Participant Roles and how they are Expressed Grammatically

1. Participant Roles and how they are Expressed Grammatically Linguistics 7430 Spring 2004

2. What does a Verb Need? • An early approach based upon grammatical frames, which fails to deal with semantics. • An alternative approach based on the relationship between semantic roles and grammatical roles. • Linking theory. • A recent attempt to extend linking theory to deal with flexibility in verb meanings.

3. Subcategorization • Chomsky (1965) proposed to divide up all verbs into subcategories based on their grammatical frames. • put_NP PP (put the shoes under the desk) • eat_(NP) (ate lunch, ate at noon) • give_NP PP(give the account to Pat) _NP NP(give Pat the account) • contribute_(NP) (PP)(contribute some money; contribute to the Red Cross)

4. What about Semantics? • Alternations: The form of the frame can be invariable while its content changes. • Examples involving the frame V NP PP: Moe loaded the truck with lobsters. Moe loaded the lobsters into the truck. She drained the cash from the account. She drained the account of cash.

5. What about Semantics? • The form of the frame might vary,while its content stays the same. She asked me what time it was. She asked me the time. I can’t believe how much noise they make. I can’t believe the noise they make.

6. What about Semantics? • A single NP in a verb’s grammatical frame may express several different types of roles: She risked his hostility a swim in the ocean her life

7. A New Theory: Semantic Frames • Words highlight some parts of a scene and background others. Figure 1. Hypotenuse.

8. Semantic Frames • Verbs denote aspects of scenes. • Scenes have participants. • Verbs highlight some participants in a scene and background others. • Converses: buy/sell;own/belongto; lend/borrow. • How exactly do converses work?

9. Different Participants are Foregrounded by each Verb • What makes us say that a given participant is foregrounded? • It is necessarily expressed in the sentence. *She put the peanut butter. • It is expressed by the core grammatical roles: subject and object. She filled the bathtub. She poured the gin.

10. Examples of Foregrounding: The Commercial Event Scenario • There are two levels at which we can describe participant roles: • Frame-specific roles. • Schematic roles.

11. Examples of Foregrounding: The Commercial Event Scenario • The Commercial Event Scenario buyer seller goods currency • The Transfer (or Removal) Scenario agent goal/recipient theme source

12. The Alignment of Roles from the Two Levels buy buyer seller currency goods agent source theme sell buyer seller currency goods goal agent theme pay buyer seller currency goods agent goal theme

13. From Semantic Roles to Grammatical Roles • Linking theory proposes two proto-roles: • Proto-agent: has volition, is an energy source, moves. • Proto-patient: acted upon, undergoes change of state. • An intransitive clause may have either an proto-patient or a proto-agent, but not both.

14. Semantic Role Hierarchy • Proto-agent will be linked to the subject role when it is present. • Proto-patient will be linked to the object role when it is present. agent instrument location theme Proto-agentProto-patient

15. How does Linking Work? • Think about these sentences: Sue broke our window (with a rock). A rock broke our window. Our window broke. *A rock broke our window by Sue.

16. Exceptional Linkings • Which sentence in each pair violates the predictions of the semantic-role hierarchy? She loaded lobsters onto the truck. She loaded the truck with lobsters. Bees are swarming in the garden. The garden is swarming with bees. She gave the account to Pat. She gave Pat the account.

17. Linking Alternations in Two Other Languages • Latin Populus Ciceroni immortalitatem donavit. People:NOM Cicero:DAT immortality:ACC gave:3pl ‘The people gave immortality to Cicero.’ Populus Ciceronem immortalitate donavit. People:NOM Cicero:ACC immortality:ABL gave:3pl ‘The people endowed Cicero with immortality.’

18. Latin Linking: Passive • Two possibilities for passive in Latin Immortalitas est donatus Ciceroni Immortality:NOM is given:masc:sg Cicero: DAT ab populo. by people:ABL ‘Immortality was given to Cicero by the people.’ Cicero est donatus immortalitate Cicero:NOM is given:masc:sg immortality:ABL ab populo. by people:ABL ‘Cicero was endowed with immortality by the people.’

19. German Linking • Active Wir befüllten die Flaschen mit Bier. ‘We filled the bottles with beer.’ Wir füllten Bier in die Flaschen. ‘We filled (poured) beer into the bottles.’ • Two possibilities for passive Bier wurde in die Flaschen gefüllt. ‘Beer was filled into the bottles.’ Die Flaschen wurden mit bier befüllt. ‘The bottles were filled with beer.’

20. Recent Inquiries into the Flexibility of Verb Meaning • Does the number of semantic roles assigned by a given verb always remain the same? • Can speakers use constructions to add semantic roles to the verb? • We can answer these questions by looking at naturally occurring language data. • In many genres, we find nonce uses of words.

22. More Examples of Flexible Verb Meanings The Presentational Construction • On the ground lay a shoe. • Near the clubhouse sparkles the community pool. The Caused Motion construction • She pushed the glass off the counter. • A gruff ‘police monk’ barked them back to work. The Directed Motion construction • She walked through the gate. • She squirmed through the fence posts.

23. Even more Examples of Flexibility in Verb Meanings The Ditransitive construction • I gave them a gift. • I knotted her a pot holder. • I hailed them a cab. The Resultative construction • I made the table less wobbly. • They cried their eyes red. • I ate myself sick.

24. A Recent Proposal • Linking patterns exist independently of verbs and have meanings similar to those of verbs (transfer, causation) • The patterns can modify verb meanings by adding semantic roles. • These patterns can make verbs from nouns: I spread the bread with butter. I buttered the bread.