Concepts of Modern Linguistics: Last Week
Concepts of Modern Linguistics: Last Week
Last week….
Task Today
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18/11/2020
Theta-roles Theta-roles
Theta-roles Theta-roles
The combination of thematic relations that may be
John fixed his guests a drink.
associated with a verb = theta grid
Beneficiary /Recipient (= the entity for whose
benefit the action takes place)
e.g.
cut < Agent, Patient>
John sent Mary a letter
give <Agent, Theme, Recipient>
Recipient
run < Agent>
Task Task
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2
18/11/2020
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
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18/11/2020
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
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18/11/2020
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
a. The organization cannot survive unless we make a. A cluster of stars glowed above us.
some changes. b. The bells were clanging.
b. The hearing will last for two weeks. c. The sun was shining.
c. She remained in bed for three weeks.
verbs denoting “non-voluntary emission
duratives of stimuli that impinge on the senses”
(Perlmutter 1978:162 -163)
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18/11/2020
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
A closer look at one argument verbs A closer look at one argument verbs
Auxiliary selection
Italian
French
(1) Il est tombé. = unaccusative (1) Giovanni e arrivato.
he is fallen Giovanni is arrived
(2) Ein Außenseiter *hat/ ist weggegangen (be) they have different syntactic behaviour
an outsider has/is left the distinction is found across languages
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18/11/2020
Summing up Summing up
• lexical verbs have a categorial feature: V
lexical verbs have an event structure
In English, verbs
they select arguments subcategories of V
inflect for tense/agreement/aspect :
one argument verbs: unaccusatives vs. unergatives
-s, -ing, -(e)d, -(e) n
they c-select their arguments
can be preceded by a modal verb
they s-select their arguments
can be preceded by auxiliary verbs: be, have, do
they assign theta-roles
derivational suffixes: -ate, -en, -ify, -ize