Date post: | 20-Jan-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | brittney-baker |
View: | 212 times |
Download: | 0 times |
1
The Interaction Between Verbs And Constructions
Lucas Champollion Oct 18th, 2004
Goldberg, Adele E. (1995): Constructions. Ch. 2.
2
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
3
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 fails for 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
4
Construction Grammar‘s Approach To Language
Generative grammar (e.g. Chomsky): "procedural" view
Syntax Semanticslinking rulesLexicon +
SyntaxSemantics
Construction 1 Syntax
Semantics
Construction 2 Syntax
Semantics
Construction 3
Lexicon
Construction grammar (e.g. Fillmore, Lakoff, Goldberg): "object-oriented" view
5
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?
6
Upgrading The Data Structure
/l۸v/ FORM
MEANING
spill the beans
Traditional approach: lexicon only stores words CG approach: one uniform data structure for
words, idioms, and complex syntactic patterns
NEWOLD
DIVULGE-INFORMATION
7
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (I)
Subject Verb Object Object2
CAUSE-RECEIVE < X Y Z >
Ditransitive construction
Pat faxed Bill the letter.I will tell you the solution.
8
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (II)
Subject Verb Object Oblique
CAUSE-MOVE <X Y Z>
Caused Motion construction
Pat sneezed the napkin off the table.(I thought) you were going to talk me out of the
way I feel right now.
9
Examples Of Argument Structure Constructions (III) Resultative construction
She kissed him unconscious.Sam talked himself hoarse.
CAUSE-BECOME <X Y Z>
Subject Verb Object Complement
10
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
11
Argument Structure Construction + Verb Construction + ... = Meaning
to suddenly, forcefully, and involuntarily expel air through the nose and mouth because of irritation of the nasal passages
Pat sneezed the napkin off the table.
CAUSE-MOVE <X Y Z>
Subj. Verb Obj. Oblique
sneeze <sneezer>
12
Constructions, Just Like Words, Can Be Polysemous
X successfully causes Y to receive Zbut also:
X causes Y not to receive ZX intends to cause Y to receive Z
X enables Y to receive Z
Subject Verb Object Object2
Ditransitive constructiongive, throw, take, feed
refuse, deny
make, build, get, win, bake
permit, allow
13
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
14
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
15
Close-Up On The Ditransitive Construction
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient >
Verb Subject Object Object2
PREDICATE < *** Insert Verb Here *** >
Instance or means
Pat mailed Bill a letter.John will bake Mary a cake.
16
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 >
Verb Subject Object Object2
MAIL < mailer mailee mailed>
Instance
17
Ditransitive Construction + hand
Pat handed Bill the keys.cf. *Pat handed [Ø] the keys. (not an instance of this construction)
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient >
Verb Subject Object Object2
HAND < hander handee handed >
Instance, means
18
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.
19
Ditransitive Construction + kick
Joe kicked Bill the ball.
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient >
Verb Subject Object Object2
KICK < kicker kicked>
Means
Role can be contributed by construction (dashed line)
20
*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 >
Verb Subject Object Object2
ANGER < angerer anger.goal >
Instance?Means?
21
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 >
Verb Subject Object Object2
SEND < sender send.goal sent >
Instance
22
What CG Fails To Explain: Ditransitive Construction + Steal
*Robin Hood stole the rich their money.But: You stole me my happiness. ???
CAUSE-RECEIVE < agent recipient patient >
Verb Subject Object Object2
STEAL < thief target goods >
Instance? Means?
23
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?