Causing resultative passives

Originally, resultative passives were argued to lack agentivity (Embick 2004). Recent work argues the opposite (Meltzer-Asscher 2012; McIntyre 2013; Alexiadou et al. 2014, 2015; Anagnostopoulou 2003, 2013; Bruening 2014; Gehrke 2015). I argue these inconsistencies are best explained by treating the resultative passive as causative rather than agentive, an analysis which fits well with existing analyses of resultative structures (Kratzer 2005; Folli & Harley 2005; Schafer ¨ 2012b). This account also offers a principled explanation for why certain unaccusative verbs but not others can form resultative passives (Pesetsky 1995; Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; McKoon & Macfarland 2000; Maienborn 2009; Gese et al. 2011).