1 LIN 1310B Introduction to Linguistics Prof: Nikolay Slavkov TA: Qinghua Tang CLASS 23, March 30, 2007

2 FINAL Exam Schedule LIN1310 B INTRO LING I: WORDS UTTERANCES Prof: Slavkov, Nikolay Thursday 14: :00 Technology & Engineering SITE Room: H0104

3 Today Announcements and Reminders: -Continue reading chapter 6 (read at least up to p.195) Today’s Lecture: -Continue Semantics

4 Review from last time fuzzy concepts, graded membership, metaphor lexicalization and conflation patterns of motion verbs. grammaticization

5 Hidatsa Evidentials p. 188, table 6.13

6 Syntax and Sentence Interpretation So far we’ve discussed mostly the meaning of individual words and phrases. But how do we analyse the meaning of a sentence? The positioning of words and phrases in syntactic structure contributes to the meaning of the entire sentence. The Principle of Compositionality The meaning of a sentence is determined by the meaning of its component parts and the manner in which they are arranged in syntactic structure => So, syntax plays a role in the interpretation of sentences. We’ll see how in the following slides.

7 Constructional Meaning Under the constructionist approach structural patterns themselves are capable of carrying meaning above and beyond their component parts. E.g. the caused- motion construction (see next slide)

8 Consider the following: Seymour pushed the truck off the table. Mabel moved the car into the garage. Perry pulled the dog into the swimming pool. What is the structural pattern in these data? NP V NP PP Can we describe the meaning of this structural pattern? X causes Y to go somewhere So what???

9 The caused-motion construction Form/Structure: NP V NP PP Meaning:X causes Y to go somewhere.  under a constructionist approach, we would expect that the structure NP V NP PP somehow carries the meaning “X causes Y to go somewhere”  let’s see if this is true.

10 The caused-motion construction Form/Structure: NP V NP PP Meaning:X causes Y to go somewhere. -Let’s test our hypothesis with the following verbs: sneeze, laugh, squeeze. What are some typical meanings of these verbs? 1.When I have a cold I sneeze. 2.I laughed a lot when I heard the joke. 3.I squeezed a lemon to make a salad dressing. Do these verbs express caused-motion??? No.

11 The caused-motion construction Form/Structure: NP V NP PP Meaning: X causes Y to go somewhere. -So we conclude that verbs like sneeze, laugh, squeeze DO NOT typically express caused motion. -Now let’s plug these verbs into the structure of the caused-motion construction and come up with some examples. 1.John sneezed the handkerchief right across the room. 2.The judges laughed the poor guy right out of the room. 3.Morley squeezed the shirt into the suitcase. Even though we determined that these verbs do not typically express caused motion, now they do. That is, when we put them in the structure of the cause-motion construction, the caused-motion meaning is somehow “forced” out of them. Thus, we have evidence that the structure itself imposes the meaning, which is what a constructionist approach would predict.

12 The Ditransitive Construction Another example that can be used for evidence for a constructionist approach is the so called ditransitive construction. Consider the following: 1.Ivan sent Maria a letter 2.The company gave the workers their cheques. 3.Billy threw Marvin the ball What is the structural pattern of the ditransitive construction? NP V NP NP What is the meaning of the ditransitive construction? ‘X causes Y to have Z’

13 The Ditransitive Construction Form/Structure: NP V NP NP Meaning: ‘X causes Y to have Z’ Consider the verb bake. Does bake itself mean ‘cause to have’??? No. Now let’s plug in bake in the structure of the ditransitive construction and see if it will have a ‘cause to have’ meaning: John baked Jill a cake => ‘John caused Jill to have a cake” Therefore, once again, the structure seems to ‘construct’ the meaning. I.e. we have evidence for a constructionist approach.

14 Lexical vs. Structural Ambiguity We already spoke about sentences like: Mary bought a pen. Let’s draw a tree.  This sentence is an illustration of lexical ambiguity because the lexical item pen is the source of the ambiguity, not the structure of the sentence.

15 Lexical vs. Structural Ambiguity However, consider another sentence: She wrote reports on poverty in Argentina. Let’s draw a tree. =>This sentence is an illustration of structural ambiguity. What are its two interpretations? A. The reports on poverty are written in Argentina (the writer is in Argentina and the poverty may be elsewhere) B. The reports are on poverty in Argentina (the poverty is in Argentina but the writer may be elsewhere) There is no particular lexical item that creates the ambiguity, therefore this is not lexical ambiguity. This ambiguity is created by the way you attach the PP ‘in Argentina’ in the syntactic structure. If the PP ‘in Argentina’ is attached to the verb ‘write’, then it would mean that the ‘writing’ took place in Argentina. If the PP ‘in Argentina’ is attached to the NP ‘poverty’, then it would mean that the ‘poverty’ is in Argentina.

16 Lexical vs. Structural Ambiguity Consider the following: wealthy men and women 1. only the men are wealthy 2. both the men and women are wealthy

17 p. 190 fig 6.4

18 Lexical vs. Structural Ambiguity Consider the following: Nicole saw people with binoculars =>1. She used binoculars to see the people. =>2. She didn’t use binoculars; the people had binoculars.

19 p. 191

20 Thematic roles Another aspect of semantic interpretation is the role of the referents of NPs in the sentence. We’ve already discussed briefly some thematic roles such as agent and patient: e.g. John hit Mary. But there are quite a few more roles.

21 Thematic roles Some common thematic/theta roles (θ-roles): Agent - the entity that performs an action Causer – the entity that causes an action (could be involuntary) Patient - the entity (usu. human) that ‘suffers’ from the action Theme – the entity undergoing an action or a movement Goal – the end point for a movement Source – the starting point for a movement Location – the place where an action occurs

22 Thematic roles Identify the thematic roles in the following sentences: John petted the dog. The chef cooked the food in the kitchen. I sent the letter to my mother/ to China. The books were carried from Ottawa to Toronto by the volunteers The wind opened the window.

23 How are theta roles assigned? Can they be contained inherently in the NPs themselves? No, because an NP can be an agent, a patient, a source, etc. Can they be assigned by syntactic positions? Not necessarily. Subjects are often agents. But in passives, the subject is not the agent. So syntax itself does not assign the theta-roles

24 How are theta roles assigned? It is commonly assumed that theta-roles are assigned by certain words that require/allow a particular theta-role to appear with it. For example, the preposition at assigns a location role to an NP. The preposition from assigns a source role, etc. So we are assuming that theta roles are contained in lexical items. I.e the lexicon has the information that at assigns a location to an NP, from assigns a source to an NP, etc. This information contained in the lexicon is called a thematic grid or theta-grid.

25 Some words and their theta grids at from to walk purchase

26 Theta role assignment p

27 Theta role assignment p

28 Theta role assignment p

29 Theta role assignment Does theta-role assignment apply at deep structure or at surface structure? To answer this we would have to look at a sentence where the operation move applies. If the theta role is assigned before movement, then it happens at deep structure. If theta role is assigned after movement, then it happens at surface structure. Look at the next slide:

30 p. 195