The locative alternation in verb-framed vs. satellite-framed languages

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 864-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Lewandowski
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Verb Meaning

I propose a comparative analysis of the locative alternation in Polish and Spanish. I adopt a constructional theory of argument structure (Goldberg (1995)), according to which the locative alternation is an epiphenomenon of the compatibility of a single verb meaning with two different constructions: the caused-motion construction and the causative + with adjunct construction. As claimed by Pinker (1989), a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a particular change of state can be obtained in order to be able to appear in both constructional schemas. However, I show through a corpus study that the compatibility between verbal and constructional meaning is further restricted by Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages. In particular, Talmy’s lexicalization patterns theory systematically explains why both the token frequency and the type frequency of the alternating verbs are considerably higher in Polish than in Spanish.

scholarly journals Verbal prefixation, construction grammar, and semantic compatibility: Evidence from the locative alternation in Polish

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Lewandowski
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Testing Ground ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Semantic Compatibility

AbstractThis paper aims to analyze the interaction between prefixes, verbs, and abstract argument structure constructions, using as a testing ground the locative alternation. It has been assumed that in order to participate in the locative alternation, a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a change of state can be obtained (see, for instance, Steven Pinker’s

Extravagant “fake” morphemes in Dutch. Morphological productivity, semantic profiles and categorical flexibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristel Van Goethem ◽  
Muriel Norde
Keyword(s):  
Driving Forces ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Distributional Semantics ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Semantic Coherence ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Imitation Leather ◽  
Artificial Grass

AbstractDutch features several morphemes with “privative” semantics that occur as left-hand members in compounds (e.g., imitatieleer ‘imitation leather’, kunstgras ‘artificial grass’, nepjuwelen ‘fake jewels’). Some of these “fake” morphemes display great categorical flexibility and innovative adjectival uses. Nep, for instance, is synchronically attested as an inflected adjective (e.g., neppe cupcake ‘fake cupcake’). In this paper, we combine an extensive corpus study of eight Dutch “fake” morphemes with statistical methods in distributional semantics and collexeme analysis in order to compare their semantic and morphological properties and to find out which factors are the driving forces behind their exceptional “extravagant” morphological behavior. Our analyses show that debonding and adjectival reanalysis are triggered by an interplay of two factors, i.e., type frequency and semantic coherence, which allow us to range the eight morphemes on a cline from more schematic to more substantive “fake” constructions.

Grammaticalisation through constructions

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 159-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Ziegeler
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
Verb Meaning ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
Over Time

Recent arguments by Langacker (2003) on the nature of verb meanings in constructions claim that such meanings are created by entrenchment and frequency of use, and only with repeated use can they become conventionalised and acceptable. Such a position raises the need for a diachronic perspective on Construction Grammar. The present paper investigates the evolution of constructions through the example of thehave-causative in English, which appears to have had its origins as a transfer verb in telic argument structure constructions. When the construction contains a transfer verb, construction meaning reinforces verb meaning and periphrastic causatives may grammaticalise as output; this is a gradual development over time. In one way, then, the verbhavegrammaticalises across a succession of constructions, but in another, the telic argument structure construction itself is seen to have a progressive diachronic development.

scholarly journals The causative–instrumental syncretism

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (04) ◽  
pp. 751-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
KYLE JERRO
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
General Constraints ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Semantic Notion ◽  
Verb Meaning ◽  
Insight Into

Causative and applicative morphemes have been central in work on the morphosyntax of argument structure. However, several genetically unrelated languages use a single, syncretic form for both functions, which complicates the traditional view that a causative adds a new subject and an applicative adds a new object. In this paper, I propose an analysis of a morphological syncretism found in the Bantu language Kinyarwanda where the morphological causative and instrumental applicative are both realized by the morpheme –ish. I argue for Kinyarwanda that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are analyzable as two outgrowths of the same semantic notion of introducing a new link into the causal chain described by the verb. The different causative and instrumental readings derive from underspecification of the position of the new link in the causal chain, although its placement is restricted via general constraints on possible event types as well as constraints on verb meaning and argument realization. This analysis provides an explanation for the presence of the causative–instrumental syncretism as well as provides insight into the interface between verb meaning and valency-changing morphology.

scholarly journals Argument-Structure-Reducing Operations in Standard Arabic: An Exploratory Comparative Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Abdellatif ED-DARRAJI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Change Of State

This paper attempts to examine some argument-structure-reducing operations in Standard Arabic (SA for short). It is proposed here that some affixes (viz. prefixes and infixes) can decrease the argument structure (or valence) of the subclass of change-of-state (COS for short) verbs in the language under study. More specifically, these affixes function as unaccusativizers or decausativizers in that they can derive unaccusative COS verbs from causative COS verbs by suppressing the external argument of the latter verbs and syntactically promoting the direct object to subject position. Crucially, the ability of these affixes to affect the argument structure and the morphosyntactic realization of arguments is not limited to SA, but it has been attested in some other languages, such as Italian, Russian, Chichewa, Spanish, French, Eastern Armenian, West Greenlandic, and Tzutujil, among others.            

scholarly journals Change of state in Kinyarwanda: A study in root meaning

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Kyle Jerro
Keyword(s):  
Result State ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Verb Meaning

I investigate the paradigms of change of state verb roots in Kinyarwanda, comparing the simple state, inchoative, causative, and result state members of 81 root paradigms. I show that the morphological shape of the causative/inchoative members of the paradigm and whether there is a simple state term are both contingent upon root semantics. Certain change of state roots in Kinyarwanda lack simple state meanings and always give rise to change entailments; this correlates with the lack of the simple state in the paradigm. I further show that verb meaning also partially determines which of several derivational strategies are used by a given change of state paradigm. 

Los verbos adimensionales

Revue Romane ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Antonio Fábregas
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Conceptual Semantics ◽  
Change Of State

Abstract The goal of this article is the analysis of the empirical properties of change of state verbs which do not specifiy lexically the dimension where change operates – such as aumentar ‘increase’, reducir ‘reduce’, acrecentar ‘increase’ –, and also to examine the theoretical consequences that this class has for our understanding of argument structure, the distinction between light and non-light predicates and the interconnection of structural and conceptual semantics. We will show that these verbs, which we label ‘adimensional predicates’ are sharply different from prototypical change of state verbs, and we argue that their existence supports a distinction between the syntactic structure of a verb of change of state and the conceptual operation that anchors the change to a specific cognitive domain.

Priming semantic structure in Brazilian Portuguese

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayden Ziegler ◽  
Rodrigo Morato ◽  
Jesse Snedeker
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State

Structural priming, the tendency for speakers to reuse previously encountered sentence structures, provides some of the strongest evidence for the existence of abstract structural representations in language. In the present research, we investigate the priming of semantic structure in Brazilian Portuguese using the locative alternation: A menina lustrou a mesa com o verniz “The girl rubbed the table with the polish” vs. A menina lustrou o verniz na mesa “The girl rubbed the polish on the table.” On the surface, both locative variants have the same syntactic structure: NP-V-NP-PP. However, location-theme locatives (“rub table with polish” describe a caused-change-of-state event, while theme-location locatives (“rub polish on table”) describe a caused-change-of-location event. We find robust priming on the basis of these semantic differences. This work extends our knowledge by demonstrating that semantic structural priming is not isolated to languages like English (e.g., satellite-framed with strict word order and limited inflection) but is present in a language with very different typological characteristics (e.g., verb-framed and richly inflected with subject dropping).

CORPUS ANALYSIS OF COLLOCATIONS WITH HEALTH IN THE MEDIA TEXTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Olga Sivaieva
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Texts ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
Linguistic Means

The media is an influential tool in shaping public’s opinion about HEALTH and its basic components. As this topic has been of great importance lately, the corpus study of media texts with HEALTH can reveal verbal means of how this lemma is depicted by journalists as well as what urgent social concerns are connected with HEALTH and what issues reader are aware of. The research is aimed at studying collocations with HEALTH in The Guardian and The Mirror newspapers, focusing on the comparative analysis of them presented in the broadsheet and tabloid. Sketch Engine has been used to investigate the lemma HEALTH in both newspapers, which helps to disclose the linguistic means used to outline the concept HEALTH. The findings of the study prove that despite the use of modifiers and verbs with HEALTH common for both newspapers (e.g., mental, physical, public; improve, protect, affect), the Mirror presents a wider choice of collocations with HEALTH compared to The Guardian, whereas the lexeme HEALTH is more frequently used in the latter ‒ 2,367.84 per million as to 1,615.61 per million in the first one. Furthermore, the tabloid presents a larger range of health subjects while the broadsheet displays a narrower area of the topic with a more conservative point of view.

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