Download 408-6 Basic categories


Word classes
N, V, A, P, etc.

Phrase types
NP, VP, AP, PP, etc.

Phrase functions
Grammatical roles:
Semantic roles:
Pragmatic roles:
Subject, Object, Adjunct, etc.
Agent, Instrument, Locative, etc.
Topic, Comment, Focus

Each class has semantic, morphological, and
syntactic characteristics.
e.g., Adjectives in English
Semantics:
Qualities (deep, tall, beautiful)
Morphology: Comparative forms (deeper, taller)
Syntax:
Prenominal modifiers (deep ideas, tall tales),
predicate adjectives (She is tall.)

Semantics by itself is insufficient.
assassination
nonsense words: The slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
S
VP
PP
NP
N
Jill
NP
V
cut
NP
D N
P
D N
N
the cake with a steak knife.
Jill
cut
the cake with a steak knife.
Grammatical roles: Subject Verb Object
Adjunct/Oblique
Semantic roles:
Agent
Verb Patient
Instrument
Pragmatic roles:
Topic
C o m m e
Focus
n t

Information flow:
Old (shared) information → New information
Topic
Comment
(1) Bill
(2) In China,

Focus:
ate all the cookies.
I always feel lost.
Newest, most salient information
(3) Bill ate all the cookies.
(4) Bill ate all the cookies.
(5) Bill ate all the cookies.
(6) It was Bill who ate all the cookies.
(7) What did Bill eat?
[English default: Final focus]
[Shift focus by intonation]
[Cleft for focus]
[WH as focus]

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify topic and comment in the following
sentences:
On Tuesday, Mike is planning to get a puppy.
At CSUF, we have a great linguistics program.
My neighbor Bob is a retired cop.
The old chef accidentally peeled the potatoes with
this cheese knife.
The potatoes were accidentally peeled with this
cheese knife.
With this cheese knife, the old chef accidentally
peeled the potatoes.

Semantic Roles
aka “Case Roles” (Fillmore 1968)
aka “Thematic Roles” (Gruber 1965)
aka θ-Roles
(1) Jill
A

peeled the potatoes for her friend with scissors in the kitchen last night.
V
P
BEN
INST
LOC
Some common θ-Roles:
Agent:
- carries out the action.
- subject of basic sentence.
Patient:
- most drastically affected by the action.
- object of basic sentence.
TEMP
Instrument:
Comitative:
Locative:
Temporal:
Benefactive:
Recipient:
Source:
- used by agent for carrying out the action.
- with a knife
- a participant who accompanies another.
- Mary went to the store with Bill.
- where the action takes place.
- in Brea, on the roof, at the ballpark, under the sea, here
- when the action takes place.
- in two hours, on Friday, at 3 o’clock, this Monday, now
- participant who benefits from the action.
- for Steve
- participant who receives s.th.
- Indirect Object or to PP in basic sentence.
- Bill gave Mary the book.
- point of origin.
- I got this book from Sue.
Path:
- a trajectory of movement.
- They went via the new toll road.
Directional: - a group of roles indicating direction of movement.
- Maggie ran into / towards the building.
Experiencer: - a participant who experiences (rather than actively
performs) the action.
- Subject in basic sentence.
- Jones could feel the bugs crawling all over his skin.
Cause:
- a participant who causes the action.
[Question: Is Agent a proper subset of Cause?]
- Subject in basic / "causative" sentence.
- The storm made the mud slide down the hill.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify the semantic role of each participant in the
following sentences:
On Tuesday, Mike is planning a party.
At CSUF, we play outstanding baseball.
My neighbor Bob saw the whole thing.
The old chef accidentally peeled the potatoes with
this cheese knife.
The potatoes were accidentally peeled with this
cheese knife.
With this cheese knife, the old chef accidentally
peeled the potatoes.

Core roles with copular verbs :
(1) My cousin is the best sumo wrestler.
Subject

Complement
Non-core roles: Adjuncts (= Obliques)
(2) My cousin is the best sumo wrestler in Honduras.
(3) My cousin is the best sumo wrestler right now.
(4) My cousin is working in Honduras right now.
A1: LOC
A2: TEMP
(5) My cousin trains pet spiders in Honduras right now.

Subject and object:
(1) Stacy broke
S

V
your Ming vase.
O
Types of objects:
(2) Mike gave Miriam
the book.
Indirect Object

Direct Object
Case marking:
(3) Jeongdal-i
ai-eykey
onohak-ul
kaluchi-ess-ta.
Jeongdal-NOM child-DAT linguistics-ACC teach-PAST-DECL
‘Jeongdal taught a child linguistics.’





Nominative case:
Accusative case:
Dative case:
Genitive case:
Oblique cases:
Subject, Subject complement
Direct object
Indirect object
Possessive
Adjuncts
Latin:
(1) August-us
indīgn-ōs
senāt-ū
mōvit.
Augustus-NOM unworthies-ACC senate-ABL moved
‘Augustus removed the unworthy from the senate.’

In a nominative-accusative language, subject of an
intransitive V & subject of a transitive V are marked the
same, while the object is marked differently:
(1)
(2)
(3)

I bathed.
I killed him.
He killed me.
English
In an ergative language, subject of an intransitive V & object
of a transitive V are marked the same, while the subject of a
transitive V is marked differently:
(4)
(5)
(6)
Há: mí:pal sá:ka.
I
him
killed
‘I killed him.’
Xá:sulà
wí ko:khóya.
rattlesnake me killed
‘A rattlesnake killed me.’
Wí xá:qákki.
‘I got sick.’
Eastern Pomo



Nominative-accusative languages tend to have
the familiar GRs subject, (direct) object, etc.
whereas
Ergative languages may have different GRs
(absolutive vs. ergative)
Other possibilities exist, including that a
language may operate completely without
distinct GRs.



Topics as an additional grammatical role, either in
addition to or instead of a subject.
Topic may be marked by a case marker and/or by
word order.
Japanese
Nihon
wa
Tokyo ga
sumi-yoi.
Japan
TOP
Tokyo NOM
easy-to:live:in
‘As for Japan, Tokyo is easy to live in.’

No “switch-topic” force,
unlike English as for… or speaking of…
⇒ Cannot be adequately glossed in English.

Chinese
Neì-chang huǒ xìngkui
xīaofang-duì laí
de
kuài.
that-CL
fire fortunately fire-brigade come PCL quick
‘That fire, fortunately the fire brigade came quickly.’

American Sign Language (ASL)
(1)
Me
graduate college.
(2)
(3)
College
Graduate college
me graduate.
me.
1. Structural Syntax:
shows which words form a common meaning.
Word order:
Kim
1
drank
2
the
3
Phrase structure:
Kim
drank
[the tea]
2. Functional Syntax
tea
4
her
6
car.
7
[in her car].
shows what’s new & who is doing what to whom.
Kim
drank
the tea
Semantic roles:
Agent Action
Patient
Pragmatic roles:
Topic C o m m e
Grammatical relations: Subject Verb
Object
3. Structural Rearrangement
Passive:
in
5
in her car.
n
Locative
t (includes Focus)
Oblique
expresses different sentence functions
The tea was drunk by Kim
Patient Action
Agent
Topic C o m m e
Subject Verb
Oblique
in her car.
n
Locative
t (includes Focus)
Oblique