Can intransitive verbs be used in a transitive way with abstract objects?


Nearly all Japanese verbs are classified as either transitive or intransitive.
However, I am wondering if there are cases where one can use an intransitive
verb in a transitive way, especially in a humorous, poetic, or philosophical
context.

For example: the verb 「死ぬ」is intransitive, as is the verb "to die" in any
language. However, in some languages like English we have expressions like "to
die a painful death". Here the abstract concept "death" is the **object** of
the **intransitive** verb "to die".

**Is this possible in Japanese?** That is, is something like「死を死ぬ」acceptable
in Japanese, or would it be considered ungrammatical by virtue of having
used「を」with the verb「死ぬ」?

Would a native speaker of Japanese understand an expression like 「死を死ぬ」, or
would it sound like gibberish to them?

* * *

(See the Wikipedia page on [cognate
objects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognate_object) for a description of
the general concept , although the the term "cognate object" is a bit of a
misnomer as the key idea is not about the object being cognate with the verb.
"Abstract object" would be a better term.)




Something like 悲劇的な死を死ぬ makes no sense in Japanese. If you're interested in
such patterns, the answer is "no". As a native Japanese speaker, I was totally
puzzled when I saw "to die a tragic death" in an English sentence for the
first time. I have never seen anything similar to this in Japanese.

Of course you can say 長い話を話す, 楽しい歌を歌う and so on, but these do not seem to
match the definition of cognate objects in Wikipedia (話す and 歌う are inherently
transitive).

Some suru-verbs work both transitively and intransitively (see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34049/5010)), but I think this is
not what you are asking about.




Something like 悲劇的な死を死ぬ makes no sense in Japanese. If you're interested in
such patterns, the answer is "no". As a native Japanese speaker, I was totally
puzzled when I saw "to die a tragic death" in an English sentence for the
first time. I have never seen anything similar to this in Japanese.

Of course you can say 長い話を話す, 楽しい歌を歌う and so on, but these do not seem to
match the definition of cognate objects in Wikipedia (話す and 歌う are inherently
transitive).

Some suru-verbs work both transitively and intransitively (see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34049/5010)), but I think this is
not what you are asking about.

