Argument structure and its realization

2/21/2005Nianwen Xue

outline

• Syntactic argument vs semantic argument• Selectional restriction• Subject control• Object control• Raising

Semantic valency

• Arguments can be viewed as central participants in a situation Aous laughed.

Aous = the entity that does the laughing Chris invited Dave .

Chris = hostGuest = Dave

Semantic valency

• One-place predicates Laugh, smile,

• Two-place predicates Invite, hit,

• Three-place predicates give, send, etc.

• Four-place predicates Accompany,

• Five-place predicates Rent,

Arguments defined in the frame files

• http://verbs.colorado.edu/framesets Smile Invite Accompany Rent

Syntactic argument (transitivity)

• Arguments that are actually realized

Intransitive: takes one argument

Transitive: takes two arguments

Ditransitive: takes three arguments

Transitive to intransitive

He / interrupted / the meeting. He / interrupted.

Amy / knits / sweaters. Amy / knits.

They / are reading / a book. They / are reading.

Intransitive to transitive

Dennis / died. Dennis / died / a peaceful death.

Lukas / laughed. Lukas / laughed / an infectious laugh.

Mona Lisa / was smiling. Mona Lisa / was smiling / a mysterious smile.

Ditransitive-transitive-intransitive

We teach college students syntax. We teach college students.We teach syntax.We teach.

He told me the whole story. He told me. He told the whole story.He better not tell.

Transitive to ditransitive

I baked a delicious cake. I baked my friends a delicious cake.

The lions killed a gazelle. The lions killed themselves a gazelle.

She sang a lullaby. She sang her baby a lullaby.

Alternation

• Transitive to intransitive• Object to subject

Aous broke the window . The window broke.

• Changes of (syntactic) arguments• Change of position

Levin (1993)

Syntax/semantics mismatch

• Semantic arguments are not always explicitly realized

• Realized syntactic arguments are not necessarily semantic arguments

• Semantic arguments are not always realized in the same syntactic positions

Modification

• Properties of events, which are less central, are often realized as modifiers: Manner: He read the letter carefully. Point in time: They discussed the proposal in the

afternoon. Duration: You should keep your tax records for several

years. Frequency: I read the Times quite often. Location: We met in my office. Origin: We set out from Bangalore. Destination: We arrived in Benares. Cause: He threw it away out of spite. Purpose: I sent the message to warn everyone.

Predication and subject requirement

• That they are corrupt is evident.Their corruption is evident.

• It is evident that they are corrupt.* Is evident that they are corrupt.

• Does “it’ contribute to the semantics of this sentence? If not, why is it needed?

Pleonastic ‘there’

• Several vexing questions remain. There remain several vexing questions.

• There is a clean shirt right here. There is a clean shirt over there.

• * Remain several vexing questions.

Selectional restrictions

• Amy drank the { lemonade, #sandwich }Lukas drank a whole { quart, #piece }

• { Two hours, #the shift, #two liters, #Larry } elapsed without further incident.

• The { paramilitary, #bomb, #avalanche } murdered { her husband, #the olive tree, #her house }.

• The { paramilitary, bomb, avalanche } killed { her husband, the olive tree, #her house }.

Agree (1)

The children agreed to dance.

How many clauses does this sentence have?

agree (2)

• The childreni agreed [that theyi would get wet ] .

# The { horses, trees, rocks }i agreed [that theyi would get wet ] . 

• The childreni agreed [that theyi would speak Twi ] . # The childreni agreed [that theyi would { elapse, evaporate } ]

agree (3)

• The children agreed [*PRO* to get wet ] . # The { horses, trees, rocks } agreed [*PRO* to get wet] .

• The children agreed [*PRO* to speak Twi ] . # The children agreed [*PRO* to { elapse, evaporate } ] .

• The subject control verb and the lower verb impose separate selectional restrictions on their subject.

• Therefore two clauses

Representing subject control structure

The children agreed *PRO*-1 to get wet .

VP

VP

S

VPNP-1

S

TO

NP

VV

Properties of subject control

• *PRO* can’t be replaced with an overt NP

• *PRO* must be coreferential with the subject NP in the matrix clause

Arbitrary *PRO*

• [*PRO* to err] is human.

• [*PRO* to forgive] is divine.

Small *pro* in Chinese

建筑 是 *pro* 开发 浦东 的 一 项 主要 经济 活动 。construction be develop Pudong DE one CL main economic activity .“Construction is a main economic activity in developing Pudong.”

NPADJPQP

NPVV

VPNP

IP DEC

CP

NPVC

VPNP

S

Seem (1)

• The children seemed [ to dance ] .

• * There agreed to be a problem. ok There seemed to be a problem.

• The children agreed [ PRO to get wet ] . # The { horses, trees, rocks } agreed [ PRO to get wet ] .

• ok The children seemed to get wet. ok The { horses, trees, rocks } seemed to get wet.

Seem (2)

• Subject idiom chunks # The cat agreed [ PRO to be out of the bag ] . [The cat]i seems [ ti to be out of the bag ] .

• Weather it: # It agreed to be raining. It seems to to be raining.

Seem does not impose selectional restrictions

Seem (3)

• It seems that he is happy.• *That he is happy seems.

“Seem” does not take an argument at its subject position.

Representing raising

The children seems *-1 to dance .

VB

VP

NP-1

SVBP

VPNP-1

S

TO

VP

Representing raising

There seems to be a problem .

NPVB

VP

VBP

VPNP

S

TO

VP

Properties of raising verbs

• Do not impose selectional restrictions on its subject. Selectional restrictions on its subject imposed by the lower verb

• Are not associated with a thematic role

Persuade vs expect

We persuaded the children to dance.

• We expected there to be a problem.• # We persuaded there to be a problem.

• We expected it to rain.• #We persuaded it to rain.

• We expect the cat to be out of the bag.• #We persuaded the cat to be out of the bag.

Representing object-control

We persuaded the children *PRO* to dance .

VPNP

SNPVBD

NP VP

S

Exercise

• Is “tend” a control verb or raising verb?• What about “promise”?

tend

• There tend to be huge traffic jams during rush hour.

• It tends to rain at night.• The cat tends to be out of the bag.(?)

promise

• Control The { children, #horses } promised [ to eat their

oatmeal ] . The { children, #horses } promised [ that they would

eat their oatmeal ] . The children softly promised [ to eat their oatmeal ] . The children obediently promised [ to eat their

oatmeal ] .

• Raising This filly promises to win the race. All available evidence indicated that this filly will win the

race. There promises to be a new version by spring.

Homework

• Treebank the following sentences Criminal charges are not filed in shootings that authorities

determine to be accidental. Two Republican governors on Monday questioned a Bush

administration decision allowing an Arab-owned company to operate six major U. S. ports, saying they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states.