foundations of syntax - argument...
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Foundations of SyntaxArgument structure
Irina Burukina
irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu
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Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 1 / 26
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Argument structure
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 2 / 26
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A couple of examples
(1) a. The cow injured the farmer.b. *Injured the farmer.c. *The cow injured.d. The cow danced. ← Good!e. *The cow injured the farmer to Mary.f. The cow showed the farmer to Mary.← Good!
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 3 / 26
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Participants
With some verbs we need three dependent constituents,with some – two, and with some – only one.Obligatory dependents = arguments (participants).
(2) a. The cow injured the farmer.← 2 participants, transitive
b. The cow danced.← 1 participant, intranstive
c. The cow showed the farmer to Mary.← 3 participants, ditransitive
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 4 / 26
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Participants
Where do participants come from? ← semantics of a lex-ical predicate (verbs in our examples), its lexical entry.
(3) a. The cow injured the farmer.b. The farmer was injured by the cow.
The situation of injuring always requires 2 participants:one active (Agent), one passive (Theme).
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 5 / 26
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Participants
(4) a. The cow showed the farmer to Mary.b. The cow showed Mary the farmer.c. The farmer was shown to Mary by the cow.d. Mary was shown the farmer by the cow.
The situation of showing requires 3 participants: oneactive (Agent), two passive (Theme, Goal).
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 6 / 26
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Arguments
Arguments receive / are assigned thematic roles:Theme, Patient, Agent, Experiencer, Goal, Instrument,etc.send <Agent, Theme, Goal>
(5) [John] sends [letters] [to Mary].
<...> – thematic gridAgent – an active participant, does something deliber-ately, on purpose.Theme – a passive participant whose state changes asthe result of the event.Goal – addressee, destination.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 7 / 26
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Arguments
Predicates select their arguments.send <Agent, Theme, Goal>
(6) a. *The table sends letters to Mary.b. ?John sends letter to the knife.
Agent – animate, a human.Goal – a human or a place.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 8 / 26
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Arguments
Arguments can be demoted, removed, or added via spe-cial operations.
(7) a. John broke the vase. ← Activeb. The vase broke (*by John). ← Anticausativec. John reads the book. ← Actived. The book reads easily (*by John). ←Middlee. The book is read (by John). ← Passive
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 9 / 26
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Arguments vs. Adjuncts
Adjuncts – optional information, not required by the pre-dicated, not selected. We can have multiple adjuncts ofthe same kind.
(8) a. Mary baked a cake.b. Mary baked a cake [last summer] [in June]
[on Monday]. ← temporal adjunctsc. Mary baked a cake [at home] [in the kitchen]
[in the oven]. ← locative adjuncts
(9) a. *Mary baked [a cake], [cupcakes].b. Mary baked [a cake] and [cupcakes].
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 10 / 26
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Thematic roles vs. Grammatical functions
Thematic roles vs. grammatical functions:subject > direct object > indirect object > oblique(← Relational Hierarchy)
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 11 / 26
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Thematic roles vs. Grammatical functions
In English:Subject – agrees with the verb, nominative.Direct object – accusative.
(10) a. She likes them.b. *Her likes they.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 12 / 26
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Thematic roles vs. Grammatical functions
(11) a. The cow showed the farmer to Mary.subject, direct object, oblique
b. The farmer was shown to Mary by the cow.subject, oblique, oblique
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 13 / 26
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Exercise (from Carnie 2013)
Two forms of the Sinhala verb appear in the data belowand are identified in the glosses as A or B. (Data fromGair 1970.)Identify what theta role is assigned to each DP. Whatkind of DP the suffix -tə attaches to?
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 14 / 26
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Exercise (from Carnie 2013)
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 15 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates
Verbs are not the only predicates. Recall that we dis-cussed various lexical word categories: Verbs, Nouns,Adjectives, Prepositions.→ All lexical word categories can assign thematic roles.→ Lexical categories = thematic categories
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 16 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Nouns
destroy (Verb) <Agent, Theme>(12) The dragon destroyed the city.destruction (Noun) <Agent, Theme>(13) The dragon’s destruction of the citymurder (Verb) <Agent, Theme>(14) The squirrel murdered the blumprl.murder (Noun) <Agent, Theme>(15) murder of the blumprl by the squirrel
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 17 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Nouns
paint <Agent, Theme>(16) Monet painted ponds.paint <Agent, Theme>(17) a. Monet’s painting(s) of ponds.
b. painting(s) of ponds by Monet← result vs. event nouns
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 18 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Nouns
Optionality:
(18) a. this is Monet’s painting of a pondb. this is Monet’s paintingc. this is a painting of a pondd. this is a painting
→ painting <(Agent), (Theme)>
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 19 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Adjectives
tall <Theme>happy <Experiencer>
(19) a. Tom is / was tall.b. Ann is / was happy.c. *The table is / was tall.d. *The flower is / was happy.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 20 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Adjectives
proud <Experiencer, Stimulus/Patient>fond <Experiencer, Stimulus>
(20) a. Sirius is / was proud of Harry.b. Hermione is / was fond of reading.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 21 / 26
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Non-verbal predicates: Prepositions
on <Theme, Location>for <Theme, Beneficiary>
(21) a. The ball is on the floor.b. The present is for Mary.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 22 / 26
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Functional categories – no arguments.
(22) a. John will read this book.Agent and Theme
b. Mary will jump.Agent
c. Ann will send this box to her mother.Agent, Theme, and Goal
d. Susan will be interested.Experiencer
→ In all these examples arguments are selected by thelexical predicate, not by will.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 23 / 26
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Subcategorization
await vs. wait // both <Experiencer, Theme>
(23) a. We await the proposals.b. We wait for the proposals.
For passive participants:walk <Agent> – nullgive <Agent, Theme, Goal> – nominal, prepositionallook 1 <Agent / Experiencer, Stimulus> – prepositionallook 2 <Theme, Attribute> – adjectival
(24) a. John looked at the sky.b. John looked really nice.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 24 / 26
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The Theta Criterion
The Theta Criterion:a) Each argument is assigned one and only one thetarole.b) Each theta role is assigned to one and only one argu-ment.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 25 / 26
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Exercise: The Theta Criterion
Show how each of the following sentences is a violationof the theta criterion.
1 *Rosemary hates.2 *Jennie smiled the breadbox.3 *Traci gave the whale.4 *Traci gave a jawbreaker.5 *placed the flute on the table.6 *John placed on the table.7 *John placed the flute.8 *John placed the flute the violin on the table.9 *The rock placed the sky with the fork.10 *John placed the flute the table.
Irina Burukina (irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu) Foundations of Syntax *** 26 / 26
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