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The Interaction Between Verbs And Constructions. Goldberg, Adele E. (1995): Constructions. Ch. 2. Lucas Champollion Oct 18 th , 2004. Motivation. Some verbs can occur in many distinct argument structures Pat kicked/prodded the wall.
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The Interaction Between Verbs And Constructions Goldberg, Adele E. (1995): Constructions. Ch. 2. Lucas Champollion Oct 18th, 2004
Motivation • Some verbs can occur in many distinct argument structures • Pat kicked/prodded the wall. • Pat kicked Bob black and blue / Bat prodded Bob into action. • Pat kicked/prodded at the football. • Pat kicked/prodded his way out of the operating room. • Regularities between meanings of diffent verbs in same argument structures • To avoid polysemy of verbs, assign meaning to the construction instead
The Exception Is The Rule • Traditional/generative grammar: principle of compositionality • “The meaning of the whole is a function of the meaning of the parts” • This principle failsfor idioms • Spill the beans not related to either spill or beans • Idioms even come in “patterns”: • Hit me a home run. / ?Bill hit me a home run • Rob me a bank. / ?Bill robbed me a bank. / ?Rob Bill a bank • Construction grammar makes a virtue of necessity
Semantics Construction 2 Construction 3 Construction 1 Lexicon Syntax Semantics Syntax Semantics Syntax Semantics Construction Grammar‘s Approach To Language • Generative grammar (e.g. Chomsky): "procedural" view linking rules + Syntax Lexicon • Construction grammar (e.g. Fillmore, Lakoff, Goldberg): "object-oriented" view
Questions To Be Answered • What is the nature of verb meaning? • What is the nature of constructional meaning? • When can a given verb occur in a given construction?
Upgrading The Data Structure • Traditional approach: lexicon only stores words • CG approach: one uniform data structure for words, idioms, and complex syntactic patterns NEW OLD MEANING DIVULGE-INFORMATION /l۸v/ spill the beans FORM
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (I) • Ditransitive construction CAUSE-RECEIVE < XYZ > Subject Verb ObjectObject2 Pat faxed Billthe letter. I will tell youthe solution.
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (II) • Caused Motion construction CAUSE-MOVE <XYZ> Subject Verb ObjectOblique Pat sneezed the napkinoff the table. (I thought) you were going to talk meout of the way I feel right now.
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (III) • Resultative construction CAUSE-BECOME <XYZ> Subject Verb ObjectComplement She kissed himunconscious. Sam talked himselfhoarse.
What Is The Nature Of Verb Meaning? • Verbs often have richer meanings than what Jackendoff-style decomposition can account for • e.g. laminate, boycott, divorce, subpoena • Construction Grammar’s approach: • Decompositional structures correspond to meanings of constructions • Verbs “plug in” to constructions, bringing along their own idiosyncratic meaning
Argument Structure Construction + Verb Construction + ... = Meaning CAUSE-MOVE <X Y Z> to suddenly, forcefully, and involuntarily expel air through the nose and mouth because of irritation of the nasal passages Subj. Verb Obj. Oblique sneeze <sneezer> Pat sneezed the napkin off the table.
Constructions, Just Like Words, Can Be Polysemous • Ditransitive construction give, throw, take, feed X successfully causes Y to receive Z but also: X causes Y not to receive Z X intends to cause Y to receive Z X enables Y to receive Z refuse, deny make, build, get, win, bake Subject Verb Object Object2 permit, allow
Integrating Verbs And Constructions • Argument structure constructions require argument roles • e.g. meaning of the ditransitive construction: CAUSE-RECEIVE <agent recipient patient> • Verbs require frame-specific participant roles • e.g. meaning of to hand: HAND <hander handee handed> • Roles are types, not atomic elements • Participant roles must be subtypes of argument roles
Roles Can Be Profiled • Argument roles are profiled iff they are direct grammatical relations (e.g. not oblique objects) • Ditransitive: CAUSE-RECEIVE <agent recipient patient> • Caused motion: CAUSE-MOVE <cause goal theme> • Participant roles are profiled iff they are obligatorily expressed • HAND <hander handee handed> • MAIL <mailer mailee mailed> • ROB <thief target goods> • STEAL <thief target goods> can be derived from frame semantics
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance or means PREDICATE < *** Insert Verb Here *** > Verb Subject Object Object2 Close-Up On The Ditransitive Construction Pat mailed Bill a letter. John will bake Mary a cake.
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance MAIL < mailer mailee mailed> Verb Subject Object Object2 Ditransitive Construction + mail Pat mailed Bill a letter. cf. Pat mailed [Ø] a letter. (not an instance of this construction)
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance, means HAND < hander handee handed > Verb Subject Object Object2 Ditransitive Construction + hand Pat handed Bill the keys. cf. *Pat handed [Ø] the keys. (not an instance of this construction)
When Can A Given Verb Occur In A Construction? • Semantic Coherence Principle: • Only roles which are semantically compatible may be fused. • This is the case iff one role is a subtype of another. • Correspondence Principle (simplified(!)): • Each profiled participant role of the verb must be fused with a profiled argument role of the construction. • But if a verb has three profiled participant roles, then one of them may be fused with a nonprofiled argument role. • The construction may have more roles than the verb. In this case the construction may add roles to the meaning of the composite structure. Dashed lines indicate these roles.
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Means KICK < kicker kicked> Verb Subject Object Object2 Role can be contributed by construction (dashed line) Ditransitive Construction + kick Joe kicked Bill the ball.
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance? Means? ANGER < angerer anger.goal > Verb Subject Object Object2 *Ditransitive Construction + anger *Joe angered Bob the pink slip. ("Joe gave Bob a pink slip, causing Bob to become angry.")
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance SEND < sender send.goal sent > Verb Subject Object Object2 Ditransitive Construction + send Joe sent Chicago a letter. (only OK if Chicago refers to people) "send.goal" role must be recipient and therefore animate
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient > Instance? Means? STEAL < thief target goods > Verb Subject Object Object2 What CG Fails To Explain: Ditransitive Construction + Steal *Robin Hood stole the rich their money. But: You stole me my happiness. ???
Conclusion • CG assigns meaning to argument structure constructions • Verb polysemy considerably reduced • May be useful for Interlingua purposes • No implementation so far (I think) • Bugs?