English LexicologyWords and their lexical properties

Week 13

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

Warming-up

Four books are on the table.There are four books on the table.These books are on the table. There are these books on the table.

A lady comes here. A lady cries here.

Here comes a lady. Here cries a lady.

John knows French. John is knowing French.

She is being very serious. She is being very young.

Grammatical or ungrammatical? Why?

Lexical knowledge of a word

Lexical words have lexical features which can divide words into different types.

NOUNMass vs. CountAnimate vs. Inanimate

VERBState, Activity, Accomplishment, Achievement

Subclasses of Nouns

Nouns

Common N Proper N

Count N Mass N

Singular N Plural N

MASS vs. COUNT features for nouns

Why can't mass nouns take plural morphemes? Why does Chinese use classifiers?

Water is essential to life. *Waters are essential to life. *Book is my best friend.Books are my best friend.

书是我最好的朋友。三个学生* 三学生同学们* 三个同学们

ANIMATE vs. INANIMATE features of nouns

Jingpo (A Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Yunnan)

-the:denoting inanimate beings-ni: denoting animate beings a. Dai-the go nye a n re.

this-PL TOP mine GEN NEG BE ‘These (things) are not mine.’

b. Dai-ni go n hkrum ni? this-PL TOP NEG meet 2SG-STA-Q

‘Didn’t you meet these (people)?’

Adjective Classes

Adjectives are generally taken to denote states, which may be temporary or permanent. Adjectives which denote temporary states are stage-level adjectives; Adjectives which denote permanent states are individual-level adjectives.

She is being very serious. *She is being very young.

hungry, dirty, impatient, angry…

tall, smart, hard, beautiful…

Adjective Classes

The horse is being gentle with her rider now.

Your are being so angry again!

Stop being so impatient.

*John is being tall again.

*Are you being beautiful tonight?

*Stop being so intelligent.

Most stage-level adjectives can go with the progressive, while individual-level adjectives cannot.

Mass and count uses

Mass noun The life in the old man was fading fast. Some life could be detected in the old man. Life can be harsh at times.

Count noun The life of the old man was forfeited. A life is not proper payment for this crime. The lives lost in the war were wasted.

Mass to count shift

Mass to count shift results in count nouns denoting a kind or a unit.

a kind/brand of A: What cheeses have you bought?B: Cheddar, Gorgonzola, and Danish Blue.

A unit of

Would you like to have a coffee? = a cup of coffee I like Viennese coffees best. = various brands

cheese a cheese cheeseswine a wine winestea a tea teas

coffee a coffee two coffeesaspirin an aspirin many aspirinschocolate a chocolate some chocolates

Count to mass shift (less frequent in English)

I used an egg for the dessert -> You’ve got egg on your apron.Determine whether the nouns in italics are count or mass nouns:A: Would you like a cake? B: No, I don’t like cake.I want to read the evening paper. =newspaperYou should wrap the present up in nice paper. =wrapping paperShe was a beauty in her youth.She had great beauty in her youth.She’s had many difficulties.Her business was in difficulty.It is well known that light travels faster than sound.We saw bright lights and heard lovely sounds.There is lamb on the menu today.The lambs were happy in the farm.

Categories that introduce nouns

Determiners Numerals Quantifiers

Determiners

Determiners are functional words which are used to specify the referent of a noun.

Major classes of determiners Article (definite and indefinite) Demonstrative Possessive pronouns

Singular Plural

Definiteness the, this, that the, these, those

Indefiniteness a; an

Numerals

Numerals can be cardinal, such as one/two/three, or ordinal, such as first/second/third/twentieth.

Numerals express number or order, and are typically indefinite.

Four people came into the room.

The four people came into the room.

It could be any four people.

The speaker and the hearer know the four people who entered.

The addition of the definite article has the effect of making the indefinite noun phrase definite.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers such as all/each/every/both/some/several/few/many pick out members of a set.

Certain quantifiers are definite, and others are indefinite.

DiagnosisIf a quantifier can occur in the “there be…” existential construction, then it is indefinite. Otherwise, it is definite.

Definite Indefinite

all some

each several

every few

both manyThere are ___ students in the classroom.

Co-occurrence of determiners

Some determiners can co-occur all the four races both these problems

But: *my that book *the this book

el libro este (Spanish)the book this‘this book’

我 的 那 本 书Wo de na ben shu 1sgNom POSS that CL book‘that book of mine’

Verb classification(based on syntactic distribution of verbs)

　 verbs

intransitive transitive ditransitive

intransitive: 不及物动词　 transitive: 及物动词ditransitive: 双宾语动词　　

Verb classification(based on syntactic distribution of verbs)

　 verbs

intransitive transitive ditransitive

unergative unaccusative 　 middle

　unergative: 非作格动词 middle: 中间动词ergative: 作格动词 unaccusative: 非宾格动词

Two types of intransitive verbs

A bus arrived here.

Here arrived a bus.

A baby cried here.

*Here cried a baby.

intransitive

Unergative verbs ( 非作格动词 )

Unergative verbs in general have an agent subject as the only argument. (true intransitives) These verbs are true intransitives. They cannot take a direct object.

cry, dance, whisper, run, walk, swim, sleep, smile, laugh, sneeze, etc.

The baby cried.John is dancing.

Agent: 施事 （动作的实施者） Patient: 受事（动作的承受者）

John is writing a letter.

Unaccusative verbs

Unaccusative verbs have only one participant which is the logical object but surfaces as the subject.

open, close, sink, melt, break, arrive, appear, come, clear, freeze, shorten, redden, drop, move, spill, etc.

The butter melted. ….melted the butter. The ship sank. …sank the ship.The window opened. …opened the window.A school bus came. … came a school bus.

Unaccusative verbs

melted the butter

…

came a school bus…

.

.

Unaccusative verbs

meltedThe butter

camea school bus

.

.

John melted the butter.

*John came a school bus.

Often unaccusative verbs have transitive counterparts.When this happens, the verb is said to be an ergative verb.

If there is no such alternation, then the verb is just an unaccusative verb.

That means, we have two types of unaccusatives. The first type has transitive counterparts and they can also be called ergative verbs. The other type can only be unaccusative verbs. They have no transitive counterparts and cannot be called ergative verbs.

Two significant differences

Accusative—Unaccusative Ergative-Unergative

Middle verbs

Middle verbs have a patient.

The poem translates easily.The books sell quickly.The pen writes smoothly.

Three features: Middle verbs can only be used in simple present tense. The adverb is obligatory, indicating there is an arbitrary

subject (everybody) The meaning of middle sentences is not dynamic. It

describes a property or a state.

These verbs are not in the active nor in the passive voice. The sentence containing such a verb is said to have the middle voice.

Middle verbs always have transitive counterparts.

The poem translates easily. One can easily translate the poem into Spanish.

The books sell quickly. One can quickly sell the books.

Transitive & ditransitive verbs

Transitive verbs: take one object1. The ganster killed [an innocent man].Kill: [ _ DP]

Ditransitive verbs: take two objects1. The professor showed [the students] [the award]. show: [ __ DP DP]

2.The professor showed the award to the students.show: [ __ DP PP]

Verb classification(based on syntactic distribution of verbs)

　 verbs

intransitive transitive ditransitive

unergative unaccusative 　 middle

　unergative: 非作格动词 middle: 中间动词ergative: 作格动词 unaccusative: 非宾格动词

Summary

Four books are on the table.There are four books on the table.These books are on the table. *There are these books on the table.

A lady comes here. A lady cries here.

Here comes a lady. *Here cries a lady.

John knows French. *John is knowing French.

She is being very serious. *She is being very young.