Participant Roles and how they are Expressed Grammatically Chapter 6 Semantics 3430 Fall 2007

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: the theory that we use to predict possible relationships between semantic roles and grammatical roles A new approach to verb flexibility: construction grammar.

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)

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.

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

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

Semantic Frames Verbs denote aspects of scenes. Scenes have participants. Verbs highlight some participants in a scene and background others. Converses: buy/sell; own/belong to; lend/borrow. How exactly do these converses work? The members of each converse pair share a frame; they differ with regard to which participants of that frame they place in the foreground.

Foregrounding by a 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 one of the core grammatical roles: subject and object: She filled the bathtub. She poured the gin. Thematic roles expressed by preposition phrases are called obliques. Obliques are almost always omissible.

Examples of Foregrounding: The Commercial Event Scenario There are two levels at which we can describe participant roles: Frame-specific roles Thematic (semantic) roles We will generally be sticking to thematic roles, but to talk about how converses work, we need to use frame-specific roles too.

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

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

What’s the Role of the Subject? In the set of verbs that presuppose the commercial-event frame, the verb’s subject can correspond to different frame-specific roles: Buyer (buy) Seller (sell) Goods (cost) Subject can also correspond to different thematic roles (6.2). Patient: The ice melted. Theme: The rock rolled down the hill. Recipient: She got a prize.

Another Two Levels: Action and Thematic Tiers (6.3) When we are identifying thematic roles, there are levels at which we can do that: The thematic tier (movement and location) The action tier (causation and change of state) Invent a sentence in which a single argument is both: Agent and goal Patient and theme Agent and theme

Thematic Roles and Metaphor The theory of thematic roles requires us to assume metaphorical mappings. Without metaphor, we would have to think of a new set of semantic roles every time a verb (like give) is used metaphorically! What are the thematic roles of the participants in the following sentences? They laughed her out of the room. She fell into a depression. She gave him an idea. Let’s come back to the main point.

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. Proto-roles intervene between thematic roles and grammatical roles (subject, object, oblique). An intransitive clause may have either an proto-patient or a proto-agent, but not both.

Semantic Role Hierarchy Proto-agent will be linked to the subject role. Proto-patient will be linked to subject role or the object role, if the verb has an object. agent instrument location theme patient Proto-agent Proto-patient

How does Linking Work? Traditional grammar defines subject as the ‘doer of an action’, but subjects need not be agents: Sue broke our window (with a rock). A rock broke our window. Our window broke. *A rock broke our window by Sue. A lower-ranking thematic role can link to subject only if no higher-ranking role is present.

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. She stripped the leaves off the tree. She stripped the tree of leaves. She gave the account to Pat. She gave Pat the account.

Passive (6.5) Which linking is chosen will influence what the passive version of the verb is. What is the passive version of The professor sent the answer to the student? What is the passive version of The professor sent the student the answer? Do not add or subtract the preposition to when you determine the passive version.

Linking Alternations 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.’

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 ‘Cicero was endowed with immortality by the people.’

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 creative uses of verbs.

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

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

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.