Il pleut des idées reçues: NP expansions of weather verbs

This article reassesses N. Ruwet’s (1988) attribution of the label “unaccusative” to weather verbs across the board. Through a cross-linguistic analysis of NP expansions (in French, English and Russian), we argue that only metaphorically used French weather verbs and English weather verbs in personal constructions, followed by a directional particle or a PP, behave as genuine unaccusatives and can have their NP expansions qualify as internal arguments. All other NPs of weather verbs function rather as adverbial adjuncts, modifying the meteorological predicate. Moreover, our study shows that unlike a widely accepted belief, the class of weather verbs is far from being homogeneous.