The semantic differentiation of verb-te verb complexes and verb-verb compounds in Japanese

2021 ◽  
pp. 139-164
Author(s):  
Yo Matsumoto
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Verb Compounds ◽  
Semantic Differentiation

Japanese has two different formal types of complex predicates involving two verbs: V-te V complex predicates and V-V compound verbs. This chapter discusses the nature of the former in comparison to the latter. The examination reveals that the two kinds of multiverbal complexes similarly have two subtypes, one monoclausal and the other biclausal, but that they are different morphologically, syntactically, and semantically. The most interesting finding is that the two crucially differ in whether deictic and honorific verbs, which encode perspectival and interactional meanings, can participate in the complexes. Morphologically tighter V-V compounds require a same-subject relation between the two verbs and exclude perspectival or interactional meanings (except V1 in syntactic compounds). Loosely concatenated V-te V complexes allow different subjects, typically have perfective/resultative V1, and have V2 as a preferred slot for perspectival/interactional meanings. These observations suggest that Japanese does not have these two options meaninglessly; the different multiverbal complexes serve different purposes.

A constructional account of the ‘optional’ quotative marking on Japanese mimetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIMI AKITA ◽  
TAKESHI USUKI
Keyword(s):  
Wide Distribution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Fundamental Function ◽  
Minimal Loss ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

This paper proposes a constructional account of the longstanding issue of the optional quotativeto-marking on manner-adverbial mimetics (or ideophones) in Japanese. We argue that this optionality comes from the availability of two morphological constructions – the bare-mimetic predicate construction and the quotative-adverbial construction – to a set of mimetics. On the one hand, the bare-mimetic predicate construction incorporates previously identified phonological, syntactic, and semantic conditions of the bare realization of mimetics. This construction is instantiated by bare mimetics (e.g.pyókopyoko‘jumping around quickly’) in combination with their typical host predicates (e.g.hane-‘jump’), and they behave as loose complex predicates with more or less abstract meanings. As with ‘say’- and ‘do’-verbs, these complex predicates involve quasi-incorporation, which is a constructional strategy for the morphosyntactic integration of mimetics into sentence structures. On the other hand, the quotative-adverbial construction introduces mimetics to sentences with a minimal loss of their imitative semiotics. This fundamental function is consistent with the wide distribution of quotative-marked mimetics.

scholarly journals Revisiting Manner/Result Complementarity: with evidence from Japanese and Chinese verb compounds

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Wenchao LI
Keyword(s):  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Verb Compounds ◽  
Compound Verb

This paper brings data of verb compounds (V-Vs) from Japanese and Chinese, in an effort to uncover two issues: (a) whether the lexicalisation constraint (i.e. manner/result complementarity) applies to the languages that contain compound verbs; (b) how complex it can be to build compound verb. The finding reveals that manner and result are well encoded in most Japanese verb compounds, which gives rise to the assumption that the complementary constraint is not applicable to Japanese. In Chinese, the application of manner/result complementarity varies according to the types of V-V. In pair relation V-V, only manner meaning is conveyed. In predicate-complement V-V, both manner and result are lexicalised, with V1 encoding the manner and V2 denoting the result. Modifier-predicate V-V appears to only convey the manner. The conclusion emerging from the differing applications in the languages is that the manner/result complementary constraint does not apply to the languages that extensively employ verb compounds. 

scholarly journals Hindi aspectual complex predicates

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakthi Poornima ◽  
Jean-Pierre Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Case Assignment ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Syntax Of Aspect

This paper discusses ergative case assignment in Hindi and its interaction with aspectual verb complexes or complex predicate constructions. It is shown that ergative case is assigned by the last head in the aspectual verb complex and that ergative case on the subject of intransitive verbs denoting bodily-functions is associated with a counter-to-expectation meaning. It is then shown that aspect complex predicates in Hindi involve two distinct syntactic structures, which have similar semantics. While one syntactic structure involves argument composition, the other involves a head-modifier structure. It is argued that the existence of two structures favor approaches to the interface between syntax and semantics which do not require a uniform isomorphism between the semantics and syntax of aspect.

Syntactic verb-verb compounds in Japanese

2021 ◽  
pp. 103-138
Author(s):  
Hideki Kishimoto
Keyword(s):  
Long Distance ◽  
Accusative Case ◽  
Uncontrollable Event ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Syntactic Behavior ◽  
Verb Compounds ◽  
Type 3 ◽  
And Control ◽  
Case Feature

This chapter discusses the syntactic behavior and some notable properties of syntactic V-V compounds in Japanese (Type 3 in the classification of Chapter 2), providing some fresh empirical data. In this chapter, syntactic V-V compounds are seen to be divided into raising and control types. Syntactic V-V compound verbs take distinct embedded structures, depending on whether V2 is classified as a raising or a control verb. V-V compounds allow some, but not all, V2s to undergo long-distance passivization. It is suggested that the difference in applicability of long-distance passivization between raising and control V-V compounds is determined according to whether V2 has an accusative-case feature to license an object, and also that control V-V compounds are not passivizable if they denote an uncontrollable event (even if V2 has an accusative-case feature). Furthermore, syntactic V-V compounds taking sugiru ‘exceed’ as V2 are shown to display a number of unique properties that are not shared with other syntactic compound verbs.

Complex predicates and bipartite stems in Skou

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Donohue
Keyword(s):  
New Guinea ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verb ◽  
The One

I examine a range of complex predicates, searching for ones that might be called ‘bipartite stems’ in Skou, a language of New Guinea. First I draw a tentative distinction between serial verb constructions and N+V predicates on the one hand, and ‘true’ bipartite stems on the other, while pointing out some complications involved in making this division. Following this I examine the range of stems that can possibly be called ‘bipartite stems’, and those that certainly can be, concluding that the label is not a useful one in describing Skou, which shows more complexities than a simple ‘±bipartite’ dichotomy can capture. A survey of ‘bipartite’ phenomena in related and geographically close languages follows, with the conclusion that prosodic factors at least as much as morphological ones, and the possibility of an infixal analysis, rob the label ‘bipartite’ of much of its useful content when applied outside the domain for which it was originally devised.

scholarly journals Construções reflexiva, recíproca e média de clítico nulo no português brasileiro reconceptualização de eventos e emergência de uma nova construção

2021 ◽  
pp. 151-186
Author(s):  
Augusto Soares da Silva ◽  
Susana Afonso
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
The Other ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Methods ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Semantic Differentiation

tuguese se constructions, posited in the transitive continuum, have a constructional counterpart in which the clitic is absent. The null clitic construction, observed in all the seconstructions (i.e. reflexive, reciprocal, middle, anticausative, passive and impersonal) is more frequently used in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) than in European Portuguese (EP). The phenomenon has largely been studied from a morphosyntatic lens or as a result of an ongoing deletion of clitics in BP, shying away from the possible implications in terms of the semantic differentiation between overt and null se constructions. This chapter focuses on reflexive, reciprocal and middle se constructions and aims to investigate what factors determine the choice between overt seconstructions and their null counterpart. Based on an extensive usage-feature and profile-based analysis, and using multivariate statistical methods, we show that reflexive, reciprocal and middle null se constructions are associated with a reconceptualization of an event as non-energetic or absolute, profiling the result of the event. On the other hand, the overt counterpart profiles the moment of change, construing the event as energetic. Reflexive and reciprocal constructions are more frequently encoded by an overt se construction whereas middle construction (in all its subcategories) is more frequently encoded by the null se construction. The study concludes that null reflexive, reciprocal and middle se constructions are new constructions semantically differentiated from overt se constructions, which, we argue, has wider implications, namely for reconceptualization of voice patterns in BP which tend towards ergativization.

scholarly journals The semantic basis of taste-shape associations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Velasco ◽  
Andy T Woods ◽  
Lawrence E Marks ◽  
Adrian David Cheok ◽  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Principal Components ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
The Other ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondence ◽  
Classification Tasks ◽  
Semantic Differentiation ◽  
Speeded Classification

Previous research shows that people systematically match tastes with shapes. Here, we assessed the extent to which matching taste and shape stimuli share a common semantic space and whether semantically congruent versus incongruent taste/shape associations can influence the speed with which people respond to both shapes and taste words. In Experiment 1, we used semantic differentiation to assess the semantic space of both taste words and shapes. The results suggest a common semantic space containing two principal components (seemingly potency and evaluation) and two principal clusters, one including round shapes and the taste word “sweet”, and the other including angular shapes and the taste words “salty”, “sour”, and “bitter”. The former cluster appears more positively-valenced whilst less potent than the latter. In Experiment 2, two speeded classification tasks assessed whether congruent versus incongruent mappings of stimuli and responses (e.g., sweet with round versus sweet with angular) would influence participants’ speed of responding, both to shapes and to taste words. The results revealed an overall effect of congruence that was driven mostly when the participants had to classify shapes with taste words as responses. These results are consistent with previous evidence suggesting a close relation (or crossmodal correspondence) between tastes and shape curvature that may derive from common semantic coding, perhaps along the sensory-discriminative and hedonic dimensions.

Bilingual compound verbs in children’s Panjabi-English codeswitched narratives

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Claire Crutchley
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Asian Languages

Bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) are documented in various languages and are common in codeswitching between English and South Asian languages. It has been suggested that BCVs have no monolingual equivalent, and are generated by a ‘third system’ independent of the two languages. BCVs have also been cited as evidence of language convergence, and as a strategy employed by dominant bilinguals to circumvent lexical gaps in one language. BCVs were common in narratives from four to six-year-old Panjabi-English children in Huddersfield, UK. BCVs are argued to be based on analogy with Panjabi monolingual compound verbs, and to be unrelated to language convergence or language dominance. Instead, BCV use relates to two types of codeswitching in the data: one utilising the simplest structures from both languages, the other drawing more fully on the two languages’ grammatical resources. It is suggested that BCVs enable children with limited overall bilingual competence to ‘do codeswitching’.

scholarly journals Satztopik und Diskurstopik in Elaboration-Kontexten

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 173-207
Author(s):  
Michael Grabski
Keyword(s):  
Representation Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Discourse Representation ◽  
Discourse Representation Theory ◽  
Specific Relation ◽  
Explicit Discourse ◽  
Semantic Differentiation ◽  
Discourse Topic

The paper starts with a semantic differentiation between the notions of sentence topic and discourse topic. Sentence topic is conceived of as part of a semantic predication in the sense of Y. Kim's work. Discourse topic is defined, as in N. Asher's Segmented Discourse Representation Theory, as a discourse constituent that comprises the content of (part of) the larger discourse. The main body of the paper serves to investigate the intricate connection between the two types of topic. For restricting the context of investigation, a specific relation between discourse constituents, Elaboration, is chosen. If Elaboration holds between two discourse constituents, one of them can be identified as the explicit discourse topic with respect to the other one. Whereas an elaborating sentence - with or without a sentence topic - is used to infer a 'dimension' for extending the discourse topic, the role of the sentence topic if it occurs is to mark an 'index' for predication along that dimension. The interaction of elaborating sentences and their topics is modelled by means of channel theoretic devices.'  

scholarly journals The semantic basis of taste-shape associations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Velasco ◽  
Andy T Woods ◽  
Lawrence E Marks ◽  
Adrian David Cheok ◽  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Principal Components ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
The Other ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondence ◽  
Classification Tasks ◽  
Semantic Differentiation ◽  
Speeded Classification

Previous research shows that people systematically match tastes with shapes. Here, we assessed the extent to which matching taste and shape stimuli share a common semantic space and whether semantically congruent versus incongruent taste/shape associations can influence the speed with which people respond to both shapes and taste words. In Experiment 1, we used semantic differentiation to assess the semantic space of both taste words and shapes. The results suggest a common semantic space containing two principal components (seemingly potency and evaluation) and two principal clusters, one including round shapes and the taste word “sweet”, and the other including angular shapes and the taste words “salty”, “sour”, and “bitter”. The former cluster appears more positively-valenced whilst less potent than the latter. In Experiment 2, two speeded classification tasks assessed whether congruent versus incongruent mappings of stimuli and responses (e.g., sweet with round versus sweet with angular) would influence participants’ speed of responding, both to shapes and to taste words. The results revealed an overall effect of congruence that was driven mostly when the participants had to classify shapes with taste words as responses. These results are consistent with previous evidence suggesting a close relation (or crossmodal correspondence) between tastes and shape curvature that may derive from common semantic coding, perhaps along the sensory-discriminative and hedonic dimensions.

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