scholarly journals Semantics-oriented resultatives: Evidence from valency alternation verbs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuneko Nakazawa ◽  
Rui Cao
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Predication Relation

Resultative phrases are generally believed to conform to the Direct Object Restriction: that is, they describe the direct object if verbs are transitive. However, some exceptions have occasionally been reported, and this paper investigates the problem by focusing on resultative phrases that occur with the valency alternation verbs in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Verbs that license the locative alternation and locatum-subject alternation describe events that involve two arguments, the location and the locatum, which are perceived to concurrently undergo a change of state. It will be shown that resultative phrases with a valency alternation verb can be predicated of either argument regardless of whether it is expressed as direct object. Furthermore, resultative verbal suffixes in Mandarin, interpreted as description of either the location or the locatum, give rise to the locative alternation while their interpretation remains the same. Thus, it is claimed that in Japanese and Mandarin, the predication relation of resultative phrases is not determined by the grammatical function of arguments as generally believed, but rather by the lexical semantics of the verbs.

scholarly journals On interpretation of resultatives with locative alternation verbs

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 308
Author(s):  
Tsuneko Nakazawa
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Corpus Data

Resultative phrases in Japanese are generally believed to be predicated of the object of transitive verbs just like English counterparts (e.g., I painted the car yellow). However, some exceptions are also known in which resultatives describe an oblique argument (e.g., otoko-wa kabe-ni penki-o akaku nutta ‘the man smeared paint on the wall (so that the wall became) red)'. Using BCCWJ-NT corpus data, this paper shows that resultatives with locative alternation verbs in Japanese are generally interpreted as description of the argument that is lexically specified to undergo a change of state, rather than of the direct object.

scholarly journals Distinguishing coercion and underspecification in Type Composition Logic

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 71-87
Author(s):  
Julia Lukassek ◽  
Alexandra Anna Spalek
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Additional Mechanism ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Type Composition ◽  
The Way

This paper investigates the meaning adaptability of change of state (CoS) verbs. Itargues that both coercion and underspecification are necessary mechanisms in order to properlyaccount for the semantic adaptability observable for CoS verbs in combination with theircomplements. This type of meaning adaptability has received little formal attention to date,although some recent work has already led the way on this topic (Spalek, 2014; Lukassek andSpalek, 2016; Asher et al., 2017). Our paper is part of a cross-linguistic case study of Germaneinfrieren and Spanish congelar (‘freeze’). We model the meaning adaptability of this test casewithin Type Composition Logic (TCL) (Asher, 2011). We build on Asher’s coercion mechanismand introduce an additional mechanism for underspecification that exploits the fine-grained typesystem in TCL.Keywords: lexical semantics, change of state verbs, coercion, underspecification, Type CompositionLogic.

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 Appearance and Existence in Mandarin Chinese

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-140
Author(s):  
Niina Ning Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Functional Element ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Base Position ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Predication Relation

Abstract In Mandarin Chinese, the string of three overt elements in a row, a locative, a verb, and a nominal, asserts the existence of the entity denoted by the nominal in the location. This paper argues that the verb is contained in an adjunct, whereas the locative in its base position and the nominal establish a matrix predication relation. Thus, instead of the overt verb, the head of the matrix predicate of the construction is null. Moreover, a new analysis is provided to explain the obligatory argument sharing between the verb and the matrix predication of the construction. Furthermore, the paper argues that the agent of a transitive verb in certain types of embedded clauses needs to be Case-licensed by either the v of the selecting verb, as in an ECM construction, or a local c-commanding functional element, such as a complementizer, as in the English infinitive for construction. This Case-licensing explains why the transitive verb in the string has no agent. The research shows that the syntactic strategies to license abstract Cases in Chinese are similar to the ones found in other languages. Finally, the paper argues that the post-verbal -zhe is an adessive marker when it occurs in a non-progressive context.

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).

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.

On locative alternation verbs in Mandarin Chinese

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-166
Author(s):  
Pei-Jung Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Locative Alternation ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Abstract This paper focuses on both single and compound locative alternation verbs in Mandarin Chinese. First, three particular properties of locative alternation verbs are introduced and compared cross-linguistically with examples from Japanese and English. Next, three properties are explored further and possible explanations are provided for the observed similarities and differences between the languages. Finally, the syntactic patterns of locative alternation verbs in Mandarin Chinese are investigated in the Sinica Corpus. The results show that the “oblique argument-verb-accusative argument” sentence pattern has the highest percentage of appearance. This finding echoes Lin’s (2008) claim that Chinese is not only a “topic prominent” language, but also a “locative prominent” language.

Change of state verbs and result state adjectives in Mandarin Chinese

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHIAO WEI THAM
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Word Naming ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
State Change ◽  
Result State ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Degree Modification ◽  
Systematic Derivation

This paper investigates the derivational relationship between adjectives and verbs in Mandarin Chinese describing related state, change of state (COS) and caused COS meanings. Such paradigms have been observed in various languages to fall into two categories: One in which a word naming a property concept state constitutes the derivational base for the related COS verbs, and another in which a COS verb forms the basis from which the stative word – a ‘result state’ predicate – is derived. I show that in Mandarin, the distinction between morphological paradigms based on property-concept words versus eventive verbs is also found, but the actual derivational relations between verbs and adjectives are influenced by language-particular morphological properties of Mandarin. Specifically, I argue that a gradable property concept adjective systematically alternates to a related COS verb. This alternation, which can be tapped by degree modification and negation contexts, distinguishes adjectives from stative verbs, which do not have consistent COS counterparts, and from underived intransitive COS verbs, which do not have systematic stative counterparts. That is, I show that COS verbs do not lend themselves to the systematic derivation of result state adjectives. Rather, I argue that result state adjectives in Mandarin arise from conceptual-pragmatic factors: The nominal modified by such a result state adjective should be understood as describing a culturally or contextually salient class of entities.

Syntax and semantics in the acquisition of locative verbs

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jess Gropen ◽  
Steven Pinker ◽  
Michelle Hollander ◽  
Richard Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Verb Meaning

ABSTRACTChildren between the ages of three and seven occasionally make errors with locative verbs like pour and fill, such as * I filled water into the glass and * I poured the glass with water (Bowerman, 1982). To account for this pattern of errors, and for how they are eventually unlearned, we propose that children use a universal linking rule called OBJECT AFFECTEDNESS: the direct object corresponds to the argument that is specified as ‘affected’ in some particular way in the semantic representation of a verb. However, children must learn which verbs specify which of their arguments as being affected; specifically, whether it is the argument whose referent is undergoing a change of location, such as the content argument of pour, or the argument whose referent is undergoing a change of state, such as the container argument of fill. This predicts that syntactic errors should be associated with specific kinds of misinterpretations of verb meaning. Two experiments were performed on the ability of children and adults to understand and produce locative verbs. The results confirm that children tend to make syntactic errors with sentences containing fill and empty, encoding the content argument as direct object (e.g. fill the water). As predicted, children also misinterpreted the meanings of fill and empty as requiring not only that the container be brought into a full or empty state, but also that the content move in some specific manner (by pouring, or by dumping). Furthermore, children who misinterpreted the verbs' meanings were more likely to make syntactic errors with them. These findings support the hypothesis that verb meaning and syntax are linked in precise ways in the lexicons of language learners.

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

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