Linking: The geometry of argument structure

333 Pages·2010·1.32 MB·English

by  Janet H. Randall (auth.)

LINKING
Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory
VOLUME74
ManagingEditors
MarceldenDikken,CityUniversityofNewYork
LilianeHaegeman,GhentUniversity,Belgium
JoanMaling,BrandeisUniversity
EditorialBoard
GuglielmoCinque,UniversityofVenice
CarolGeorgopoulos,UniversityofUtah
JaneGrimshaw,RutgersUniversity
MichaelKenstowicz,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
HildaKoopman,UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles
HowardLasnik,UniversityofMaryland
AlecMarantz,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
JohnJ.McCarthy,UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst
IanRoberts,UniversityofCambridge
Forfurthervolumes:
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LINKING
The Geometry of Argument Structure
by
JANETH.RANDALL
NortheasternUniversity,Boston,MA,USA
123
JanetH.Randall
LinguisticsProgram
NortheasternUniversity
360HuntingtonAvenue
BostonMA02115
USA
[email protected]
ISBN978-1-4020-8307-5 e-ISBN978-1-4020-8308-2
DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-8308-2
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008927520
(cid:2)c SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010
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Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
InmemoryofRoslynSeigelRandall
1925–2003
Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................. xi
ListofAbbreviations ............................................... xv
Introduction ....................................................... 1
1 A Phenomenon and a Principle: The Isomorphic
LinkingHypothesis........................................ 1
2 Representations ........................................... 3
3 TheCompetition .......................................... 5
4 AdvantagesofthisProposal................................. 5
5 GoingForward............................................ 7
PartI AGeometricTheoryofLinking
1 ConceptualStructure .......................................... 11
1.1 Motivating Conceptual Structure: A Review
oftheProblemswithThetaGrids ............................ 11
1.2 RepresentingArgumentsandSatisfyingtheThetaCriterion ...... 16
1.3 BuildingConceptualStructureRepresentations................. 19
1.3.1 ArgumentFusionandSelection ....................... 19
1.3.2 Constraining Fusion: The Prohibition Against
DoubleFusion ..................................... 22
1.4 StreamliningtheSetofCSPrimitives......................... 24
1.5 ArgumentStructure:TheInterfaceProjectionfromCS .......... 33
2 EliminatingtheDirect/IndirectInternalArgumentDistinction ...... 35
2.1 ReasonstoEliminateIndirectArguments...................... 35
2.2 ApparentProblemsandTheirSolutions ....................... 38
2.2.1 SyntacticCategory .................................. 38
2.2.2 LinearOrder ....................................... 40
2.2.3 LexicalRules ...................................... 40
2.3 Summary ................................................ 50
vii
viii Contents
3 ExplainingLinkingRegularities ................................. 53
3.1 ANewLinkingProposal:TheIsomorphicLinkingHypothesis.... 54
3.2 CausativeVerbs ........................................... 59
3.2.1 SimpleCausativeVerbs .............................. 59
3.2.2 Productive“doubleagent”CausativeVerbs.............. 62
3.3 ComparingtheILHtoOtherLinkingTheories ................. 68
3.3.1 TheThematicHierarchyHypothesis(THH) ............. 68
3.3.2 TheUniformityofThetaAssignmentHypothesis(UTAH). 69
3.3.3 Why the ILH Is a Better Linking Theory
thanTHHandUTAH ............................... 71
3.4 UnaccusativeandUnergativeVerbLinkingandSomeLinking
Predictions............................................... 77
3.4.1 UnaccusativeVerbLinking ........................... 79
3.4.2 UnergativeVerbLinking ............................. 81
3.4.3 SomeLinkingPredictions ............................ 83
3.5 SomeProblematicVerbClasses.............................. 85
3.6 Summary:TheLinkingTheorySoFar ........................ 86
4 SyntacticallyUnexpressedArguments,Incorporation,andAdjuncts . 89
4.1 ImplicitArgumentVerbsandImplicationsforLexicalEntries .... 89
4.1.1 ImplicitThemeVerbs:cook,eat,drink ................. 89
4.1.2 MoreImplicitThemeVerbs:rainandsnow ............. 93
4.1.3 Implicit PLACE Verbs: deliver (Concrete PLACE)
andtransform(AbstractPLACE) ...................... 95
4.2 IncorporatedArgumentVerbs ...............................100
4.2.1 IncorporatedThemeVerbsandAdjunctFusion:butter
andbone.......................................... 100
4.2.2 More Incorporated Theme Verbs: ticket, leaflet,
stone,gas ......................................... 110
4.2.3 IncorporatedConcrete PLACE Verbs:bag,box,bottle,
file,shelve......................................... 112
4.3 CoindexedArgumentVerbsandtheBoundArgumentCondition
onLinking ............................................... 117
4.4 Delinked CS Arguments: Mismatches Introduced
ByWord-FormationRules.................................. 119
4.4.1 DelinkedExternalArguments:PassiveVerbs,Middle
VerbsandDeverbalNominals ........................ 120
4.4.2 Delinked Internal Arguments: Reciprocal Verbs
andReflexiveVerbs................................. 124
4.5 Maintaining the Argument/Adjunct Distinction in Light
ofSelectedAdjuncts....................................... 128
4.5.1 SyntacticArguments ................................128
4.5.2 Adjuncts ..........................................131
4.5.3 TestsfortheArgument/AdjunctDistinction .............132
4.5.4 Additional Justifications for the Argument/Adjunct
Distinction ........................................ 134
Contents ix
5 TheLinkingofResultativeVerbs:ClausalFusion..................137
5.1 TheConceptualStructureofResultativeVerbs .................138
5.2 TheArgumentStructureofResultativeVerbs ..................144
5.2.1 TheArgumenthoodoftheResultXP...................145
5.2.2 TheArgumenthoodofthePostverbalNP ...............152
5.3 TheLinkingofResultativeVerbsandaBetterLinkingTheory....157
5.3.1 TheLinkingoftheInheritedArgumentsandaRelativized
IsomorphicLinkingHypothesis....................... 157
5.3.2 ANewKindofAS–CSMismatch:NonlinkingThemes ...164
5.4 ClausalFusion:InterpretingtheUnlinkedTheme ...............166
6 TheProhibitionAgainstDoubleFusion...........................173
6.1 DerivingResultativeMismatchesfromtheProhibitionAgainst
DoubleFusion............................................ 173
6.2 IndependentEvidencefortheProhibitionAgainstDoubleFusion .176
6.2.1 Passiveby-phrasesandAgentSubjects .................177
6.2.2 With-ThemesandThemeDirectObjects ................178
6.2.3 PPLocationsandLocativeDirectObjects...............180
6.2.4 The Prohibition Against Double Fusion Versus
Jackendoff’s(1990)ConstraintsonAdjunctRules ....... 180
6.3 TheProhibitionAgainstDoubleFusionandtheThetaCriterion...181
6.4 AgainstanAlternativeCSforResultatives:TheMeansAnalysis
(Jackendoff,1990) ........................................ 186
6.4.1 Jackendoff’sFirstArgumentfortheMeansAnalysis
andaRefutation:TheActorTest...................... 188
6.4.2 Jackendoff’sSecondArgumentfortheMeansAnalysis
andaRefutation:“X’sWay” ......................... 193
6.4.3 One Argument in Favor of the Agent Analysis:
UnaccusativeVerbs................................. 193
6.4.4 ASecondArgumentinFavoroftheAgentAnalysis:
WeatherVerbs ..................................... 195
6.5 AnOverviewofLinking....................................196
PartII MoreLinkingResultsAcrosstheLexicon
7 CausativeVerbswithPLACEArguments..........................207
7.1 Obligatory PLACE Arguments: render, put, and get are not
Three-ArgumentVerbs..................................... 207
7.1.1 AbstractPLACEVerbs:renderandmake ................208
7.1.2 ConcretePLACEVerbs:putandposition,leanandstand ..211
7.1.3 UnspecifiedPLACEVerbs:getandkeep.................216
7.2 OptionalImplicitPLACEs...................................218
7.2.1 ConcretePLACEVerbs:deliver,transmitandconvey ......219
7.2.2 AbstractPLACEVerbs:convert,change,alter
andtransform...................................... 222
x Contents
7.2.3 A Different Type of Abstract PLACE Verb,
or“Pseudoresultatives”:transitivebreak ............... 224
8 Unaccusatives:AClusterofVerbClasses .........................229
8.1 UnaccusativeVerbswithObligatoryPLACEArguments:go,turn,
get,andbe ............................................... 229
8.2 UnaccusativeVerbswithOptionalPLACEArguments:
fallandchange ........................................... 235
8.3 UnaccusativePseudoresultatives:break(intopieces) ............237
8.4 UnaccusativeResultatives...................................239
8.5 Unaccusative/UnergativeAlternatingVerbs:rollandmarch .....243
8.6 Defining“UnaccusativeVerb” ...............................250
8.7 Unaccusative/CausativeAlternatingVerbs:pierceandclimb......252
9 ComplexCausativeVerbs .......................................259
9.1 CausativeManner-of-MotionVerbs:march,dance,run,skip,
andswim ................................................ 260
9.2 Causative“MaterialMeans”Verbs:pasteandstaple.............267
9.3 CausativeInstrumentVerbs:hammerandspoon ................269
9.4 Causative Alternating Verbs: A Reanalysis of the load
andsprayClasses ......................................... 272
9.4.1 ThewithVariants ...................................273
9.4.2 TheLocativeVariants ...............................275
10 OtherVerbClasses,OtherIssues,andConclusions.................281
10.1 AdjunctFusionVersusArgumentLinking:bagandbutter........281
10.2 Non-CausativeTransitiveVerbs:enterandinhabit ..............285
10.3 MoreonReplacingGOwithBECOME.........................289
10.4 ConclusionsandFurtherThoughts ...........................294
SummaryofDefinitions,PrinciplesandRules .........................297
References.........................................................303
IndexofEnglishWordsDiscussed....................................311
Index .............................................................315