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Verbconstructions cross-linguistically - Introduction

Revision as of 23:00, 6 June 2008 by Lars Hellan (Talk | contribs)

Presented here is an initiative for constructing an environment enabling the enumeration of verb constructions cross-linguistically. The aims are:

  • For each language, that the enumeration be complete and transparent;
  • Across languages, that the enumerations be comparable.

The environment includes a labeling system which, for any verb construction of a given language, provides a template for that construction type displaying its argument structure and other properties, in a fashion as transparent as possible. The template is constructed from a universally established inventory of labeling primitives. The initiative has started with, on the one hand, a rather extensive inventory of Verb Constructions in Norwegian (based on the TROLL 1989 work, NorKompLeks 1996, and Norsource 2007), and on the other, a comparative survey of closely related languages of the Volta Basin Area (supported by The Legon-Trondheim project on Ghanaian languages). Thus both scenarios mentioned above are being instantiated.

The characterization of a construction type relates to at least the following parameters, when applicable:

  • diathesis/argument operations (such as passive, causativisation, applicative formation),
  • syntactic valency,
  • semantic participants,
  • particular patterns of agreement, including coreference patterns (such as 'equi' and 'raising' patterns, argument sharing, secondary predication), tense/aspect agreement, and subject and object marking,
  • 'full' vs 'expletive' elements. NOT included is modification and syntactic processes not particular to the formation or modification of argument structure.

The basic structural parts of a Template are referred to as slots. In the slot specification, the following conventions are observed:

  • Slots are interconnected by '-' (hyphen).
  • Distinct items inside a slot are interconnected by '_' (underline).
  • An item label containing neither ‘-‘ nor ‘_’ is an uninterrupted string of letters. If it acts as a complex label, the internal composition is indicated by alternation between small and capital letters (however, no labels are distinguished in terms of CAP vs. not).

Constructions with a Verb as head have a Template structure with maximum five slots:

  • Slot 1: POS of the head, and diathesis information (e.g.: 'V_pas' for passive diathesis; 'V' alone if the construction is active).
  • Slot 2: Valency: transitivity specification - intr, tr, ditr, ... (see list below) (if the construction is passive, the valence given is that of its corresponding active form).
  • Slot 3: Dependent Specification: comments on syntactic and referential properties of specific arguments – see list below.
  • Slot 4: Participant Roles.
  • Slot 5: Situation Type: a label for the situation type expressed by the construction, written in CAPS

Slots 1 and 2 are obligatorily filled, the others not. A slot not specified is not displayed; however, the labels defined for the various slots are distinct, hence no specification can be misread with regard to which slot it fits into. Likewise, no labels are distinguished in terms of CAP vs. not.

The following template exemplifies the notation (with an English example sentence):

(1) v-tr-ag_affincrem-COMPLETED_MONODEVMNT

the boy eats the cake

The template reads as:

  • Slot 1: The head is V;
  • Slot 2: the syntactic frame is transitive;
  • Slot 4: the thematic roles expressed are 'agent' and 'incrementally affected';
  • Slot 5: the situation type is (partially characterized as) 'completed monotonic development'.

Nothing here occupies Slot 3. (Since neither 'ag_affincrem' nor 'COMPLETED_MONODEVMNT' is a defined slot 3-specification, there is no ambiguity as to which slot is here empty.)

The following template has specification for the first three slots (from Norwegian, with gloss and translation):

(2) v-trScpr-scObNrgCse_scAdj

han sang rommet tomt
“he sang the room empty”
han
han
heSBJ3PSGNOM
PN
sang
sang
singPAST
Vitr
rommet
romet
roomOBJDEFSGNEUT
CN
tomt
tomt
emptySCSGNEUT
ADJ

This template reads as:

  • Slot 1: The head is V;
  • Slot 2: the syntactic frame is transitive with a secondary ('small clause') predicate;
  • Slot 3: the secondary predicate is predicated of the object, which is a 'non-argument', i.e., does not have a semantic argument relation to the verb, and expresses the result of a causation; moreover, the secondary predicate is headed by an adjective.

If a construction has a verbal complement, or is a series of verbs, where there is reason to comment on each verbal domain, the construction is entered as a sequence of two (or more) v-constructions, where each has the argument frame instantiated by the verb in question. The v-constructions are separated by double hyphen. After the first slot, which indicates the kind of construction, there is a slot with information on how constituents from the different v-constructions interrelate. The following is an example of a Serial Verb Construction in Akan, where 'sv' indicates this type:


3) sv-objIDsu_aspID--v-tr-ag_ejct--v-tr-th_endpt-CONTACTEJECTION


This template reads as:

  • Slot 1: The construction is an SVC;
  • Slot 2: The object of the first clause is (referentially) identical to the subject of the second clause, and aspect (PST) is identical across the clauses;
  • Slot 3: The v-constructions: the first v-construction has a transitive verb, and its participant roles are 'agent and ejected'; the second v-construction also has a transitive verb, with the participant roles 'theme' and 'endpoint' (notice that in each of these frames, there is no slot 3-specification, but both have slot 4-specification);
  • Slot 4: The whole construction expresses the situation-type 'CONTACTEJECTION', that is, 'ejection with the ejected obtaining contact with an expressed entity'.


v-intrImpers

SIT-TYPE: PHENOM det regner

det regner
“it rains ”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
regner
regner
rainPRES
Vitr


v-intrImpersPrtcl ROLE: SIT-TYPE: PHENOM_TELIC det klarner opp

'it clears up'
det klarner opp
“it clears up”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
klarner
klarner
clearPRES
Vitr
opp
opp
up
PRT


v-intrImpersObl ROLE: locObl SIT-TYPE: SEMELFACTIVE det kvekker i Ola

'it startles in Ola'
det kvekker i Ola
“Ola startles”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
kvekker
kvekker
startlePRES
Vitr
i
i
inOBLLOC
PREP
Ola
ola
ola
Np


det sprekker i glasset

'it cracks in the glass'
det sprekker i glasset
“the glass breaks apart”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
sprekker
sprekker
crackPRES
Vitr
i
i
inOBLLOC
PREP
glasset
glasset
glassNEUTSGDEF
CN

ROLE: locObl SIT-TYPE: ACTIVITY det synger i fjellene

'it sings in the mountains'
det synger i fjellene
“it sings in the mountains”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
synger
synger
singPRES
Vitr
i
i
inOBLLOC
PREP
fjellene
fjellene
mountainDEFPL
CN


v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: agmover SIT-TYPE: MOTION det springer en mann

'there runs a man'
#det springer en mann
“there is a man running”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
springer
springer
runPRES
Vitr
en
en
aINDEFSGCOMM
DET
mann
mann
man
CN


v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: agmover SIT-TYPE: ENDPNTMOTION det springer en mann hit

'there runs a man to here'
det springer en mann hit
“there is a man running to here”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
springer
springer
runPRES
Vitr
en
en
aINDEFSGCOMM
DET
mann
mann
man
CN
hit
hit
hereENDPNT
ADV


v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: thmover SIT-TYPE: MOTION det ruller en ball

'there rolls a ball'
#det ruller en ball
“there is a ball rolling”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
ruller
ruller
rollPRES
Vitr
en
en
aINDEFSGCOMM
DET
ball
ball
ball
CN


v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: thmover SIT-TYPE: ENDPNTMOTION det ruller en ball hit

'there rolls a ball to here'
det ruller en ball hit
“a ball is rolling here”
det
det
SBJEXPLET
PN
ruller
ruller
rollPRES
Vitr
en
en
INDEFSGMASC
DET
ball
ball
ball
N
hit
hit
to-hereENDPNT
ADV


v-intrPresentationalLoc ROLE: ag_locObl SIT-TYPE: POSTURE_LOC det sitter en mann i stolen

'there sits a man in the chair'
det sitter en mann i stolen
“there is a man sitting in the chair”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
sitter
sitter
sitPRES
Vitr
en
en
aINDEFSGCOMM
DET
mann
mann
man
CN
i
i
inOBLLOC
PREP
stolen
stolen
chairDEFSGCOMM
CN

det sitter en mann her

'there sits a man here'
det sitter en mann her
“there is a man sitting here”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
sitter
sitter
sitPRES
Vitr
en
en
aINDEFSGCOMM
DET
mann
mann
man
CN
her
her
hereOBLLOC
ADVm


v-trPresentational ROLE: ben_th SIT-TYPE: PENDINGSTATE det venter ham en ulykke

'there awaits him an accident'
det venter ham en ulykke
“there awaits him an accident”
det
det
SBJEXPLET
PN
venter
venter
awaitPRES
Vtr
ham
ham
SGMASCOBJind
PN
en
en
INDEFSGMASCOBJ
DET
ulykke
ulykke
accident
N

det tilkommer ham hundre kroner

'there "to-come" him a hundred kroner' - "he is supposed to get 100 kroner"
det tilkommer ham hundre kroner
“he can claim a hundred kroner”
det
det
itSBJEXPLET
PN
tilkommer
tilkomer
to-comePRES
Vtr
ham
ham
himMASCSG
PN
hundre
hundre
hundred
CARD
kroner
kroner
kronerINDEFPL
CN