A constructionist approach to the teaching of phrasal verbs

English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 46-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Torres-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Syntactic Parsing ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Initial Basis ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Potential Mapping ◽  
Constructionist Approach

The central issue of the present article is the analysis of phrasal verbs (hereafter termed multiword verbs [MWVs]) from the perspective of construction grammars (Goldberg, 1995; Suttle and Goldberg, 2011). As is well known, English MWVs present special challenges to L2 learners due, among other things, to the shapelessness of their conceptual components and the ensuing impossibility to arrive at equivalent word-meaning correspondences (mappings) in the learners’ mother language (see Gillette et al., 1999). This brings us to the first theoretical claim of this paper – namely, that MWVs (also termed phrasal verbs, verb-particle collocations, verb-particle combinations etc.) are lexical chunks that can be retrieved by speakers either as wholes, without special recourse to syntactic parsing, or as verb-particle semantic associations (Cappelle et al., 2010). This idea is combined with the notion that MWVs inherit their syntax-semantics from prototypical Argument Structure Constructions (Goldberg, 2013a) within Verb Argument Constructions (VACs) frames. VACs are thus associated with prototype verbs like ‘go‘, ‘come’, ‘get’, ‘put’, etc., to project their meaning upon less-frequent verbs occupying a V-slot frame (a verbal position). It follows that MWVs function as hyponyms that express specific semantic nuances not available in prototype verbs. For example, in the sentence ‘Arya scooped up a rock and hurled it at Joffrey's head’ (George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones [1996]), the verb scoop up suggests a caused motion usually conveyed by the verb LIFT, i.e. the prototype of the simple transitive Verb Argument Construction. From this vantage, it is suggested that a way to activate the weak verb-object interface is through its assignation to specific prototypes bootstrapping (providing an initial basis for) both the conceptualisation of the MWVs and their potential mapping to specific words (which I term inherited surface forms).

scholarly journals The Impossibility of Language Acquisition (and How They Do It)

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila R. Gleitman ◽  
Mark Y. Liberman ◽  
Cynthia A. McLemore ◽  
Barbara H. Partee
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Syntactic Bootstrapping ◽  
Language Input ◽  
Answering Questions

This autobiographical article, which began as an interview, reports some reflections by Lila Gleitman on the development of her thinking and her research—in concert with a host of esteemed collaborators over the years—on issues of language and mind, focusing on how language is acquired. Gleitman entered the field of linguistics as a student of Zellig Harris, and learned firsthand of Noam Chomsky's early work. She chose the psychological perspective, later helping to found the field of cognitive science; and with her husband and long-term collaborator, Henry Gleitman, for over 50 years fostered a continuing research community aimed at answering questions such as: When language input to the child is restricted, what is left to explain language acquisition? The studies reported here find that argument structure encoded in the syntax is key (syntactic bootstrapping) and that children learn word meaning in epiphanies (propose but verify).

Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Myler
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Surface Structures ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Regular Pattern ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Broad Agreement ◽  
Kinship Relations ◽  
The One

A major question for linguistic theory concerns how the structure of sentences relates to their meaning. There is broad agreement in the field that there is some regularity in the way that lexical semantics and syntax are related, so that thematic roles are predictably associated with particular syntactic positions. This book examines the syntax and semantics of possession sentences, which are infamous for appearing to diverge dramatically from this broadly regular pattern. On the one hand, possession sentences have too many meanings: in a given language, the construction used to express archetypal possessive meanings (such as personal ownership) is also often used to express other apparently unrelated notions (body parts, kinship relations, and many others). On the other hand, possession sentences have too many surface structures: languages differ markedly in the argument structures used to convey the same possessive meanings, with some employing a transitive verb HAVE, and others using a variety of constructions based around an intransitive verb BE. Examining and synthesizing ideas from the literature and drawing on data from many languages (including some understudied Quechua dialects), this book presents a novel way to understand the apparent irregularity of possession sentences while preserving existing explanations for the general cross-linguistic regularities we observe in argument structure.

scholarly journals Automatic construction of Korean verbal type hierarchy using Treebank

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanghoun Song ◽  
Jae-Woong Choe
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Syntactic Parsing ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Automatic Construction ◽  
Hierarchical Relationship ◽  
Alternative Method ◽  
Type Hierarchy ◽  
Automatic Collection

The lexical information of verbal lexemes, such as verbs and adjectives, plays an important role in syntactic parsing, because the structure of a sentence mainly hinges on the type of verbal lexemes. The question we address in this research is how to acquire the argument structure (henceforth ARG-ST) of verbal lexemes in Korean. It is well known that manual build-up of type hierarchy usually cost too much time and resources, so an alternative method, namely automatic collection of relevant information is much more preferred. This paper proposes a procedure to automatically collect ARG-ST of Korean verbal lexemes from a Korean Treebank. Specifically, the system we develop in this paper first extracts lexical information of ARG-ST of verbal lexemes from a 0.8 million graphic word Korean Treebank in an unsupervised way, checks the hierarchical relationship among them, and builds up the type hierarchy automatically. The result is written in an HPSG-style annotation, thus making it possible to readily implement the result in an HPSG-based parser for Korean. Finally, the result is evaluated with reference to two Korean dictionaries and also with respect to a manually constructed type hierarchy.

Roles of verb and construction cues

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-362
Author(s):  
Gyu-Ho Shin ◽  
Hyunwoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Constructionist Approach

Abstract This study investigates how speakers of English and Korean, two typologically distinct languages, derive information from a verb and a construction to achieve sentence comprehension. In a sentence-sorting task, we manipulated verb semantics (real versus nonce) in each language. The results showed that participants from both languages were less inclined to sort sentences by a verb cue when the lexical-semantic information about a verb was obscured (i.e., nonce verb). In addition, the Korean-speaking participants were less likely affected by the verb semantics conditions than the English-speaking participants. These findings suggest the role of an argument structure construction in sentence comprehension as a co-contributor of sentence meaning, supporting the constructionist approach. The findings also imply language-specific mechanisms of sentence comprehension, contingent upon the varied impact of a verb on sentence meaning in English and Korean.

scholarly journals Siladang Syntax: A Study of Grammar Typology

2021 ◽  
pp. 541-549
Author(s):  
Purwanto Siwi
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
Alignment System ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

The analysis of basic clause structures shows that clauses in Bahasa Siladang consist of verbal and non-verbal predication. The non-verbal predicate can be filled by an adjective, noun, numeral or prepositional phrase. The analysis of the argument structure shows that the intransitive predicate requires one NP argument as the only argument functioning as the grammatical subject, which can be an agent or a patient. Meanwhile, the transitive verb predicate requires two or more arguments. The presence of these arguments in the predicate in transitive sentences is mandatory. The conclusion from the analysis of the grammatical behavior in syntactic construction is that SL is a language which has a grammatical alignment system which gives the same treatment to A and S, and a different treatment to P. It can be categorized as an accusative language, marking the direct object of transitive verbs, making them different from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs. Keywords: clause structure, argument structure, syntactic typology

Om preposisjonens syntaktiske status i de såkalte ≪transitive verbalgrupper≫ i norsk

1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-162
Author(s):  
John Ole Askedal
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
The Real ◽  
The One ◽  
Syntactic Properties

The present article aims to show that the prepositions in so-called “transitive verb groups” in Norwegian, like, e.g., på and til in passe på and ta hensyn til, respectively, are not to be conflated with the real verb particles in cases like drikke opp etc. The two groups of words have quite distinct semantico syntactic properties. In particular, the NP constituent in cases like drikke opp vinen is subject to the well-known non-specificity condition at work in Norwegian impersonal passive constructions with a purely formal subject det, whereas its counterpart in cases like passe på hunden is not. This difference is readily accounted for if it is assumed that prepositions are a rudimentary species of one-place predicates, where the one argument to be found cannot be classified as either a logical or syntactic subject or object.

The Quest for Cognates: A Reconstruction of Oblique Subject Constructions in Proto-Indo-European

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jóhanna Barðdal ◽  
Thomas Smitherman
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Early Archaic ◽  
Dative Subject ◽  
Semantic Alignment ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Partial Predicate ◽  
Object Status

The enigma of the origin of non-canonical subject marking in the world’s languages has been met with two competing hypotheses: the Object-to-Subject Hypothesis and the Oblique Subject/Semantic Alignment Hypothesis (cf. Eythórsson and Barðdal, 2005). The present article argues in favor of the Oblique Subject/Semantic Alignment Hypothesis, presenting five sets of cognate predicates in the early/archaic Indo-European daughter languages that occur in the Oblique Subject Construction. These cognate sets have not figured in the earlier literature. Not only are they stem cognates, but they also occur in a cognate compositional predicate and argument structure construction, with a dative subject, the verb ‘be’ and an adjective, a noun, or an adverb. The discovery of these cognate data sets immediately invalidates the axiomatic assumption that non-canonical subject marking must originate in an earlier object status of these arguments. The data, moreover, form the input of a correspondence set, on which basis we reconstruct predicate-specific oblique subject constructions, a partial predicate-specific oblique subject construction, as well as a more abstract schematic dative subject construction for Proto-Indo-European, using the formalism of Sign-based Construction Grammar. The evidence presented here thus suggests that oblique subjects are inherited from an early proto-stage and do not represent an individual development in the Indo-European daughter languages.

scholarly journals Embodiment and Image Schemas: Interpreting the Figurative Meanings of English Phrasal Verbs

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Efthymia Tsaroucha
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Image Schemas ◽  
Bodily Experiences

The present article suggests that the figurative meanings of English phrasal verbs can be interpreted by means of image schemas. It is argued that image schemas reflect bodily experiences which constitute configurations of spatial perception. The article classifies image schemas and draws examples from English phrasal verbs. The article discusses how the semantics of the particle (which prototypically denotes space and motion) encourages various types of image schemas which can be extended into more abstract and metaphoric readings. The article investigates how English phrasal verbs of the form take plus particles encourage the image schemas of containment, the journey and its component parts, goal, path, proximity-distance, linkage-separation, front-back orientation, part-whole relationship and linear order. The article also argues for image schematic transformations.

scholarly journals Passive constructions in Setswana

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
Setumile Morapedi
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
View Point ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Mapping Theory ◽  
Lexical Mapping

The paper analyses passive constructions in Setswana from morpho-syntactic view point, showing that the suffixation of a passive morpheme to the verb reduces the argument structure of the verb. Previous studies carried out in Setswana verbal suffixes have confined their investigations to these morphemes as elements of morphology but have failed to observe that these affixes overlap into syntax. Chebanne (1996) observes that in Setswana, verbal extensions can combine with a single verbal base but fail to observe the overlap into syntax. Further, the studies do not give any insight in the features that Setswana shares with other Bantu languages. The passive construction in Setswana, like in other Bantu languages, is a bit complex in the sense that the verbal extension –iw brings into effect the dropping of the subject, and the object becomes the grammatical subject, thus rendering the transitive verb, such as, apaya ‘cook’ intransitive. Conversely, other derivational suffixes, such as applicative and causative, increase the verb’s arguments by two. For instance, the suffixation of the verbal suffix –el suggests an entity carrying out the action and somebody benefiting. The paper also compares passive with other verbal extensions such as neuter, applicative, causatives and reciprocals. It shows that while the passive occurs with most verbs and other verbal extensions, such as, applicative or causative suffixes, the neuter is rigid in occurring with other verbal extensions. The paper also appeals to Lexical Mapping Theory, whose role is to constrain mapping relations between thematic roles, such as an agent or patient and the corresponding grammatical functions, such as the subject, patient and oblique that have been subcategorized for by predicates

scholarly journals Case Role in the Urhobo Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
IMU Oghoghophia Famous
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Case Theory ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Dative Case ◽  
Frame Work ◽  
The Subject

This paper examines case role in the Urhobo language. Case theory is used as theoretical frame work, the specific objectives is to investigate type of cases and to relate cases roles to argument structures in Urhobo. The study reveals that in the Urhobo language every lexically headed NP must receive case from a case assigner. The Case theory requires that the case assigner govern the NP to which its assigns case. Tense, verb and preposition are case assigners. The infinitive ‘to’ and the passive participles are not case assigners. Case assignment can take place only when the case assigner and the NP to which it assigns case bear a structural relation to one another. It also reveals that irrespective of the theory and its arguments, Urhobo verbs are the basses and centre of its expansion of its constructions. This research also finds out, that the argument structures identified in universal grammar (UG) align with the argument structure of the Urhobo language; the verb assigns arguments to the noun phrases in a sentence. This is traced to the structure of the Urhobo language which is subject-verb-object (SVO). Finally, the study reveals that the function of the nominative case is to mark the subject of the sentence; the vocative is the case of address; the accusative is used to mark the object of a transitive verb; the genitive is the case of possession, ablative case is to mark the instrument with which something is done and the dative case marks the indirect object in the Urhobo language.

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