Introduction to semantics and pragmatic

ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Chapter 14

Two main participants

Relationships illustrated

functional roles

case roles

deep cases

participant roles

thematic roles

Functional roles and transitivity

Occurrence as subject

Direct or indirect object of verb

Omission leads to `latency'

INDICATIONS OF COMPLEMENT STATUS

Concerned with the number of syntactic arguments associated with a verb within the sentence nucleus, and their syntactic functions.

The number of arguments required to satisfy a predicate is not necessarily the same as the number of syntactic arguments in the nucleus of a sentence.

TRANSITIVITY

Intransitive sentence-main verb has only one (syntactic) argument, namely, a subject.

Diagnostic characteristics of subjects:

They may have a characteristic form

They contract number and person concord with the verb

A second occurrence in a coordinated clause can be deleted

The subject is prototypically the topic of the sentence

INTRANSITIVES

Verbs with a single semantic argument

There are three sorts:

unergative verbs

unaccusative verbs

verbs which display the causative/inchoative alternation

MONO-ARGUMENTAL VERBS

Intransitive verbs whose subjects are perceived as being actively responsible for the event denoted by the verb

Their normal occurrences are in intransitive sentences

In languages which display a variation in the choice of auxiliary used to form a past or perfect tense, unergative verbs tend to choose HAVE rather than Be

Occasionally they appear in what appear to be transitive sentences

UNERGATIVE VERBS

Intransitive verbs

Typically denote changes of state or location

Subjects are not perceived as being actively responsible for the event denoted by the verb

UNACCUSATIVE VERBS

Typically denote changes of state or location.

The intransitive form takes BE as auxiliary and the transitive form HAVE

CAUSATIVE/INCHOATIVE VERBS

Intransitive sentences whose main verb has more than one semantic argument

Missing argument is the one that would normally appear in the object position

Main distinction is between those whose unexpressed argument is indefinite and those whose unexpressed argument is definite

PSEUDO-INTRANSITIVES

Transitive sentences are those which have two syntactic arguments:

Subject

Object

objects can act as subjects of passive sentences

can be questioned by What DO NP V?

nouns and pronouns in object position often have a characteristic form

Sentences may have verbs which take three or more semantic arguments

TRANSITIVES

Ditransitive sentences are those which have three syntactic arguments:

a subject

a primary object

Only primary objects are normal as subjects of passive sentences

a secondary object

only the secondary object is fully happy with the What... ? Test

Sentences in which one of the semantic arguments is expressed by an adjunct are not considered to be ditransitive

DITRANSITIVES

No agreement as to the best way of describing functional roles

Fillmore made the earliest set of proposals

proposals had an “elegant simplicity”

FUNCTIONAL ROLES

AGENTIVE: The typically animate perceived instigator of the action identified by the verb.

INSTRUMENTAL: The inanimate force or object causally involved in the state or action identified by the verb.

DATIVE/EXPERIENCER: The animate being affected by the state or action identified by the verb.

FILLMORE ROLES

4. FACTITIVE: The object or being resulting from the action or state identified by the verb, or understood as part of the meaning of the verb.

5. LOCATIVE: The location or spatial orientation of the state or action identified by the verb

6. OBJECTIVE: The inanimate entity affected by the action or state identified by the verb

FILLMORE ROLES CONTINUED

Traditionally, the subject is the `doer' and the object the `done to'

Establish a scale of `activity‘

Define the subject as the most active participant

SUBJECTS VS. OBJECTS

AGENTIVE - >

INSTRUMENTAL ->

EXPERIENCER ->

LOCATIVE ->

OBJECTIVE

FILLMORE’S ACTIVITY HIERARCHY

Semantic significance of the direct object can be characterized in a parallel way to the subject

If there are two syntactic arguments, then the least active one becomes the object

DIRECT OBJECTS OF TRANSITIVES

Ditransitive sentences contain three syntactic arguments which are associated with three participant roles:

the subject is AGENTIVE

the direct object is THEME

indirect object is either RECIPIENT or BENEFACTIVE

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OBJECTS