Download Event modifying adjectives in Portuguese

Event modifying adjectives in Portuguese♦
Sara MENDES
Group for the Computation of Lexical Grammatical Knowledge
University of Lisbon – Center of Linguistics
Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, 2
1649-003 Lisboa - Portugal
[email protected]
Abstract1
Adjectives, perhaps more than any other partof-speech, show a non trivial semantic
behaviour, namely in what concerns sense
change depending on the linguistic context. In
this paper we analyse the behaviour of event
modifying adjectives which can be understood
as matrix adverbs in some particular linguistic
contexts. We provide a description of the data,
identifying the restrictions of occurrence of
this alternation. In a second moment we
propose an analysis which provides an
explanation for the data. Our proposal
accounts for the role nouns have in the
structuring of the event and on event
modification.
1 Introduction
Adjectives, perhaps more than any other part-ofspeech, show a non trivial semantic behaviour,
namely in what concerns sense change depending
on the linguistic context. Bouillon (1998) analyses
this issue in the Generative Lexicon framework,
using qualia structures to derive several different
uses. Nonetheless, her work focuses on particular
cases, namely the behaviour of «vieux» (old) in
French. Adjective sense change is also analysed by
Amaro (2002), who describes the connection
between sense change and the relative position of
adjectives and nouns in Portuguese. This analysis
focuses on a particular group of Portuguese
adjectives which show important sense changes
when they occur in prenominal position. However,
in comparison to the large amount of work devoted
to verbs and nouns, adjectives have been somewhat
neglected in traditional lexical semantics, and large
scale research on adjective behaviour still rests to
be done.
Appearing in different positions in the sentence,
as a modifier of the noun or as a complement of a
copular verb, adjectives, more than any other part♦
This research was supported by Fundação para a
Ciência e a Tecnologia (grant SFRH/BD/8524/2002).
of-speech, can take different meanings depending
on their linguistic context.
In this paper we focus on the behaviour of a
particular group of adjectives. These are event
modifying adjectives which can be understood as
matrix adverbs in the mentioned linguistic
contexts. Our approach accounts for these data via
event modification and the association of some
nouns to events.
In section 2 and 3 we present some of the crucial
data and introduce some of the theoretical
assumptions we use to explain the data discussed,
namely the role of events in lexical semantics, in
general and in the Generative Lexicon framework
in particular, as well as the way we will understand
adverbial modification in this paper. Section 4
analyses the restrictions shown by the data and
accounts for it. A representation of the crucial
examples is provided, formalising our analysis.
Section 5 presents our final remarks.
2 Event modifying adjectives
First noted by Bolinger (1967) and later
discussed by Larson (1999), the data we are
concerned with in this paper regard adjectives
occurring inside a nominal phrase which seem to
be understood as if they were a matrix adverbial.
In this paper we will discuss this kind of
alternations, taking as starting point some of
Larson’s (1999) examples, presented in (1), but
mainly focusing on Portuguese data.
(1) a. Barbara saw an occasional sailor.
b. ‘Barbara saw a person who occasionally
sailed.
(internal Adv reading)
c. ‘Occasionally, Barbara saw a sailor.’
(external Adv reading)
Larson states that the existence of an external
adverbial reading constitutes a puzzle for
compositional semantics and refers a movement
analysis in which the adjective requires an article
as an ‘escape-hatch’ out of DP and cannot move
over an intervening adjective. However accounting
for certain constraints on the availability of the
external reading, this analysis appears nonetheless
dubious: it offers no account for the reason why an
element interpreted outside DP is projected whithin
it initially, nor explains the adjective non
participation in the semantic composition of the
DP. In fact, if the adjective does not participate in
the semantic composition of DP, what does it do
there in the first place? Besides this, there are also
some empirical difficulties regarding an alternation
in definiteness which are left unexplained by this
analysis (see (2)-(3), taken from Larson (1999)).
(2) a. The occasional customer strolled by.
b. = Occasionally, a customer strolled by.
c. ≠ Occasionally, the customer strolled by.
(3) a. Max saw the occasional customer.
b. = Occasionally, Max saw a customer.
c. ≠ Occasionally, Max saw the customer.
Larson also comments that the behaviour we
have been referring to is confined to adjectives of
infrequency. If adjectives were simply raising out
of DP, then a difference in frequency versus
infrequency would not to be expected. English
examples will not be discussed here, but as we will
show further down, Portuguese adjectives behave
quite differently in this kind of contexts.
(4) a. Passou um cliente ocasional do bar.
‘An occasional customer of the pub strolled
by.’
b. = Passou uma pessoa que ocasionalmente é
cliente do bar.
‘A person who is occasionally a customer of
the pub strolled by.’
c. ≠ Ocasionalmente passou um cliente do bar.
‘Occasionally a customer of the pub strolled
by.’
(6) a.Ele é um cliente habitual do bar.
‘He is a usual customer of the pub.’
b. = Habitualmente ele é cliente do bar.
‘Usually he is a customer of the pub.’
What seems to be at stake is the adjective
association to events. In fact, the kind of
alternation discussed here is restricted to event
modifying adjectives. Therefore, it is only natural
that an alternation between adjectives and adverbs
is possible. Our approach to account for these data
regards noun association to events and event
modification.
The role of events in verbal semantics is
generally acknowledged in linguistic research.
Pustejovsky (1991) evaluates the role of events
within a theory of lexical semantics, proposing a
configurational model of event structure.
Incorporated in the Generative Lexicon
framework, an event structure provides a useful
level of representation for linguistic analysis.
As argued in Pustejovsky (1991), finer-grained
distinctions than sorts of events are necessary in
order to capture different phenomena such as
aspect and Aktionsarten.
Thus, events are
described in terms of their subeventual structures,
an option which has significant theoretical
consequences, making available, within the
Generative Lexicon framework, an event semantics
defined not only by sorts but also by the internal
configurational properties of the event2.
But, since we are dealing with event modifying
adjectives, what is crucial for the sake of our
discussion is the possibility of associating events to
the semantics of nominals3. But not all nouns seem
to be associated to events as the following
examples seem to indicate.
2
(5) a.Ele é um cliente ocasional do bar.
‘He is an occasional customer of the pub.’
b. = Ocasionalmente ele é cliente daquela loja.
‘Occasionally he is a customer of the pub.’
Differently from what is observed by Larson,
even if (4)a, b and c are possible Portuguese
sentences, they do not have the same semantic
content. Nonetheless, (5)a and b show the
alternation discussed by Larson and presented in
(1). The examples above seem to indicate further
restrictions regarding these phenomena than those
observed by this author, which we will analyse in
more detail in section 4. Furthermore, in
Portuguese, this kind of alternation is not restricted
to infrequency adjectives, as shown in (6).
Since each event potentially has a complex internal
structure, the theory needs to represent the relation
between an event and its proper subevents. This relation
is represented as a tuple, <E, ≤,<,°,⊆,*>, where E is the
set of events, ≤ is a partial order of part-of, < is a strict
partial order, º is overlap, ⊆ is inclusion and *
designates the head of an event.
3
It is important to notice that not all nouns discussed
in this paper are event denoting, and therefore
associated to an event structure, being semantically very
close to verbs. The main difference between event
descriptions in NPs and those at the sentence level, as
pointed out by Pustejovsky, is that event descriptions at
the sentence level are anchored by tense (Pustejovsky
leaves the door open to also considering aspect as an
anchoring relation) within an interval structure. Tense is
then viewed as a functional property applying to event
descriptions in a way that is similar to a quantifier.
(7) *Este veículo é um carro habitual da Maria.
‘This vehicle is a usual car of Maria.’
(8) a. Este rapaz é um colaborador habitual da
Maria.
‘This boy is a usual collaborator of Maria.’
b. = Este rapaz colabora habitualmente com a
Maria.
‘This boy usually collaborates with Maria.’
(9) a. Este veículo é o carro habitual da Maria.
‘This vehicle is Maria’s usual car.’
b. = Este veículo é o carro que a Maria conduz
habitualmente.
‘This vehicle is the car Maria usually drives.’
(10)a. Este rapaz é o colaborador habitual da
Maria.
‘This boy is Maria’s usual col laborator.’
b. = Este é o rapaz que colabora habitualmente
com a Maria.
‘This is the boy that usually collaborates with
Maria.’
Focusing at first on (7) and (8), we notice a clear
grammaticality contrast between these two
sentences. However, they have exactly the same
syntactic structure, the only difference being the
head noun modified by the adjective habitual
(usual). Let us now look at (9) and (10). These are
identical to (7) and (8) in every aspect, the
exception being the determiner introducing the
noun phrase modified by habitual (usual).
However, (7) is ungrammatical but (10) is
perfectly acceptable. The explanation for the
acceptability of (10)4 seems to be the availability
of an event to be modified by habitual (usual). In
fact (7), differently from (8), (9) and (10), is the
only sentence which does not have an adverbial
reading (cf. (8)b, (9)b and (10)b). This fact seems
to indicate the absence of an event associated to
the noun carro (car), which might be modifiable
by an adverb, the same not being true for
colaborador (collaborator). This idea gains more
strength as we look at the examples presented
further down, which show that the event which
4
The fact that both the noun phrases in 9 and 10 are
definite descriptions, and not in 7 and 8, seems to
somehow make an event available to be modified by
habitual (usual), making 10 acceptable, by contrast with
8. We will not develop the issue of definiteness in this
paper, nor why it has an impact on making an event
available to the adjective, as it is out of the scope of this
work. What is indeed crucial for the sake of our analysis
is the fact that the acceptability of 9, 10 and 11 seems to
depend on an event being made available to the
adjective.
makes (9) acceptable, is context-dependant, i.e. it
is not associated to the noun carro (car) but can be
retrieved from the context. As for colaborador
(collaborator), it is always associated with the
same event: colaborar (collaborate).
(11)a. A Maria alugou o carro habitual.
‘Maria rented the usual car.’
b. = A Maria alugou o carro que habitualmente
aluga.
‘Maria rented the car she usually rents.’
(12)a. A Maria cumprimentou o colaborador
habitual.
‘Maria greeted the usual collaborator.’
b. = A Maria cumprimentou a pessoa que
colabora habitualmente com ela.
‘Maria greeted the person that usually
collaborates with her.’
As we were saying, there is a contrast between
the nouns colaborador (collaborator) and carro
(car) in what concerns their association to events.
Based on (7)-(10), we formulated the hypothesis of
colaborador (collaborator) always being associated
to an event, the same not being true for carro (car),
a noun which can only be modified by adjectives
such as habitual (usual) when an event can be
retrieved from the context. The contextdependency of the event modified by habitual
(usual) in (9) becomes clearer as we look at (11)
and (12). In fact, all the sentences in which
colaborador (collaborator) occurs have an
adverbial reading where the adverb always
modifies the same verb: colaborar (to collaborate).
When carro (car) is the noun at stake, the verb
modified by the adverb in the paraphrase - when an
adverbial reading is possible - depends on the
context, varying from sentence to sentence
(conduzir (to drive) in (9) and alugar (to rent) in
(11)).
These examples show the event modifying
nature of the adjectives we analyse in this paper.
As noted above, these adjectives are closely related
to adverbs, modifying the manner of occurence of
an event over time.
3 Adverbial modification
Davidson (1967) analyses adverbs as event
predicates and introduces event quantification at
the verb phrase level in connection with adverbial
modification, as shown in (13) (taken from
Pustejovsky (1991:68)).
(13) Mary fatally slipped.
∃e[slipped(e,m) ∧ fatal(e,m)]
In Pustejovsky’s (1991:68) words, «a n event
structure provides a natural representation for
adverbs as event predicates». In fact, event
structures in the Generative Lexicon framework
allow for richer structural possibilities for adverbs
as event predicates: sentences can have as many
interpretations for an adverbial as there are distinct
predicates in the event structure. The two usually
available readings for adverbs – manner versus
speaker-oriented – result, in this framework, from
the different scopes they can take.
T
P [rude(P)]
S
4 Restrictions on the alternation with verb
adverbial modification
As mentioned in the first section of this paper,
Larson observes the following restrictions on the
kind of alternations considered here: they only
occur with infrequency adjectives; they are subject
to some definiteness constraints and they must cooccur with an article.
In §2 we have shown that the infrequency
restriction does not hold for Portuguese. But, as it
becomes clear in the following examples, there are
other aspects in which the observations made by
Larson (1999) do not hold for Portuguese data.
Let us take (14) and (15), which remind us of the
examples with which we began our discussion of
Larson’s analysis of event modifying adjectives.
However we will now focus on other restrictions
shown by these examples.
(14) a. Passam clientes habituais desta loja.
[act(x) & ¬departed(x)]
‘Usual customers of this store stroll by.’
b. = Passam pessoas que habitualmente
compram nesta loja.
‘People who usally buy at this store stroll by.’
c. ≠ Habitualmente passam clientes desta loja.
‘Customers of this store usually stroll by.’
[departed(x)]
T[rude(T)]
P
S
(15) a. Este senhor é cliente habitual desta loja.
[act(x) & ¬departed(x)]
[departed(x)]
Fig. 1 Lexical conceptual structures of the two
possible readings of "Lisa rudely departed"
(taken from Pustejovsky (1991:69-70))
Fig. 1, above, schematically represents the two
possible readings of Lisa rudely departed. In the
first structure, the adverb takes scope over the
process of leaving, resulting on a manner
interpretation. In the second, the adverb takes
scope over the entire event, thus being interpreted
relatively to the speaker and situation.
Thus, the ambiguity of adverbials can be derived
from a scope difference of the same lexical item,
the possibility of having multiple readings
depending on the event structure of the modified
event5.
Let us now go back to the discussion of the data.
5
‘This gentleman is a usual customer of this
store.’
b. = Habitualmente este senhor é cliente desta
loja, i.e. habitualmente este senhor compra
nesta loja.
‘Usually this gentleman is a client of this
store’ i.e. ‘usually this gentleman buys at this
store.’
Pustejovsky (1991) also mentions idiosyncratic
aspects of adverbs influencing the possibility of
multiple readings. We will not discuss these aspects as
they are over the scope of this paper.
These examples seem to indicate that the event
modifying adjective can only have scope over the
matrix verb when a single event is denoted by the
whole sentence.
Fig. 2 represents (14)6. Looking at the structure
presented in this figure the presence of two distinct
events becomes clear: e1, associated to the verb
passar (to stroll), and e2, associated to the telic
quale of the noun cliente (customer). Since in (14)
the event modifying adjective habitual (usual)
applies to the noun cliente (customer), it naturally
6
In the representations proposed in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3,
the modifiers are not yet included. As we are discussing
the kind of structures which show the alternation under
analysis, focusing on the number of modifiable events
in each sentence, we opted for not representing
adjectives at this stage for the sake of simplicity. We
believe in this way our analysis presentation becomes
clearer.
takes scope over e1, the buying-event, associated to
it. Since the main verb passar (to stroll) denotes a
different event, e2, it is only natural that the
adverbial reading in (14)c is not equivalent to
(14)a.
S
V
Passam
NP
clientes desta loja
stroll_by



=
x
:
ind
ARG1


ARGSTR =




D - ARG = y : location  


EVENTSTR = [E1 = e1 : activity ]

customer

 ARGSTR = [ARG1 = x : human ]



QUALIA = [TELIC = buy(e 2 , x, w, z )]
Fig. 2 Representation of sentence (15), "Passam clientes habituais desta loja"
without representing the modifier habitual
Moving on to (15), in this case the main verb is
the verb ser (to be). Semantically empty, we will
assume here that this verb only carries information
regarding tense and aspect. In Fig. 3, we adopt
Pustejovsky's treatmentof tense as an anchoring
function over event descriptions. Below we present
the tense function as proposed by Pustejovsky
(1995:§8.4). The anchoring relation anch embeds
an event within an interval structure. Thus, for the
sake of simplicity, in Fig. 3 we associate this
relation to é (is), showing no event is denoted by
this verb.
[[Tnsα]] = λε∃i∃e[α(i,n) ∧ anch(i,e) ∧ ε(e)]
In (15), only one event is denoted by the
sentence because no event is denoted by é (is).
Therefore, only the event introduced by the noun
cliente (customer), e1 in the telic role of the qualia
structure of this lexical item, is available to be
modified by habitual (usual).
S
NP
Este senhor
VP
é cliente desta loja
V
é
gentleman
ARGSTR = [ ARG1 = x:human]
QUALIA = [CONST = male(x)]
anch(i,e1)
NP
cliente desta loja
customer
ARGSTR = [ ARG1 = x:human]
QUALIA = [ TELIC = buy(e1,x,y,z)]
Fig. 3 Representation of sentence (15), "Este senhor é cliente habitual desta loja"
without representing the modifier habitual
(16) also supports this idea of making the
possibility of an adverbial reading of the event
modifying adjective over the main verb depend on
the number of events denoted in the sentence. It is
nonetheless a slightly different case also showing
this alternation.
(16) a.O soldado disparou tiros esporádicos.
'The soldier shot sporadic shots.'
b. = Esporadicamente o soldado disparou tiros.
'Sporadically the soldiershot shots.'
Keeping in mind the restriction stated above, that
only when a single event is denoted by the whole
sentence can the alternation under analysis be
observed, let us take the representations below.
Looking at Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, it becomes clear that
(15) and (16) exemplify two different cases
allowing the alternation we are discussing in this
paper.
Once again in (16) only one event is denoted, but
this time not because the matrix verb is
semantically empty as it was the case in the
previous example. As we can see in Fig. 3, in (16)
the event denoted by the verb disparou (shot) and
the event associated to the noun tiros (shots) is the
same, e1 in the agentive role of tiros (shots) qualia
structure and in the eventstr of disparou (shot).
The event denoted by the verb and the event
introduced by the noun being the same, it is quite
natural that sentences (16)a and (16)b, the first
with an event modifying adjective and the second
with a matrix adverb, be semantically equivalents.
(17) a.O soldado condenou os tiros esporádicos.
'The soldier condemned the sporadic shots.'
b. ≠ Esporadicamente o soldado condenou os
tiros.
'Sporadically the soldier condemned the shots.'
c. = O soldado condenou que se dispare
esporadicamente.
'The soldier conde
mned that one shoots
sporadically.'
S
NP
O soldado
VP
disparou tiros
V
disparou
soldier

 ARGSTR = [ARG1 = x : human ]


 QUALIA = [CONST = male(x) ] 
NP
tiros
shoot



=
ARG1
x
:
human


ARGSTR =

ARG2 = y : ind






EVENTSTR = [E1 = e1 : process ] 
shot

 ARGSTR = [ARG1 = y : ind ]



QUALIA = [AGENTIVE = shoot(e1 , x, y )]
Fig. 4 - Representation of sentence (16), "O soldado disparou tiros esporádicos"
without representing the modifier esporádicos
Assuming an analysis such as the one proposed
here, the non equivalence of (17)a and (17)b is
predicted. Looking at the example represented in
Fig. 4, differentely from what happened in (16),
there are two distinct events, e1 introduced by the
agentive role of tiros (shots), just as in the previous
example, and e2 denoted by the eventstr of
condenou (condemned). Being so, the non
equivalence of two sentences such as (17)a, where
the event introduced by the noun tiros (shots), e1,
is modified by the adjective esporádicos
(sporadic), and (17)b, where the event denoted by
the verb condenou (condemned), e2, is modified by
the adverbial counterpart of esporádicos
(sporadic), esporadicamente (sporadically), is only
to be expected, exactly in the same way as the
equivalence between (14)a and (14)c is ruled out.
S
NP
O soldado
soldier

 ARGSTR = [ARG1 = x : human ]


 QUALIA = [CONST = male (x )] 
VP
condenou os tiros
V
condenou
NP
os tiros
condemn



 ARGSTR = ARG1 = x : human  



ARG2 = y : ind



 EVENTSTR = [E1 = e 2 : state ] 
shot

 ARGSTR = [ARG1 = y : ind ]



QUALIA = [AGENTIVE = shoot(e 1 , z, y )]
Fig. 5 - Representation of sentence (17), "O soldado condenou os tiros esporádicos"
without representing the modifier esporádicos
Nonetheless, in some particular cases, it is
possible to have two different events in one
sentence and still observe the event modifying –
matrix adverb alternation. Let us look at (18) .
(18) a.O soldado ouviu tiros esporádicos.
'The soldier heard sporadic sho
ts.'
b. = Esporadicamente o soldado ouviu tiros.
'Sporadically the soldier heard shots.'
c. =O soldado ouviu disparar esporadicamente.
'The soldier heard sporadically shooting.'
It is clear in these examples that two different
events are introduced by these sentences: the
shooting event, introduced by the noun tiros
(shots) just as in the previous examples, and the
hearing event, denoted by the verb ouviu (heard).
Being so, it was to be expected that the alternation
between the event modifying adjective and the
adverb would not be semantically equivalent. But
this is not the case, as (18) shows.
We believe the equivalence between (18)a and
(18)b holds because the event denoted by the verb
is somewhat implicated in the event introduced by
the noun. In fact, as we have seen in previous
examples, the noun tiros (shots) introduces a
shooting event. Well this shooting event produces
noise as it takes place, being therefore hearable.
(18) is therefore yet another particular case of the
alternation event modifying adjective – matrix
adverb. In this case we do have two different
events, which blocked the equivalence between
(17)a and (17)b, as shown above. The crucial
difference is that in (18) the two events present in
the sentence are dependent, as one only takes place
because of the other. This seems to be enough to
guarantee the semantic equivalence between the
adjectival and adverbial couterparts.
As shown bellow, (18) is not an exceptional or
isolated case. In fact, perceptive verbs seem to
enter quite easily in this kind of alternation.
(19) a.As crianças viram clarões repetidos.
'The children saw repeated lightnings.'
b. =Repetidamente as crianças viram clarões.
'Repeatedly the children saw lightnings.'
(20) a. As pessoas sentiram abalos frequentes.
'The people felt frequent earthquakes.'
b. = Frequentemente as pessoas sentiram
abalos.
'Frequently people felt earthquakes.'
5 Final Remarks
In this paper we have carried out an analysis of
event modifying adjectives which can be
interpreted as adverbs. We have managed to
identify the restrictions on the semantic
equivalence of the alternations between event
modifying adjectives and adverbs in Portuguese.
Our approach evidences the role of events
associated to the lexical items at stake, providing a
unified treatment of both event modifying
adjectives and adverbs.
The results presented here appear in the context
of ongoing research on the syntax and semantics of
adjectives in Portuguese. In the future, we will
enlarge the analysis to other classes of adjectives,
exploring the expressiveness of the Generative
Lexicon framework.
6 Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Palmira Marrafa and Raquel
Amaro for all their reviews and insightful
comments.
References
[1] Amaro, R. (2002) Posição do Adjectivo e
Ligação Selectiva: Especificações para a
computação do Significado, Ms. dissertation
presented to the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
[2] Bolinger, D. (1967) "Adjectives in English:
Attribution and Predication", Lingua, 18, 1-34.
[3] Bouillon, P. (1998) Polymorphie et Sémantique
Lexicale: le cas des adjectifs, Presse du
Septentrion, Lille, France.
[4] Davidson, D. (1967) “The Logical Form of
Action Sentences”, in N. Rescher (ed.) The Logic
of Decision and Action, University of Pittsburgh
Press, Pittsburgh, 81-120.
[5] Larson, R. K. (1999) Semantics of Adjectival
Modification, Lectures presented at the Dutch
National Graduate School (LOT), Amsterdam,
Netherlands.
[6] Pustejovsky, J. (1991) “The Syntax of Event
Structure”. Cognition, 41, 47-81.
[7] Pustejovsky, J. (1995) The Generative Lexicon,
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.