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The Interaction Between Verbs And Constructions

Lucas Champollion Oct 18th, 2004

Goldberg, Adele E. (1995): Constructions. Ch. 2.

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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>

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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)

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*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?

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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

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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?

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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?