Argument Structure Alternations Research Articles

Argument structure hierarchies and alternations in causative and double object constructions

Many varieties of Arabic display a causative construction that adds a causer to the argument structure of the underlying verb. When this verb is transitive, the causative derivative is ditransitive. In the Arabic varieties, these ditransitive causative verbs display a double object alternation fully parallel to the alternation that change of possession verbs like give display. I claim that two current analyses of the double object alternation do not extend naturally to Arabic causative constructions. Rather, the parallels between causative and change of possession ditransitives in Arabic implicate an analysis of change of possession verbs in which the recipient argument (parallel to the external argument of the underlying verb in causative ditransitives) is base generated syntactically superordinate to the theme (parallel to the internal argument of the underlying verb in causative ditransitives). The unifying analysis I propose draws on certain elements of the ‘VP-shell’ analysis of Larson (1988) as well as the ‘neo-constructionist’ approach of Ramchand (2008; 2018) regarding the syntactic instantiation of argument structure. The Arabic variety I take as an exemplar of the Arabic causative construction is Syrian.

Experimental research on argument structure

The paper describes key areas in current experimental research on argument structure. We discuss the experiments that compare verb classes in order to test the argument structure complexity hypotheses and to highlight common argument structure features. Then we present research on argument structure alternations, carried out both on groups of various verbs and on single verb root appearing in various syntactic contexts. Finally, we examine the experiments that focus on the role of argument structure in incremental sentence production.

Generating hypotheses for alternations at low and intermediate levels of schematicity. The use of Memory-based Learning

Abstract According to usage-based linguistics, language variation addresses a functional need of the language user. That functional need may be dependent on the lexical realization of the varying constructions. For instance, while it may be useful to have an argument structure alternation express a particular semantic distinction for particular verbs or themes, that same distinction may be less relevant for other verbs or themes. As such, it has been argued that language variation should be investigated at low levels of schematicity, e.g. by studying argument structure alternations separately for various verbs, themes, etc. In this paper, we develop a data-driven procedure to do so, based on Memory-based Learning (MBL). The procedure focusses on generating hypotheses, is scalable, and can work with small datasets. It consists of three steps: (i) choosing features for the MBL classifier, (ii) running MBL analyses and selecting which analyses to put under further scrutiny, and (iii) inspecting which features were most useful in predicting the choice of variant in these analyses. Finally, the hypotheses that are inferred from these features are put to the test on separate data. As an example study, we investigate the Dutch naar-alternation.

Going Native? Yes, If Allowed by Cross-Linguistic Similarity.

Can native competence be achieved in a second language? Here, we focus on the Language Distance Hypothesis that claims that early and proficient bilinguals can achieve native competence for grammatical properties shared by their two languages, whereas unshared grammatical properties pose a challenge for native-like syntactic processing. We present a novel behavioral and Event-Related Potential (ERP) study where early and proficient bilinguals behave native-like in their second language when processing (a) argument structure alternations in intransitive sentences involving agent vs. patient subjects and (b) subject verb agreement, both of which are grammatical properties shared by their two languages of these bilinguals. Compared to native Basque bilinguals (L2Spanish) on the same tasks, non-natives elicited similar sentence processing measures: (a) in the acceptability task they reacted faster and more accurately to unaccusative sentences than to unergatives and to person than number violations: (b) they generated a larger P600 for agreement violations in unaccusative sentences than unergatives; (c) they generated larger negativity and positivity effects for person than for number violations. Previous studies on Basque-Spanish bilinguals find that early and proficient non-natives display effects distinct from natives in both languages when processing grammatical properties where Basque and Spanish diverge, such as argument alignment (ergative/nominative) or word order type (OV/VO), but they perform native-like for shared properties such as subject agreement and word meaning. We contend that language distance, that is, the degree of similarity of the languages of the bilingual is a crucial factor that deserves further and detailed attention to advance our understanding of when and how bilinguals can go native in a second language.

Argument Structure in Sign Languages

Although sign languages are crucial for research on the human linguistic capacity, argument structure in these languages is rarely addressed in theoretical and typological studies. This article provides an overview of existing research on argument structure and argument structure alternations in sign languages. It demonstrates that there are many fundamental similarities between the two modalities in the domain of argument structure, such as the basic valency patterns and the semantic basis of argument structure. At the same time, modality effects, such as iconicity, simultaneity, and the use of space, play an important role in argument structure realization. Finally, the article discusses how emerging sign languages present an opportunity to observe and study the emergence of argument structure.

Basic argument structure in Russian Sign Language

In this paper, basic verb classes and argument structure alternations in Russian Sign Language (RSL) are described, and the implications of these data for the theory of argument structure are discussed. The analysis is based on data elicited using a list of 80 verbal meanings from the Valency Classes in World’s Languages project (Hartmann, Haspelmath & Taylor 2013) and on data collected from the corpus of RSL (Burkova 2015). The study shows that RSL has lexical verbs with different sets of arguments (from zero up to three arguments), and a number of argument structure alternations, such as causative-inchoative, impersonal, reflexive, and reciprocal. It is found that argument structure of lexical verbs and argument structure alternations that apply to them in RSL are typologically common. This implies that the semantic basis of argument structure is independent of modality. In addition, RSL uses classifier predicates whose argument structure is determined by the type of the classifier and by the context. Although such predicates in other sign languages have been used to argue for a syntactic approach to argument structure, RSL classifier predicates do not provide a strong support for this approach.

On Georgian Preverbs

Abstract This paper describes the classification of the functions of preverbs in Georgian and the other Kartvelian languages as a contribution to the typology of this issue. Preverbs have different meanings and activities in different languages. The typological classification of the functions of preverbs reveals the four core functions: spatial, temporal, objective and lexical. This paper discusses verbal argument structure alternations encoded by preverbs. I argue that preverbs affect verbal valency changes and stimulate object role-shifting in Georgian verbs and other Kartvelian languages. I also argue that preverbs have a crucial role in object alternation across the languages.

Cutting and Breaking the Embodied Self

This paper analyzes the Cutting and Breaking (C&B) events affecting the tangible aspects of the personal domain, that is to say the body and its parts. The study of the embodied Self, as the affected theme of C&B events, provides a unique opportunity to contribute to the understanding of the conceptualization of the personal domain, as well as providing an additional distinction between cut-verbs and break-verbs. First, I propose to re-analyze three arguments of the C&B literature under the light of Talmy’s different levels of synthesis (2000). I propose that cut-verbs can be distinguished from break-verbs based on the level of synthesis of the affected theme they encode. I support this argument with a corpus-based analysis of a series of syntactic-semantic tests. Second, while English does not have morphosyntactic strategies to make a distinction between alienable and inalienable possessions, I argue that the participation of C&B events affecting the corporeal Self to specific argument structure alternations (causatives – reflexives – possessor raising) shows that the distinction is syntactically encoded in the English language. Third, I analyze a testimony of a FGC/FGM victim and demonstrate the sociocultural relevance of the distinction proposed in this paper.

Active, middle, and passive: the morpho-syntax of Voice

This paper is concerned with the variation found with respect to how languages morphologically mark argument structure (AS) alternations, a variation that I take to be related to the realization of the syntactic Voice head. The paper discusses the behavior of dispositional middles and reflexives in languages such as English as opposed to their Greek counterparts. I will pursue the hypothesis that there are three Voice related heads implicated in AS alternations across languages. Active Voice is involved in the structure of all transitive and unergative predicates across languages, which in English subsumes d. middles and reflexives. Passive Voice, which the paper will only briefly touch upon here, takes as an input a transitive structure and gives an English/German/Hebrew type passive. Middle Voice is the non-active counterpart of Kratzer’s active Voice and gives rise to reflexives, passives and dispositional middles in Greek type languages.

Survey of Chinese Historical Syntax Part I: Pre‐Archaic and Archaic Chinese

AbstractThis is the first of two articles presenting a brief overview of Chinese historical syntax from the Pre‐Archaic period to Middle Chinese. The phenomena under examination in the two papers are primarily aspects of pre‐medieval grammar which differ markedly from modern Chinese varieties, specifically fronting of object NPs to preverbal position, the asymmetry between subject and object relative clause formation, and the encoding of argument structure alternations like active and passive. I relate each of these characteristics to morphological distinctions on nouns, verbs, or pronouns, which are either overtly represented in the logographic writing system in Archaic Chinese or have been reconstructed for (Pre‐)Archaic Chinese. In the second part of this series, I discuss the changes in the Archaic Chinese grammatical features and correlate these innovations with the loss of the (Pre‐)Archaic Chinese morphology. The main goal of these articles is to highlight a common denominator, i.e. the morphology, which enables a systemic view of pre‐medieval Chinese and the changes which have resulted in the striking differences observed in Middle Chinese and beyond.

Survey of Chinese Historical Syntax Part II: Middle Chinese

AbstractThis is the second article in a two‐part introduction to Chinese historical syntax. The previous article introduces aspects of pre‐medieval grammar which differ markedly from modern Chinese varieties, specifically fronting of object NPs to preverbal position, the asymmetry between subject and object relative clause formation, and the encoding of argument structure alternations like active and passive. Each of these characteristics is related to morphological distinctions on nouns, verbs, or pronouns which are either overtly represented in the logographic writing system in Archaic Chinese or have been reconstructed for (Pre‐)Archaic Chinese. In this second article, I discuss changes which took place in Middle Chinese and correlate these innovations with the loss of the (Pre‐)Archaic Chinese morphology. The main goal of these articles is to highlight a common denominator, i.e. the morphology, which enables a systemic view of pre‐medieval Chinese and the changes which have resulted in the striking differences observed in Middle Chinese and beyond.

Verb disposition in argument structure alternations: a corpus study of the dative alternation in Dutch

Semantic accounts of verb pattern alternations often rely on observations about ‘verb disposition’: the preference of verbs with particular lexical semantic characteristics for one of two competing constructions is taken as a clue to the semantic differences between the two constructions. For instance, it has been observed with regard to the English dative alternation that verbs of refusal such as deny and refuse are perfectly acceptable in the ditransitive construction but much less so in the so-called prepositional dative construction with to (compare They refused the convict a last cigarette with ? They refused a last cigarette to the convict); and this contrast has been presented as evidence for the hypothesis that the prepositional dative highlights the actual movement of the theme toward the receiver (e.g. [Goldberg, A.E., 1992. The inherent semantics of argument structure: the case of the English ditransitive. Cognitive Linguistics 3, 37–74]). This paper discusses the merit of verb disposition as evidence for semantic hypotheses about alternating constructions and presents the results of a corpus-based study of verb disposition in the Dutch dative alternation. On the basis of [Gries, S., Stefanowitsch, A., 2004. Extending Collostructional Analysis: a corpus-based perspective on alternations. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 9, 97–129] method of ‘distinctive collexeme analysis’, the alternating verbs with a statistically significant preference for the Dutch ditransitive are separated from those with a statistically significant preference for the prepositional dative in a corpus of contemporary Dutch newspaper language. The results of this test provide the basis for a number of empirically valid generalizations about the semantic parameters driving the dative alternation.

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‘He cut-break the rope’: Encoding and categorizing cutting and breaking events in Mandarin

Mandarin categorizes cutting and breaking events on the basis of fine semantic distinctions in the causal action and the caused result. I demonstrate the semantics of Mandarin C&B verbs from the perspective of event encoding and categorization as well as argument structure alternations. Three semantically different types of predicates can be identified: verbs denoting the C&B action subevent, verbs encoding the C&B result subevent, and resultative verb compounds (RVC) that encode both the action and the result subevents. The first verb of an RVC is basically dyadic, whereas the second is monadic. RVCs as a whole are also basically dyadic, and do not undergo detransitivization.

The Syntax of Ditransitives: Evidence from Clitics (review)

Reviewed by: The syntax of ditransitives: Evidence from clitics by Elena Anagnostopoulou Marcel den Dikken The syntax of ditransitives: Evidence from cliticsBy Elena Anagnostopoulou. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003. Pp. xiv, 379. ISBN 3110170280. $114.40 (Hb). The syntax of ditransitives has long been a densely researched topic—an octopus whose tentacles have touched upon many a major issue in linguistic research, including the representation of argument structure, the syntax of argument-structure alternations, case theory, configurational structure and the binary branching hypothesis, A′-syntax and scope, c-command-based vs. linearity-based approaches to asymmetries, and locality. Elena Anagnostopoulou’s eminently detailed book contributes to this fertile field a study that focuses on the last-mentioned issue: the ways in which ditransitive constructions impinge on locality theory—particularly, the locality of A-movement. And by doing so, it defends a syntax of ditransitives in which double-object and prepositional ditransitives have radically different (and transformationally unrelated) structures, and, along the way, it elucidates the role of case theory in reining in the possibilities of A-movement by showing that case theory plays no major role here at all (thus lending support to Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) ‘demotion’ of case as a factor in triggering and constraining movement). Its results bear obliquely on the many questions surrounding the argument structure of triadic verbs; but by making the locality restrictions on A-movement its focal point, this study sheds much-needed light on major questions that have lingered in footnotes or disclaimers for much too long, issues on which the minimalist approach to syntactic derivation affords us a particularly clear window. A sets herself two major goals in her book: (i) ‘establishing that NP-movement can be used as an analytic tool for probing into the properties of ditransitives’, and (ii) showing that ‘cross-linguistic variation results from the interplay between the morpho-syntactic properties of double object constructions and the syntax of clitics’ (1). This second goal earns the book its subtitle, which, interestingly enough, is not reflected in the blurb text on the back cover. And indeed, evidence from clitics plays a central role only in the last two, relatively short, chapters of the book, with Ch. 4 making a detailed case for the idea that clitics obviate locality effects and Ch. 5 addressing person restrictions. Clitics figure prominently in the context of these person restrictions: in ditransitives with two weak pronominal or clitic objects, the direct object has to be third person. But one of the main contributions of Ch. 5 is precisely its demonstration of the fact that these restrictions by no means cluster specifically around clitics: in Icelandic constructions with a quirky dative subject, the nominative object agreeing with the finite verb has to be third person as well. Overwhelming in empirical detail, drawing directly and heavily on other scholars’ work, and often contenting itself with stipulations instead of explanations, Ch. 5 is a somewhat unfortunate finale. It is nonetheless an important piece of the puzzle because of its impact on the fine-tuning of the definition of locality and the cycle that the book needs. To explain how the indirect object restricts the person specifications of the direct object, A has the indirect object clitic raise to the v-head that checks the clitic’s ϕ-features first, followed by the direct object. On the assumption (supported by Icelandic quirky subject agreement but not derived from anything) that the indirect-object clitic checks person but not number on v, cliticization of the indirect object leaves v with a number feature to check against the direct-object clitic, which it can indeed check if the direct-object [End Page 980] clitic is third person (i.e. nonperson; Benveniste 1966) but not if it is first or second person: a first or second person direct-object clitic, possessing both number and person features, fails to match a v-head that only has a number feature left.1 For this analysis to work, we must make the minimal link condition (MLC) an integral part of the definition of Move/Attract: If we required that the derivation proceed strictly cyclically within phases (Chomsky 2001), the direct-object clitic...

Where did all the arguments go?: argument-changing properties of classifiers in asl

This paper presents an analysis of American Sign Language (ASL) classifiers from a syntactic and morphophonological point of view, and addresses issues related to (1) the ways that classifiers can participate in expressing argument structure alternations – in particular, the transitive–intransitive and the unergative-unaccusative alternations in a morpho-syntactic way; and (2) the ways that 'productivity' within classifier systems can be formalized morpho-phonemically. For ASL classifiers, we claim that there are two basic syntactic types those that are associated with the internal argument and those that are associated with an external agentive argument. We claim that classifiers project syntactically as (functional) heads and that they determine the status (as external or internal) of the argument that lands in their Spec. We identify a discrete agentive morpheme in ASL classifier constructions, on phonological and syntactic grounds, a morpheme which is responsible for the agentive readings in two types of classifiers. The phonological representation needed to express this morpheme expands the range of possibilities of templates used in prosodic morphology. This paper contributes to general linguistic theory in providing support for a (morpho-)syntactic analysis of argument structure alternations and in demonstrating how morphological templates can be used to account for the relation between morphological and phonological form in ASL classifiers.

Split intransitivy, linking, and lexical representation: the case of Yukatek Maya

Split-intransitive systems of argument marking provide an excellent opportunity to study the structure of the lexical-semantic representations that underlie argument structure alternations and argument linking rules. Yukatek Maya has a typologically rare split-intransitive pattern of argument marking controlled by overt aspect-mood marking. Kramer and Wunderlich (1999) have advanced an analysis according to which the linking of thematic relations to syntactic arguments is governed by lexical aspect as the sole lexical-semantic property linking principles are sensitive to in this language. Critical evidence against this proposal comes from the transitivity alternations of three classes of intransitive verbs: degree achievement verbs, non-internally-caused process verbs, and posture verbs. Transitivity alternations emerge as being governed by the distinction of internally-vs. externally-caused events. The Yukatek facts suggest that argument linking operates on a lexical information structure (event structure) that partially determines (and thus also underspecifies) both lexical aspect and participant structure.

Events as Grammatical Objects: The Converging Perspectives of Lexical Semantics and Syntax (review)

Reviewed by: Events as grammatical objects: The converging perspectives of lexical semantics and syntax ed. by Carol Tenny, James Pustejovsky Kleanthes K. Grohmann Events as grammatical objects: The converging perspectives of lexical semantics and syntax. Ed. by Carol Tenny and James Pustejovsky. (CSLI lecture notes 100.) Stanford: CSLI Publications, 2000. Pp. x, 510. $64.95. This volume grew out of a 1997 LSA Linguistic Institute workshop which, as envisioned by the organizers/editors, was intended to bring together research by lexical semanticists, logical semanticists, and syntacticians. The common theme of the gathering builds on the converging view in the field that ‘the grammars of natural languages structure and refer to events in particular ways’ (ix). The first of four thematically organized parts of the book, ‘Morphosemantic composition of event structure’, kicks off with the introductory chapter to this volume by the editors. In ‘A history of events in linguistic theory’ (3–37), Carol Tenny and James Pustejovsky offer a solid background and present a neat overview of the issues at hand, (intended to be) comprehensible enough even for nonspecialists. In ‘The quantization puzzle’ (39–96), Hana Filip supports the common assumption that Slavic perfective verb forms are semantically quantized but rejects an analysis of prefixes as perfectivity markers. ‘On lexical verb meaning: Evidence from Salish’ (97–142) by Henry Davis and Hamida Demirdache provides evidence supporting the view that languages may differ at the level of morphosyntax, but not lexical semantic structure, and discusses some consequences for a theory of the lexicon. ‘How phrase structure encodes events’ is the subject of the second part. In ‘Event structure in syntax’ (145–85), Lisa Travis argues for a syntactic side to the substructure of events in terms of an articulated VP-structure. In ‘Event structure and ergativity’ [End Page 671] (187–238), Elizabeth Ritter and Sarah Rosen also defend a syntactic view of event, though on a structurally higher level through an articulated agreement system. Angeliek van Hout, in ‘Event semantics in the lexicon-syntax interface: Verb frame alternations in Dutch and their acquisition’ (239–82), suggests that argument structure alternations are expressions of different event structures, offers a fitting syntactic theory, and provides some thoughts on the acquisition. Part 3 is entitled ‘Event structure and the syntax and semantics of adverbs’. In ‘Core events and adverbial modification’ (285–334), Carol Tenny investigates theoretical and empirical aspects of adverbs that allow further study of the syntax-semantics interface. In ‘Manners and events’ (335–58), Thomas Ernst also considers adverbs. He proposes an analysis of adverbial manner modification in an event-based framework. June Wickboldt, in ‘Some effects of manner adverbials on meaning’ (359–74), points out temporal vs. causal relations, structural diagnostics for these, telicity, and the role of contrastive stress. The final part, ‘On event and state arguments’, contains five papers. Alice ter Meulen looks at ‘How to tell events apart’ and, by concentrating on the subtitle, ‘Light verbs, SE-reflexives and Dutch verbal morphology’ (377–91), addresses how arguments of a verbal predicate affect temporal coreference. Graham Katz, a proponent of ‘Anti Neo-Davidsonianism’, argues ‘Against a Davidsonian semantics for state sentences’ (393–416) with underlying states in the logical form. Liina Pylkkänen, in ‘On stativity and causation’ (417–44), providing evidence from Finnish, argues that stativity is compatible with causative semantics. In ‘Events and the semantics of opposition’ (445–82), James Pustejovsky motivates a richer notion of event structure (based on data that mostly involve contradictions of change), namely ‘event persistence structure’. Barbara Partee concludes the volume with ‘Some remarks on linguistic uses of the notion of “Event”’ (483–95). While it is a shame to read about the caliber of those workshop attendants who couldn’t contribute their papers, the collection here is of very high quality, making the book a wonderful companion on the syntax and semantics of events and beyond. Kleanthes K. Grohmann University of Cologne Copyright © 2003 Linguistic Society of America