Valency patterns and alternations in Gothic

This paper investigates Gothic valency patterns and alternations applying the methodology of the ValPaL project. Our data consists of 87 verb meanings based on those in the ValPaL corpus, which we supplemented due to gaps in coverage. Valency alternations are divided into uncoded and coded patterns. The uncoded group includes partitive, null object, external possessor, cognate/kindred object, applicative, (marginally) causal : non causal, and (marginally) reflexive alterna-tions. The coded group comprises the applicative, passive, causal : noncausal, reflexive, and reciprocal alternations. The nature of the Gothic corpus (extension, genre, and nature of the text) influenced the results: some constructions were less frequently attested than expected; genre influenced the frequency of some verbal usages; some marginally attested constructions are owed to the Greek transla-tional source. Most remarkably, we showed that: (i) in respect to the debated issue regarding the interpretation of Gothic passives, these can be employed to express noncausal situations; (ii) within the causal : noncausal alternation, whereas the causal domain is tied to ja-suffixation, the noncausal domain can be expressed by a variety of means, including na-verbs. Our results confirmed Ottósson’s (2013) view that the noncausal domain was systematized at a later stage than the causal one.