Intensifier or anticausative? A contrastive analysis of German selbst- and Italian auto- in synthetic compounds

Contrastive Co-reference (cc) Markers (Angster 2023) are word-formation elements linked either formally or functionally to the class of intensifiers (König & Gast 2006). Their function in word-formation is often interpreted as close to reflexivity — cf. König’s (2011) label reflexive compounds. In this chapter we will examine ccConstructions — namely German synthetic selbst-compounds and their closest functional correspondent in Italian, i.e. auto-formations modified by a prepositional phrase introduced by the preposition di — in search for a possible anticausative interpretation of selbst- and auto-. We will show that an anticausative interpretation is possible when the verbs underlying a ccFormation display a valency alternation, and in particular when the patient of a transitive verb is promoted to subject, while the subject is completely eclipsed.