ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses 81 Old English verbs identified in Visser as intransitives demonstrates that many indeed die out and that many are renewed. It examines the argument structure of those that change and show that there is a difference between the aspectual classes, i.e. between unergative and unaccusative verbs, in terms of the changes they undergo. The chapter considers the changes in intransitives. It talks about the intransitives in Old English. As in other languages, two classes of intransitive verbs, unergatives and unaccusatives, can be distinguished and, as in Modern English, agentivity, animacy, and grammatical aspect can change/coerce these verbs. The chapter shows which changes intransitives undergo. The higher part of the vP comes to be used in the case of unaccusatives and the lower part in the case of unergatives. Visser offers a detailed argument that there is a decrease in verbs that are exclusively intransitive towards Modern English and an increase in labile verbs.
