterns“ (Wiskandt 2025) has been published.

The project

Project Description

Psych verbs (e.g. Portuguese preocupar, ‚to worry so.‘) as well as complex psych predicates (e.g. German in Freude versetzen, ‚to make so. happy‘, literally ‚to transfer so. into happiness‘) show great variation within and across languages. Object-experiencer predicates (i.e. psych predicates that express their experiencer argument as a syntactic object) and their potential to form syntactic alternations are particularly interesting – and thus the focus of this project.

The studies within the project focus mostly on Germanic and Romance languages, but also include typological perspectives.

The project investigates a set of diverse, but related research questions:

  • What is the function of the detransitivizing voice alternation that object-experiencer psych verbs (in Germanic and Romance languages, but also beyond) exhibit?
  • Which factors influence the choice between transitive and detransitivized constructions of object-experiencer verbs?
  • Which patterns are used to form complex object-experiencer predicates across Romance and Germanic, and how are they used?
  • How can we characterize the relation between lexically corresponding psych verbs and complex psych predicates?
  • Is there a consistent syntactic or semantic function of certain patterns of complex object-experiencer predicates?
  • In how far are different psych predicate construction patterns lexically restricted, or semantically conditioned?

People

A lot of people are (or have been) involved in the project:

  • Niklas Wiskandt (That’s me! PhD student 2019-2025, Postdoc 2025-, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Addison J. Blanchard-Rooney (Graduate student 2022-2025, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics; Cooperation partner 2025-, CNRS Lab „Dynamique du Langage“, Lyon )
  • Anna S. Stein (Graduate student, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Armin Sawicki (Graduate student, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Jessica Schamne (Graduate student 2022-2025, Cooperation partner 2025-, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Sarah M. Grätz (Graduate student, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Dila Turus (Cooperation partner, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Elga Cremades (Cooperation partner, University of the Balearic Islands, Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics)
  • Rolf Kailuweit (Cooperation partner, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures)
  • Jens Fleischhauer (1st supervisor of the PhD thesis, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)
  • Kilu von Prince (2nd supervisor of the PhD thesis, HHU Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics)

Events

  • Workshop on „Psych predicates in Romance languages“ in Düsseldorf, September 2023 (co-organized with Rolf Kailuweit)
  • Field trip to Palma de Mallorca & guest stay at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), May 2023 (hosted by Elga Cremades, co-organized with Rolf Kailuweit)

Project-related teaching

All courses were taught at HHU Düsseldorf. Students came mainly from the B.A. and M.A. programs in General Linguistics, but also from the programs in Romance Languages and Literatures.

  • Advanced B.A./M.A. seminar: Psych predicates – Morphosyntax, semantics & typology (Summer term 2025)
  • M.A. seminar & field trip: Psych-Prädikate im Spanischen und Katalanischen [‚Psych predicates in Spanish and Catalan‘] (Summer term 2023, co-taught with Rolf Kailuweit)
  • Advanced B.A./M.A. seminar: Forschung zu Experiencer-Prädikaten in Theorie und Praxis [‚Research on experiencer predicates in theory and practice‘] (Winter term 2022-23)
  • M.A. seminar: Forschungsseminar Experiencer-Verben [‚Research seminar on experiencer verbs‘] (Summer term 2021, co-taught with Rolf Kailuweit)

Publications & Presentations

PhD thesis

  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2025. Alternations of object-experiencer predicates. Studies on detransitivization and light verb constructions in the psych domain. PhD Thesis, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics.

Edited volume

  • Wiskandt, Niklas, Elga Cremades & Rolf Kailuweit (eds.). forthcoming. Psych Predicates in Romance Languages. LiVVaL: Linguaggio e Variazione | Variation in Language. Venice: Edizioni Ca’Foscari – Venice University Press.

Peer-reviewed research papers

Student theses

  • Schamne, Jessica. 2025. Voice Syncretism in the Psych Alternation. M.A. Thesis, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics. (supervised by Niklas Wiskandt & Kilu von Prince)
  • Blanchard-Rooney, Addison J. 2025. A cross-Romance perspective on the interface of emotional intensity and the psych alternation. M.A. Thesis, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics. (supervised by Niklas Wiskandt)
  • Grätz, Sarah M. 2024. On Interactions Between Stimulus Animacy and Voice in Catalan Experiencer Object Verb Constructions. B.A. Thesis, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics. (supervised by Niklas Wiskandt)
  • Sawicki, Armin. 2024. Tracing language contact on the Balearic Islands in Spanish and Catalan psych verb constructions. B.A. Thesis, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Linguistics. (supervised by Niklas Wiskandt)

Manuscripts

  • Wiskandt, Niklas. under review. Psych alternation beyond the psych alternation. Diathesis and epithesis in alternating object-experiencer predicates.
  • Wiskandt, Niklas, Jorina Fenner & Rolf Kailuweit. in preparation. Object-experiencer verbs in Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian: Setting the stage for a cross-linguistic model.
  • Blanchard-Rooney, Addison J. & Niklas Wiskandt. in preparation. A cross-linguistic experiment on the role of emotion intensity in the psych alternation.
  • Schamne, Jessica & Niklas Wiskandt. in preparation. Voice syncretism in the psych alternation.

Conference & workshop presentations

  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2025. Two types of null objects in German and Portuguese psych predicates — Talk at „Null Objects from a Crosslinguistic and Developmental Perspective 2025“, Palma, Spain
  • Blanchard-Rooney, Addison J. & Niklas Wiskandt. 2025. A cross-linguistic experiment on the role of emotion intensity in the psych alternation — Talk at „58th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea“, Bordeaux, France
  • Schamne, Jessica & Niklas Wiskandt. 2025. Voice syncretism in the psych alternation — Talk at „58th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea“, Bordeaux, France
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2024. Psych alternation beyond the psych alternation – A unified approach to constructional variation in Romance psych predicates — Poster at „Going Romance 2024“, Braga, Portugal
  • Blanchard-Rooney, Addison J. 2024. On the role of emotional intensity in the psych alternation: A cross-Romance experimental perspective. — Poster at „Going Romance 2024“, Braga, Portugal
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2024. Psych alternation beyond the psych alternation! A unified approach to constructional variation in the psych domain — Poster at „LinPin 2024“, Aachen, Germany
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2024. A corpus study on experiencer object light verb constructions across Romance languages — Talk at „54th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages“, Provo, UT, USA
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2024. A typological perspective on the nature of psych detransitivization in Romance and Germanic — Poster at „Purdue Linguistics Symposium 2024“, West Lafayette, IN, USA
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2023. The nature of the psych alternation in Romance – A typological approach — Talk at „Psych Predicates in Romance Languages“ Workshop, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Blanchard-Rooney, Addison J. 2023. Sketch-based elicitation of psych verbs in Spanish and Catalan on Mallorca: Annotations and initial insights — Talk at „Psych Predicates in Romance Languages“ Workshop, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Grätz, Sarah M., Armin Sawicki & Anna S. Stein. 2023. Acceptability of active vs. pronominal voice with Spanish and Catalan psych verbs — Talk at „Psych Predicates in Romance Languages“ Workshop, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Wiskandt, Niklas & Dila Turus. 2023. Simplex-LVC pairs with experiencer objects in German: How causativity can ‘transfer us into excitement’ — Talk at „16th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference“, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Wiskandt, Niklas & Dila Turus. 2022. Systematic semantic differences between object-experiencer LVCs and corresponding simplex verbs in German — Talk at „Grammar and Corpora 2022“, Ghent, Belgium
  • Kailuweit, Rolf, Niklas Wiskandt & Jorina Fenner. 2022. Object-experiencer verbs in Catalan and other Romance languages: Activity contrast and morphosyntactic marking — Talk at „28. Deutscher Katalanistentag“, Bern, Switzerland
  • Wiskandt, Niklas & Dila Turus. 2022. Bringing experiencers into rage and excitement: Light verb constructions with experiencer objects in German — Talk at „15th Forum for Germanic Language Studies Conference“, Reading, UK
  • Kailuweit, Rolf & Niklas Wiskandt. 2021. Object Experiencer Verbs in Pluricentric Spanish – Activity Contrast and Morphosyntactic Marking — Talk at „Düsseldorf Workshop on Causativity“, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2020. Paul ärgert sich, nervt sich aber nicht. Semantische Merkmale deutscher ObjExp-Verben und ihr Einfluss auf Antikausativkonstruktionen [‚Semantic features of Germen object-experiencer verbs and their influence on anticausative constructions‘] — Talk at “9. Internationale Germanistische Werkstatt”, Opole, Poland
  • Wiskandt, Niklas. 2020. Animarse a sí mismo, enfadarse sin motivo: Restrictions on the formation and interpretation of reflexive constructions with experiencer verbs – Talk at “Digital Workshop on Spanish Syntax”, Düsseldorf, Germany

Invited talk

  • Wiskandt, Niklas, Rolf Kailuweit & Jorina Fenner. 2023. Object-experiencer verbs in Catalan, Portuguese and Romanian: Setting the stage for a cross-linguistic model — Invited talk at the Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Spain