Download - English Syntax Workbook - Domnica Serban 2007

DOMNICA ERBAN RALUCA HATGAN DENISA DRGUIN

ENGLISH SYNTAX

WORKBOOK

Fourth Edition Revised and Updated

Universitatea SPIRU HARET

2

Editura Fundaiei Romnia de Mine, 2007 Editur acreditat de Ministerul Educaiei i Cercetrii prin Consiliul Naional al Cercetrii tiinifice din nvmntul Superior

Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naionale a Romniei ERBAN, DOMNICA

English syntax workbook / Domnica erban, Raluca Hagan, Denisa Drguin. Ed. a 4-a. Bucureti, Editura Fundaiei Romnia de Mine, 2007

ISBN 978-973-725-830-4

I. Hagan, Raluca II. Drguin, Denisa

811.111'367(075.8)

Reproducerea integral sau fragmentar, prin orice form i prin orice mijloace tehnice, este strict interzis i se pedepsete conform legii.

Rspunderea pentru coninutul i originalitatea textului revin exclusiv

autorului/autorilor


3

UNIVERSITATEA SPIRU HARET FACULTATEA DE LIMBI I LITERATURI STRINE

DOMNICA ERBAN RALUCA HATGAN DENISA DRGUIN

ENGLISH SYNTAX

WORKBOOK

Fourth Edition Revised and Updated

EDITURA FUNDAIEI ROMNIA DE MINE Bucureti, 2007


4


5

CONTENTS

Foreword 9 Acknowledgements . 10

SECTION I

Contemporary English Course in a Nutshell: The Syntax of the Simple Sentence.. 11

Introduction. 11 Objectives of the English Syntax Course 11

I. Theoretical Preliminaries.. 12

II. Defining Grammars. 14

A. Survey of G approaches. 14 B. Generative Transformational Grammar (GTG). 16 C. The Constituent Structure of the Sentence. Phrase Structure Rules and Phrase Markers. The Lexicon

17 D. Subcategorization Rules and the Lexicon. 18 E. The Transformational Subcomponent... 20

III. Further Refinement of Gs: The Government and Binding (GB) Model...

21

IV. The Sentence (IP). Properties and Types.. 27

V. Predication. Structural and Logico-semantic Tasks.. 33


6

VI. Intransitives.. 35

VI. 1. The Copulative Predication Type. 35 VI. 2. Non-copulative Intransitives.... 40

VII. Transitive Predications...... 43

Syntactically Simple Transitives [- NP].. 44 Syntactically Complex Transitives.. 47

VIII. Dative Configurations.. 47

IX. Passive and Passivization.... 54

SECTION II

Basic Linguistic Concepts. 58

Grammar.. 62 Constituent Structure... 64 Transformations.. 66 Representations of Syntactic Structures.. 67 Syntactic and Lexical Categories.... 72 Alternative Theories and Representations (X-Bar Convention). 74 Thematic Relations.. 77

SECTION III

Inventory of Theoretical Concepts.. 81

SECTION IV

Applications 87

Sentence Structure. 87

Copulative Predication.. 93

Be-predications.. 93 Copula-Like Verbs 96 Predicatives 99


7

Intransitive Predication: Simple and Complex. 101

Transitive Predication... 106

Monotransitive Configurations.. 106 Lexically Complex Transitives.. 108 Reflexive and Reciprocal Transitives 109 DO and MAKE-Multiple Regime Transitives... 111 Ergative Verbs... 113 Causative Verbs. 114 Recategorization. 116

Ditransitives: Dative Configurations... 118

Passive Configurations.. 123

Syntactic Functions 134

The Subject Function ... 134 The Direct Object Function 138 The Indirect Object Function. 140 The Prepositional Object Function 142 The Adjunct Function 144

Syntactic Analysis................................................................. 149

Tests in English Syntax. 152

Bibliography. 163


8


9

Foreword This workbook is meant to provide theory and practice in the

domain of English syntax, where our students are confronted with abstract grammatical concepts and principles. Therefore, this material should be taken as a means to consolidate the theoretical aspects taught in the respective course of lectures, to deepen and refine the students knowledge of the frame the course is based on. The workbook supplies numerous applications of the syntactic issues that have a concrete realization in everyday language. Some of the exercises reinforce the basic structures and syntactic mechanisms the student has to handle at intermediate and advanced levels.

This twofold conception of the material is properly reflected in its complex internal organization. Thus, the first section consists of Contemporary English Course in a Nutshell: The Syntax of the Simple Sentence. Section II includes a package of exercises focused on the theoretical aspects discussed in section I. The course and the accompanying workbook address the second year students, as well as all the undergraduates who intend to prepare for the graduation exam. An even wider readership results if we integrate the postgraduates who study for entering the MA programmes organised in the Romanian academic context, or for obtaining further degrees in teaching English.

In Section III we have included an inventory of definitions and brief statements clarifying theoretical notions and offering clues to the student who wants to solve the set of exercises in Section IV. The latter concentrates on the syntax of the Simple Sentence, supplying applications in particular areas like the typology of predications realized by verb subcategories, the domains of dative and passive constructions in English, the range of syntactic functions a.s.o. The exercises are varied enough and the corpus selected by the authors best illustrates the English used by our contemporaries. Thus part of this corpus is made up of language samples selected from recent British newspapers and magazines. The final sections supply exam materials consisting of syntactic analyses and tests.

We hope that this workbook will equip the student with all the necessary tools for a successful assimilation of syntactic notions with direct applications in present-day English grammar.

DOMNICA ERBAN


10

Acknowledgements We are indebted to the following assistant lecturers who have

contributed with small sets of exercises to some of the chapters in our workbook:

Mdlina Crivoi Oana Ionescu Ana Maria Ivnescu Irina Vasilescu We hereby express our gratefulness to our colleagues above,

hoping that they will continue to cooperate fruitfully for the production of further language materials addressing our students.


11

SECTION I

CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH COURSE IN A NUTSHELL: THE SYNTAX OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

2ND YEAR, 1ST TERM

Author: Reader dr. Domnica erban Introduction The course supplies the description of categories and functions

at the syntactic level. After introducing essentials of the theoretical frame in the preliminary lectures, we focus on the syntactic categories sentence and phrase, whose properties and possible representations are discussed in terms of the Standard Generative-Transformational Grammar, as well as the Government and Binding Model. The second part of the course is a detailed account of verb subcategorization that provides a thorough picture of the syntactic behaviour and logico-semantic features of intransitives and transitives in the Lexicon of English.

The course addresses the 2nd year students whom we recommend to refresh their knowledge of basic linguistic concepts having as a main source the Lingvistic General course covered in the 1st year. Besides they are required to study particular sections from Concepts of Modern Grammar by Alexandra Cornilescu (see Bibliography). For the central and final parts the students have to go through English Syntax, volume I, by Domnica erban.

Objectives of the English Syntax Course The course aims at making the students familiar with the

conceptual apparatus relevant for the description and explanation of categories, relations and functions at the syntactic level. The theoretical frame will enable our students to better grasp the constituent structure of English Sentences and Phrases, helping them to correctly identify constituents and functions in English syntax. The central lectures will make them aware of the typology of predications in English, which represents the basis for the adequate sentence construction and use in daily contexts.


12

I. Theoretical Preliminaries Basic linguistic concepts relevant to the study of Syntax We supply below a selection of basic linguistic concepts that

belong to linguistic theory (LT), being indispensable for the students comprehension of English syntax issues. Part of these notions have already been acquired by our students, therefore they only need refreshment:

1.Linguistic levels (including the basic units at each level, their

formal and semantic properties, their dependency relations, their functional status). The components of linguistics which are concerned with the description of each level and corresponding unit will be specified for each level. Out of these the student has covered so far Phonetics and Phonology (1st year, 1st term) and Derivational and Inflectional Morphology (1st year, 1st and 2nd terms, respectively).

i. The phonological level: The student is required to revise the

definition of the phoneme and the allophone, distinctive features etc., as well as the brief outline of the Object of Phonology;

ii. The morphological level: The student should revise the

definition of the morpheme, its classification into free and bound, into inflectional and derivational, the relationship between the morpheme and the word, the object of Morphology and its subdivision into Inflectional Morphology (dealing with the grammatical categories pertaining to the parts of speech) and Derivational Morphology (classical Lexicology Word Formation);

iii. The syntactic level is concerned with the description of the

units Phrase and Sentence as constructions or groups of constituents round a head/nucleus and with the internal phrase structure of Noun Phrases (NPs), Verb Phrases (VPs), Prepositional Phrases (PPs), Adjectival Phrases (APs), Adverbial Phrases (AvPs);

iv. The logico-semantic level deals with logical propositions,

logical predicate and arguments, argument structures, thematic roles; semantic features and semantic fields.


13

Between the four levels there are strong correlations. The ones that interest us most in syntax occur between the syntactic level and the logico-semantic one.

2. Categories

i. syntactic categories are terms referring to groups/clusters such as the phrase and the sentence (S), hence Grammars that take as primes phrasal constituents are considered to be categorial (e.g. GT and GB Grammars);

ii. lexical categories coincide with the classes of lexical items

(words), such as Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs which are meaningful;

iii. functional categories refer to the items whose role is

mainly grammatical, like Inflection, Determiners and Degree Adverbs;

iv. grammatical categories pertain to the word classes/parts-

of-speech, e.g. the verbal categories of Mood, Tense, Aspect, the nominal categories of Person, Number, Gender, the category of Comparison with Adjectives and Adverbs.

Notice that the categories above form a hierarchy, with syntactic categories on top.

3. Syntactic relations regard the inter-relations between the

constituents of phrases and sentences, including the relations of predication, government, modification, determination, quantification.

4. Syntactic functions are discharged by constituents, being

determined by their position/distribution in phrases/sentences; they are marked by inflections or prepositions, or both, depending on the language type. The main functions are universal: Subject, Predicate, Direct Object, Indirect Object, Prepositional Object, Noun Modifier (the classical Attribute), Adverbial Modifier.

Notice that functions, like categories, also form a hierarchy.


14

II. Defining Grammars The definition of Grammar (G) depends on the goals, frame and

addressee of each G approach. We can distinguish between theoretical Gs, based on models, and pedagogical Gs set up for teaching/learning goals. Another criterion is the nature of the grammarians ultimate goal, which can be either a) prescriptive (of norms) or b) descriptive of speakers internalised, tacit knowledge of language, currently labelled as Competence. The former characterizes pedagogical grammars that teach Standard Language norms and usage, the latter holds good for theoretical Gs, which are tentative descriptions of the grammatical competence we all possess as a mental store.

Data Coverage: irrespective of the presence or absence of a theoretical frame, Gs cover the data pertaining to morphology and syntax, hence the classical format and its rearrangement in the organization of GT and GB. In modern grammar frames the syntactic component is central.

A. Survey of G approaches i. Traditional G is pre-theoretical (based on no model),

prescriptive, notionally biased, atomistic (focusing on L particulars, exceptions included); it defines its concepts (e.g. the parts of speech) in terms of extra-linguistic entities, rather than linguistic properties;

ii. Stages of Structural G: a) Early structuralism or Classical Analytical Structuralism

(CAS), resorted to analytical procedures such as Immediate Constituent Analysis; its main goals were the identification and classification of formal units; CAS only described one level of syntactic structure, the surface linear string, paying no attention to its correlative meaning interpretation.

Failures of CAS: 1. to analyse/describe syntactic homonymy /ambiguity: one

surface string has at least two semantic interpretations, e.g. Walking patients can be dangerous;

2. to analyse/describe syntactic synonymy: several distinct surface strings are underlain by one semantic interpretation, e.g. The boss turned down the offer. / He turned the offer down. / The offer was


AndreeaEvideniere

15

turned down.; 3. to analyse discontinuous constituents, e.g. Whom did you talk

to? (discontinuity of questioned Indirect Object); 4. to analyse missing constituents, e.g. Stop complaining!

(missing you Subject in Imperative Ss); 5. to analyse non-binary structures, e.g. Tristram, Brian and

Andrew were quarrelling about trifles.(Compound Subject).

b) Late structuralism or Synthetic Structuralism was best represented by the Standard GT Model (based on Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, launched by Noam Chomsky in 1965). It is a model of Competence, postulating two levels of syntactic structure: Deep Structure and Surface Structure. The student should try to reconsider the Ss above, which illustrate the 4 failures, and see how the problems of S constituency and meaning appear from the perspective of Deep and Surface Structure.

The concept of Grammar has been revisited in the last three decades. Here is a tentative definition suggested by Noam Chomsky in his Lectures on Government and Binding (1982): Grammar is an account of the way representations of form associate with representations of meaning. While classical Gs were biased for meaning-based definitions and, on the other hand, early structuralists manifested a strong neglect of semantic aspects, in the above-mentioned definition form and meaning appear to be closely correlated, so that logical and semantic elements come to be integrated into Syntax.

The Standard model postulates two levels of syntactic structure: Deep Structure and Surface Structure.

Deep Structure (DS) is a phrase structure representation of the basic, underlying syntactic configuration which is interpreted semantically by rules of the semantic component.

Surface Structure (SS) is the linear concatenation of lexical items and grammatical formatives which, after processing by phonological rules, is ready to be performed (SS is produced by transformations).

Transformations are meaning-preserving structural operations (deletion, movement, insertion, substitution). They are relations holding between phrase markers, therefore, they are relations between intermediate descriptions of sentences.

For instance, the sentence The pavilion has been redecorated by Brian. represents the surface structure of a passive S, which is


16

underlain by the simpler active string Brian has redecorated the pavilion. The latter is, therefore, considered the deep structure of the former. It has been obtained by a transformation called Passivisation which consists of movement and insertion operations (the deep Subject has moved in final S position becoming a Prepositional Object of Agent; the deep Object has moved to the Subject position; auxiliary BE and the past participle marker en have been attached to the predicate). Despite the rearrangement of S constituents the meaning is roughly the same. Both Ss refer to the same activity (redecorate) performed by an Agent (Brian) and undergone by a Patient (the pavilion). The Object of Agent becomes an optional constituent, an Adjunct, which can be deleted under certain conditions, in the context of discourse.

B. Generative Transformational Grammar (GTG)

GTG is a model of Competence, of our internalised grammar.

It describes the definite set of rules by means of which an infinite number of grammatical sentences are generated and possibly transformed. Like any other model, GTG is a hypothetical construct, an approximate description which can be further improved and completed.

The system of rules for S generation and transformation, representing our abstract knowledge of language, enables us to produce grammatical, well-formed Ss. The property of grammaticality or well-formedness is gradable. We can establish degrees of grammaticality, depending on how serious the violation of rules for S generation has been. For instance: *Bob sits up often late (with the Av often misplaced) is more grammatical than: **Bob sits often late up (where the two Avs are placed in between the V and its Particle). This is in turn more grammatical than *** Sit often up late Bob, which violates several rules of word order, as well as the rule for Agreement.

The Organisation of GTG The Grammar is made up of three components: The Syntactic Component occupies the central position. It

includes two sub-components: a. The Base: RULES (e.g. Phrase Structure /PS Rules) and the

LEXICON;


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

17

b. The Transformational Subcomponent The Semantic Component is made up of rules of semantic

reading/interpretation that assign meaning to syntactic structures at the Deep Structure level;

The Semantic Component is made up of rules of semantic reading/interpretation that assign meaning to syntactic structures at the Deep Structure level;

The Phonological Component is made up of rules of phonological interpretation meant to assign sound representations to the Surface Structure.

Rule The Semantic

Component Base

The Syntactic DS Component Lexicon

The Transformational Subcomponent SS

C. The Constituent Structure of the Sentence. Phrase Structure Rules and Phrase Markers. The Lexicon

The Sentence (S) used to be analysed within the Standard

version as an exocentric construction (a phrase without a head, i.e. neither the Subject NP nor the Predicate VP is the head of S). Here is a representation of the S as a binary construction, in which the node S immediately dominates the lower constituents NP and VP. We notice that there is a hierarchy of constituents, starting with S as top unit, going through several layers of immediate constituents up to the final (bottom) linear string wherein lexical items have been inserted. Such graphic representations of the hierarchy of S constituents are called Phrase Markers (PMs).

ThePhonological Component


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

18

The sentence The students should revise my lectures is represented below by the following PM which reflects its inner constituency:

S NP VP Det N AUX MV Art T M V NP [+def] [+N] [+V]

[+common] [+__ NP] Det N [+human] [-state] [+N]

[-sg] Poss [+common] [+abstract] [-sg]

The students -ed shall revise my lectures The surface string The students should revise my lectures results

from the application of the Phrase Structure (PS) rules for S generation, rules that analyse syntactic categories (S, P) in terms of lexical categories (N, V etc.) up to the final stage, when lexical items are inserted from the Lexicon in the appropriate slots. Here are some examples of PS Rules:

SNPVP; NPDetN; VPAUXMV;

AUXTenseModAspect; MVVNP D. Subcategorization Rules and the Lexicon The Base also includes rules which secure the division/partition

of the lexical categories into smaller subcategories that share a set of features. Thus, by applying these rules we can group together countable Ns versus uncountable ones, or transitive Verbs versus


19

intransitive ones. The features that determine this subdivision can be of two kinds:

1. inherent (e.g. [+/-animate], [+/-human] etc. for Nouns, [+/-state] for Verbs); they are of semantic nature and have grammatical relevance; they are context-free features;

2. non-inherent, contextual (context-sensitive/bound); in their turn they result from the application of two types of rules:

a. Strict subcategorization specifies the context in which the

lexical category occurs; the subcategorization frame (indicated by a pair of square brackets) includes the categorial feature of the lexical item we describe, followed by the syntactic categories selected as neighbours to the left or to the right, the dash shows the position of the item we refer to, as in the examples below:

Nouns: [+N, + Det__ ], valid for Ns in NPs like that guy the street my friends ( Art) steel ( Art) trees Verbs: [+ V, + __ NP, to/for NP], valid for dative Verbs like: to hand (roses to a girl) to send (a letter to ones mother) to buy (a dictionary for James) to cook (a pizza for the guests)

The frame for Nouns indicates the left-hand specifier position

(usually occupied by Determiners), the frame for Verbs (in this case transitives) indicates the right-hand complement position where we find sister constituents like simple or clausal NPs functioning as Direct Objects, e.g. John met Helen or John thought that Helen was single.

Other subcategorial features for Vs can be specified by the following frames: [ __ # ] for intransitives like bark, chirp, sleep etc.; [ __ PP] for intransitives with obligatory Prepositional Object like look after, consist in, team with, rely on etc.; [ __ NP] for transitives with one Direct Object (monotransitives) like read, make, break, cut, hit etc.; [ __ NP,PP] for transitives with a DO and a PO


20

like blame smb. for smth., remind smb. of smth. etc.. The predicate selects the syntactic categories it allows as sisters, so we can also label this as c-selection. The Subject NP is selected by the whole VP (the Predicate Phrase). The frames only specify the obligatory neighbours, they never include optional ones (e.g. Adjuncts like Adverbial Phrases).

b. Selectional subcategorization further introduces selectional

restrictions of a semantic nature. They are imposed by each item on its sister constituents. Transitive predicates, for instance, differ in point of the semantic features of the NPs they take as Direct Objects. Consider: Bob is eating a pizza/ his nails/ *his chair/ *his freedom; Sheila married George / a great pianist/ *the pavement.

Violation of selectional restriction results in ungrammatical strings. However, in idiomatic or metaphorical phrases selectional restrictions can be violated (e.g. eat ones words).

The Lexicon In the general frame of GTG the Lexicon appears as part of the

Base. It is an overall list of the words (lexical items) that form the vocabulary of the respective language. It includes lexical entries that supply complete information (phonological, morphological, semantic and syntactic) about each item. This information is provided under the form of a Complex Symbol (CS) including the inherent and contextual features characterising each item, e.g. inherent semantic features pertaining to Nouns: [+ common] in opposition with [-common], the latter being specific to Proper Names, [+ animate] versus [-animate], [+human] versus [-human] etc. For contextual features see section above.

E. The Transformational Subcomponent This subcomponent is made up of transformational (T) rules,

which rearrange the constituents in basic strings and derive a synonymous surface string, e.g. T Passivisation, by means of which active sentences are converted into passive ones. This T, like all other Ts, is a complex of operations: movement of the active Subject and Object, insertion of be-en and of the Preposition by, possible deletion of the by-Object of Agent. Here is the list of operations that possibly make up T rules:


AndreeaEvideniere

21

a) movement of a constituent, reordering (e.g. Particle Movement as in The boss turned down the application --- The boss turned the application down; Dative Movement as illustrated by: The student handed his essays to the lecturer --- The student handed the lecturer his essays);

b) substitution of a constituent (e.g. pronominalisation of NPs, substitution of V or VP by do (it), do (so));

c) deletion of a constituent (e.g. Direct Object Deletion as in: They were eating/smoking/writing something; Preposition Deletion, as in: He talked about politics --- He talked politics);

d) insertion of a constituent (e.g. there-insertion as in: There emerged a new trend in architecture; it-insertion, e.g. It was announced that taxes would not be altered) Transformations are meaning preserving, they do not change the

semantic interpretation of basic strings. They apply on deep structure strings, having as output synonymous surface structure sentences.

III. Further Refinement of Gs: The Government and Binding

(GB) Model The model was launched in 1981, mainly through N. Chomskys

Lectures on Government and Binding. We shall present below the main changes introduced by this new theory.

1. The X-bar Convention for Phrase Structure

Representation The convention is based on the principle of phrase

endocentricity/headedness. According to this, every syntactic group/phrase XP is built round a head, be it lexical or functional, symbolised as X. The head is projected maximally as XP ( = X). In between, there is a first projection, X, that includes the obligatory complements (constituents that take part in subcategorization), according to the formula:

XXComplement(s) Complements are post-head sisters of Xo and correlate with

argument positions. Thus within VP (=V) the lower phrase level V (equivalent of Main Verb/ MV) dominates V and the Complement NP to the right.


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

22

Compare: MV V V NP V NP (Complement

position) create a model create a model Standard representation X-bar representation This representation brings into relief similarities between

phrases belonging to distinct lexical categories. Consider the N below in comparison to the V above and notice the similarity:

N

N0 PP (Complement position) P P0 NP creation of a model The higher level represents the X which includes Specifiers to

X: XSpecX. As a rule, Specifiers are pre-head constituents that express specifically the reference of the head, e.g.: his creation of a model, where the Possessive Determiner his occurs in Spec position and gives the clue as to the identity of the logical (deep) Subject of the nominal phrase: NPoss DetN.

N

Spec N Poss N0 PP his creation of a model The endocentricity principle is generalised so that, as suggested

by the representation above, it conveniently applies to the major


23

category Sentence (S), whose left-hand Specifier is the Subject NP. The S is reinterpreted as the maximal projection IP (I) of the head Inflection (IO), consisting of Tense (T) and Agreement (Agr) formatives. This cluster of constituents is separated from the V head (of VP).

Compare: 1) S 2) IP

NP VP NP I AUX MV I0 VP( V) T N V NP N0 T Agr V0 NP He -ed create a model He -ed [+sg] create a model

The new vision on phrase constituency also eliminates the

redundancy of information caused by the coexistence of PS rules and subcategorization rules (one and the same category, e.g. transitive Vs, used to be described twice: by means of the PS rule - MVVNP and, concomitantly, by the subcategorization rule V[+V, +__NP]). The proposal was made to give up PS rules in favour of the X-bar representation which applies uniformly upon all phrases, according to the formulae:

XSpecX XXComplements Another consequence of the application of this principle is that

heads subcategorize for their complements, rather than for their Specifiers or for their Adjuncts (i.e. optional constituents outside the subcategorization frame). Thus Transitive Verbs subcategorize for non-prepositional NPs chosen as Complements and functioning as Direct Objects, setting up the class of transitives versus the class of intransitive prepositional Vs that select PPs in Complement position, i.e. functioning as Prepositional Objects (e.g. emphasize an idea (VNP) versus insist on an idea (VPP)).

The head-complement relation presupposes the dependence of the constituent in complement position upon the verb. Indeed in the


24

transitive configuration above, the NP an idea is marked by the Accusative case only by virtue of its being governed by the transitive V head. Such dependence relations between a head of a construction and its dependent term are described, therefore, as government relations. They hold between governors like Vs, Prepositions and Inflection heads, and their governees (NPs in all the three cases). The governor assigns morphological case to its governee, as follows:

V0NP P0NP I0NP Acc Acc Nom kissMary/her; withMary/her ; -sMary/she The theory of Government explains how morphological case,

which is not inherent in Ns, is assigned to Subject and Object NPs. 2. Further aspects of Government We have seen that Government holds between two terms that are

to be found in the maximal projection of a head X0: a) V b) P V0 NP P0 NP meet people/them by people/them In both cases the two lower nodes are part of the same

constituent, which singly dominates the two constituents. This is a relation called constituent-command/c-command, which can be defined as follows:

c-commands if, every branching node dominating dominates This is the configurational key to structures based on

government like a) and b). The head governor X0 and the governed term are within the same maximal projection. To sum up we shall supply below the complete definition of Government that contains 3 clauses:

Government governs if,

a. is X, i.e. lexical head, for some X b. c-commands c. for all maximal projections , if dominates , then it


25

also dominates Let us reconsider the representation of the S as the maximal

projection IP of the head I. The NP Subject is placed to the left of the head, in Specifier position. Both this NP and the I are dominated by the node that labels the maximal projection the IP node. I governs the Spec NP (Subject) which is within its c-command domain. As governor of Spec NP, I assigns Nominative case to the latter.

3. Levels of Structure in GB The two levels of syntactic structure are D-Structure (roughly

the same as in GTG) and S-Structure, which results from movement rules (move-&). These often produce semantic changes if the linear string is rearranged e.g. the effect of semantic operators (manner adverbials, quantifiers, negators, modal adverbs etc.) with a variable scope.

Compare: The gangsters shot the nigger cheerfully. The nigger got shot cheerfully.

The manner adverbial (cheerfully) has the Agentive Subject gangsters in its scope in the active S (it shows how their action was performed). In the second S (with a get passive predicate) the same adverb refers to the way the Passive Subject, a Patient, underwent the shooting.

I wont paint the President. The President wont be painted. Hence semantic interpretation should apply after the T rules. The transformational apparatus of GT is reduced to the move-

rule (where is the constituent that moves). Other rules like deletion, for instance, operate at the level of the Phonological Component.

The Semantic Component is labelled as Logical Form. Here is the picture indicating the organization of GB Grammar:


AndreeaEvideniere

26

D-Structure

Move-

S-Structure

Phonological Logical Form Component (Semantic Component)

The D-Structure level gives information about basic constituents and syntactic functions. This information is made apparent in S-Structure too, by the introduction of a phonologically void category, Trace, left behind after the application of move- on a certain constituent. The Trace t indicates the basic position of the moved constituent and the subcategory neighbour constituents belong to. Consider:

D-Structure S-Structure

IP IP

NP I NP I

I VP I VP

AvP V AvP V

V(o) NP [e] V NP

-s wash the shirt well The shirt -s wash t well 4. Argument Structure and Thematic Roles Each predicate takes a set of arguments that reflect the

participants in the respective event. Each participant plays a role (hence -role).Thus, the Agent represents the initiator and performer


27

of an activity, the Patient is the role of the participant undergoing the effects of an activity. They all form the role-structure associated with the logical predicate (realized grammatically by a Verb or an Adjective). Each argument bearing a -role is grammaticalised as an NP in a certain position as to the main verb. Role structures are part of our mental and linguistic Lexicon, they represent lexical conceptual structures (LCS). The roles are indicated in -grids for each V or A. The roles correspond to/match the constituents that make up the subcategorization frame.

Other roles: Experiencer the participant experiencing a psychological

process (cognitive, affective etc., with Vs like enjoy, love, dislike, think, remember etc.);

Goal the location or entity in the direction of which something moves;

Benefactive the entity that benefits from the action or event denoted by the predicate;

Source the location or entity from which something moves; Instrument the medium by which the action or event is

carried out; Locative the specification of the place where the action /

event takes place. Thematic roles form hierarchies, depending on the degree of

prominence of the -roles involved (for details see A. Cornilescu, Concepts of Modern Grammar, p.155- 183).

IV. The Sentence (IP). Properties and Types 1. Syntactic Properties According to Classical Analytical Structuralism (CAS), the

Sentence (S) is an independent grammatical unit, the highest in the hierarchy of such units. It is described as a structured string of words, occurring as a linear sequence of items grouped round a Noun head to the left and a Verb head to the right. S is viewed as a binary construction, in which S immediately dominates the two phrases NP and VP, which dominate in their turn the lexical categories. At the bottom there is a terminal string made up of lexical items that belong


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

28

to the corresponding lexical categories. Ever since the advent of GTG, S has ceased to be analysed at

just one level of structure, which is regarded as surface realization. S has been supplied a complete representation in terms of an underlying/basic Deep Structure (including the global semantic interpretation of S) converted by Transformational rules into a linearized Surface Structure, ready to be performed phonologically.

The binary constituent structure of S which forms the central architecture of S used to be considered an instance of an exocentric phrase, lacking therefore a head or centre and being based on mutual dependency relations between the Subject NP and the Predicate VP. The GB frame has replaced this concept of S as a result of the headedness principle, according to which all phrases (S included) are headed (see II.1). S comes to be described as an endocentric Inflection Phrase (IP), having as Head the functional category Inflection (I). To the left, in Specifier I position there is the Subject NP, governed by I, which assigns it the abstract morphological case Nominative. This description has a far greater explanatory power.

2. Logico-semantic Properties The IP is interpreted semantically by the Logical Form (LF)

Component, which inter-relates the syntactic configuration with the corresponding logical proposition P, made up of a logical predicate (realized as V or A) and a set of arguments (realized as NPs). The predicate expresses an event, a state-of-affairs (or a change of state), while the arguments represent the participants in the event, in terms of the roles they play. The meaning of S is also determined by the presence of logical operators, such as Quantifiers, Modals, or Negators, which contribute to sentential meaning, even at the level of S-Structure. LF assigns meaning to sentences in isolation from context.

3. Phonological Properties The IP is interpreted phonologically by the Phonological Form

(PF) Component, whose task is to assign the respective string the proper intonational contour, including the pitch and the junctures. The intonational contour is specialized for each of the four S types: declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.


29

4.A.The Information Structure of the Sentence

S meaning can be viewed from a broader perspective that involves the quality and distribution of the information conveyed by the sentential string. Thus the Information Structure of the IP consists of a Topic/Theme that expresses old/given/predictable information and Comment/Rheme that expresses new/unknown/unpredictable information. Consider:

The Romanian Government has not passed the bill on radio taxation.

[+ old information] [+ new information] Topic/Theme Comment/Rheme We notice that the NP functioning as Subject has as referent an

already known entity which is familiar to every Romanian, while the VP functioning as Predicate renders a new, unpredictable event whose focus is the last constituent (in bold letters). The alternation old new information represents the current norm for thematic progression, it being considered unmarked. If the speaker wants to lay emphasis on the topic s/he can use a marked construction such as:

A new bill has been passed by the Romanian Government. This sentence topicalizes (within a Passive sentence) the deep

structure DO of the corresponding active string. Notice that the determiner in our first example, a definite article used as anaphoric, has been substituted here by an indefinite article whose function is to mark new information.

The range of sentence patterns in any language, English included, represents the syntactic potential of the respective language.

B. Sentence Types according to the Criterion of Structural

Complexity A Simple Sentence is based on a single predication or

predicative nucleus. The degree of structural complexity is increased if one and the same sentence includes two or more such predications, be they finite (+Tense, +Agr), or non-finite (-Tense, -Agr). A sentence which is part of a bigger sentence is called clause. Clauses can be coordinated or subordinated to each other.


AndreeaEvideniere

30

A Compound Sentence is based on coordination of conjoined

clauses that enjoy the same rank: The tourists visited the National Gallery (clause1) and then went

to the Tower of London(clause2). Complex Sentences evince an even higher degree of structural

complexity. Minimally, they are made up of a Main or Matrix Clause (MC) and one Subordinate / Embedded Clause.

E.g.: Recently I have realized [that Scotsmen are quite

generous.] MC Direct Object Clause The subordinate clause above occurs in Complement post-verb

position, functioning as Direct Object Clause. The that-Clause above is finite, while the Gerundial (Ger) and Infinitival (Inf) Clauses in the Complex Sentences below are non-finite.

1.Henry didnt remember [posting the letter.] Ger Cl DO 2.Henry remembered [to post the letter.] Inf Cl DO One and the same sentence may be both Compound and

Complex, thus reaching the highest degree of structural complexity: When the guide realized that the Etna had erupted again

and that there were still tourists left behind near the crater, he walked back to rescue them, but the dark prevented him from advancing too fast.

C. The Clause as Complementizer Phrase (CP) Clauses are analysed in the GB frame as Phrases headed by

clause introducers in Complementizer position. The Complementizer is a functional category, like Inflection (I0) and Determiner (Det). It is realized by conjunctions, wh-words (relative-interrogative pronouns) or the infinitival particle (to).

E.g.: He remembered [that he hadnt locked the door.]CP


AndreeaEvideniere

31

D. The classification of sentences according to the criterion of communicative function

If viewed from the point of view of their communicative

functionality, sentences fall into four types, which are specialized cross-linguistically, as shown below:

a. The declarative sentence type is used to make statements; it

is patterned according to the dominant word order specific to each language, being taken as Standard form as to the other three types. In English unmarked declaratives observe the SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) word order type.

E.g.: Young people enjoy pop music. Su V DO b. Interrogatives or questions are specialized for requesting

missing information. In point of constituent structure they are based on Subject-Auxiliary Inversion as in:

Has John won the contest? Will John win the contest? If the respective IP does not include an auxiliary verb (be, have

or Modal), the auxiliary do/does or did is inserted to carry tense markers:

Did John win the contest yesterday? The intonational contour of Questions is distinct from that of

declaratives. c. Imperatives are specialised for expressing commands, orders

or requests. Syntactically they are characterised by the absence of the Subject You from S-structure, e.g.:

Stop complaining!

d. Exclamatory sentences or exclamatives are used by speakers

to express feelings, psychological reactions of surprise, admiration, disapproval , and so on. They resemble Questions by their introducers


32

which are wh-words. E.g.: How peaceful the village is!

What a nice vista (this is)! In point of word order, exclamatives may either have the

arrangement of declaratives or the one based on Inversion, specific to Questions. Quite often they undergo deletion of the predicative (verbal) constituent.

E.g.: How strange! What a delightful night! E. The Classification of Sentences according to Polarity Most of the sentence types above may vary according to the

polarity criterion. Thus declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives may be either affirmative or negative, the latter variant being illustrated below:

Young people dont enjoy symphonic music. Hasnt John won the contest? Dont complain about your family! Negative contraction (aux. + contracted Negator) often occurs in

spoken language. F. Shift of Communicative Function Some of the sentence types may deviate from their major

function in communicative context, the respective configuration being used to serve a different communicative goal. Thus Questions may be used with the force of imperatives, as in:

Why dont we go to a restaurant? What about listening to some oldies? Besides, the negative question form may be used with the force

of an exclamative, expressing admiration or surprise, as in:


33

Isnt she a lady! Hasnt she grown! The use of Sentence types for Speech Act purposes is part of the

domain of pragmatics to be studied in the 2nd term of the 3rd year. V. Predication. Structural and Logico-semantic Tasks

The key to the structure of the IP is the predicative core or nucleus, realizing the relation of predication and the function of Predicate Phrase. This core is made up of verbal items and phrases, which form two clusters. The central one is the head constituent Inflection (I). Its immediate constituents obligatory Tense ( the formatives 0/-s for the Present and ed for the Past) in finite sentences, Mood and Modality (the Vs shall, will, can, may a.s.o.), Aspect ( the set of formatives have + -en for the Perfect and be-ing for the Progressive), as well as the Agreement markers (the features of person and number transfered from the Subject NP) carry out all the formal or structural tasks of predication:

IP

Spec I I

NP I VP

[+3rd p.] AGR T M Perf Progr V

[ + sg.] [+3rd p.]

[+sg.] V He -s may have-en be ing sleep

may have been sleeping The head of the VP, V, expresses an event or a state-of-affairs,

or it assigns a property to the referent of the Subject NP. The V head occurs by itself (for most intransitives), or it selects a sister constituent in Complement position (for transitives). Together, the V


34

and its Complement select the Subject NP, which expresses the main participant in the event, the Protagonist. In most cases this is an Agent or an Experiencer, both these thematic roles being realized by [+human] NPs. The most relevant elements for predication are, therefore: 1. the subcategorization frame of the verb; 2. the theta-grid associated with the verb.

In what follows we shall supply the typology of predications in English, using as a main guideline the subcategories that realize the predication tasks as heads of the VP.

The Syntactic Property of Transitivity The main syntactic property that brings about a partition of V items

into two big subcategories is transitivity. The syntactic property of transitivity refers to the obligatory valency/contextual feature of V: [+_NP]. Vs that never enter this frame are intransitive. They are further subdivided into meaningless intransitives called copulas or copular/linking Vs(mainly the verb BE), and meaningful intransitives. The latter can be further subcategorized by taking into account the number of arguments in their theta-grid and the thematic roles they bear. The main division within intransitives with one argument is that between: a) unergatives, one-argument Vs that merely take an Agent as Subject, e.g. cough, sneeze, neigh, sleep, bark, etc.; and b) unaccusatives, one-argument intransitives that take a Theme-bearing argument which cannot be assigned Accusative case. Hence it has to be moved to Subject position. Here we include eventives like happen, occur, existentials like be and exist, Vs of seeming like seem and appear, resultative state verbs like die.

By contrast with these two subclasses, transitives are associated with two thematic roles: Agent as external argument and Theme or Patient as internal argument. The first role is grammaticalized as Subject, the second as Direct Object. Consider:

a) unergative intransitive: The boxer was barking (in the back yard). Agent


AndreeaEvideniere

35

b) unaccusative intransitive The accident happened (last night).

Theme c) transitive

The woman was describing the scene.

Agent Theme Transitivity has a floating nature, it can determine shifts of Vs

from the basic intransitive regime to a derived intransitive one. These shifts are explained as cases of recategorization. Thus the intransitive verb LIVE may be recategorized as transitive in the following contexts: a) if it occurs with a Cognate Object as in They lived a miserable life; b) if the locative Preposition in is deleted, as in They lived Oxford Street. The reverse direction can be illustrated by cases of Direct Object Deletion, e.g. Sean was smoking, or of Passivals, e. g. That dictionary sold well.

VI. Intransitives VI. 1. The Copulative Predication Type A. Copulative Predication is characterized by the following

features: 1) it is a discontinuous, binary structure made up of two

constituents: The Copula - a meaningless or quasi-meaningless intransitive

V, like BE and other Copula-like Vs which carries out the formal tasks of predication;

The Predicative realized by an adjectival or nominal phrase which conveys the meaning of the predicate, thus performing the lexical tasks of predication.

Consider: The show was quite successful. (BeAP)

The show was a great success. (BeNP) The Predicative may be realized by one of the following Phrases:


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

36

Adjectival Phrase (AP) Noun Phrase (NP) simple/non-clausal constituents Prepositional Phrase (PP) Complementizer Phrase (CP) clausal constituents (finite or

non-finite) Examples:

a) This teacher is absent-minded. - AP

b) This teacher is the Head of the English Department. - NP

c) This teacher is in need of money. - PP

d) The problem is that this teacher has not attended refreshment courses. - CP

2) the tasks of predication are carried out as follows: i) the formal/structural tasks are fulfilled by copular BE and

other similar verbs which are the carriers of the markers of predication (the formatives that make up the Inflection head):

Agreement markers- copied from the Subject NP [person; number]

Tense, Aspect, Modality markers Here are examples of Aspect marking: a) John has been very

rude today (the Perfect); b) John is being very rude (the Progressive). The two Aspects never combine in copulative predicates: * John has been being rude.

ii) the lexical tasks are carried out by the Phrase in Complement position, functioning as Predicative; the predicative may:

a) assign a property or an attribute to the referent of the Subject NP, e.g.:

Peter is fanciful/ a poet / a fanciful poet. ( the last variant assigns two properties by means of the NP)

b) assign an identity to the referent of the Subject NP, thus functioning as identifier, e.g.:

Marian is my brother's wife./ She is the leader of our team. B. More on the Copula and Copula-like Verbs BE enjoys a multiple grammatical regime, i.e. it may be: a) a

meaningful existential V belonging to the subcategory of unaccusatives; b) a copular/link(ing) V; c) an auxiliary for the


37

Progressive and the Passive; d) a modal substitute (to be to Inf). E.g.:

a) Once upon a time there was a princess. existential BE (denoting existence in space and/or time) Their villa is on the outskirts of the town. b) Two is company, three is a crowd. copular BE c) The application is being typed. auxiliary BE (marker of the Progr. or Pass) d) He is to arrive tomorrow.

modal Be Despite the distinct syntactic and semantic features of the three

types of BE, they all share the same behavioural peculiarities, namely: a) Be does not require Do-insertion (except Negative

Imperatives like Dont be so cheeky!); b) in Question it undergoes inversion with the Subject, e.g. Is the

puppy in the kennel? Is it barking? Is it black and white?); c) the Negator is inserted after Be and contraction can freely

apply, e.g. This pupil is not (isnt) writing; d) all types of Be can undergo deletion in contexts like Relative

Clauses (the pad which is on the desk --- the pad on the desk), Accusative with Infinitive constructions (I considered Chomsky (to be) a genius), Time Adverbial Clauses introduced by when or while (Tom is very witty when/while (he is) sober);

e) all Bes can undergo There-Insertion, except copular Be, e.g. There is a puppy in the kennel; There is a man crying for help, but * There is a girl clever; f) Be does not theta-mark its NP neighbours, but for existential Be which takes a Theme-marked NP that moves to Subject position, being frequently associated with a Location, e.g. Paris is on the Seine. (theta grid: < Theme, Loc>)

Copula-like verbs evince the same combinatorial possibilities as BE, but they are idiosyncratic; hence the Lexicon indicates the contextual features specific to each. In point of meaning they are semantically poor, forming a scale from meaningless to meaningful: MAKE is, like BE, meaningless or it may have a tinge of becoming (the [+inchoative] feature), e.g. This book makes excellent reading;


38

She will make a very good French teacher. The Vs of BECOMING share the feature [+inchoative] and pattern as follows:

BECOME [ _ Pred. NP] On leaving school he became a bank clerk.

[_AP] Our work is becoming more challenging. [_PP] I wonder what became of the gold watch you used to wear.

COME [_ AP] Her dreams have come true. [_to Inf] In some towns the streets came to be used as parking places.

GET [_ AP] Its getting dark. [_to Inf.] They got to be friends.

GROW [_AP] Marian is growing prettier and prettier. [_to Inf.] She's growing to like him better. Positional Verbs can also undergo a weakening of meaning,

thus becoming copula-like Vs. It is the case of loom, lie, sit, stand and rank. The student is required to look up the dictionary entries for each and take down contexts to illustrate their behaviour as copula-like Vs.

Perception Verbs are placed at the other end of the semantic

scale. They are meaningful state Vs, which take APs as Predicatives and to-NPs as Indirect Objects expressing the role Experiencer:

Those oranges tasted sour (to the child). The news sounds incredible (to my ears). The class also includes the verbs sound, feel, look. All sense

perception Vs are basically [+state], but they may recategorize as [-state] and shift from intransitives to transitives, e.g.:

The lilac smelled sweet. (smell: [+state], copula-like V: [__Pred AP])

and I smelled the lilac. (smell: [-state], transitive V: [___NP])


39

Typology of Predicatives

1) According to the the logico-semantic criterion predicatives can be either attributive or equative:

a) Attributive predicatives are property assigners, the predicative assigns a property to the subject, hence the subject is called the attributed term and the predicative - the attribuant, e.g.: The fresher was impudent. The predicative adjective impudent assigns the property of being impudent to the subject. The two terms cannot be reverted: *Impudent was the fresher. (the S is ungrammatical)

The subject may be expressed by a [+/-definite NP]: The task was too hard for him.; A policeman was rude.

The predicative may be: [AP] Jenny is cute.; [-definite NP] Jenny is a student of German.; [PP] His country is in a state-of-change.; [CP] Seeing is believing.

This attributive relation may be of two kinds: i. Class membership: A B This novel is interesting.

(The referent of the subject is a member of the class of interesting entities)

ii. Class inclusion: A c B The/A tiger is a feline. (The referents of the Subject form a small set included in the bigger set denoted by the Predicative)

b) Equative (identifying) predicatives establish the identity of

the subject and both the subject and the predicative must be marked by [+definiteness]. The subject and the predicative can be reverted: Tony Blair is Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is Tony Blair.

The predicative may be: [+ definite NP] Jane was her teacher.; [AP, +superlative] This student is the smartest of all.; [CP] Her change of mood was what puzzled everybody.

2) According to the syntactic criterion, APs may be: a. both

modifying and predicative (a kind man; He was kind.) b. exclusively modifying, occurring in prenominal contexts as Noun Modifiers (an utter fool), c. exclusively predicative, occurring in verbal contexts as Predicatives (The child wasnt asleep.)

Exclusively modifying As include: a) classifying As (financial help, economic problems); these As serve to specify a set of reference, most of them are [-gradable] and [+denominal]; b) emphasizing As (utter, sheer, absolute); c) As indicating position (lower, upper);


40

d) certain ing As (freezing cold, scalding hot) Exclusively predicative As include a-prefixed As: awake, asleep,

alive, alone, ablaze, adrift.

VI. 2. Non-copulative Intransitives Intransitives can be divided into syntactically simple

intransitives and syntactically complex intransitives.

Simple intransitive verbs They are "verbs of complete predication", as they can carry out

the tasks of predication by themselves. Their subcategorization frame is [___#]. Semantically, they express events of all types - activities, processes or states with reference to a wide range of possible Subjects. Syntactically, these predicates can take as optional Adjuncts Prepositional Objects, as well as Adverbial Modifiers of various kinds, e.g.: The lilies have (splendidly) bloomed (in my garden). ( optional Adjuncts: Manner Av splendidly, Place Av in my garden)

Simple intransitives can be subdivided into the class of unergatives, with Agentive Subjects (bloom, work, sleep, blink, fly, run) and the class of unaccusatives with Theme Subjects (die, grow, appear, vanish, burst, collapse).

Syntactically simple intransitives can also be expressed by lexically complex verbs, made up of Verb and Adverbial Particle (traditionally labelled as Complex / Phrasal Verbs). They evince a high degree of idiomaticity, e.g.: The lights have gone out. Other examples: pass away, take off, show up etc.

Complex Intransitives 1. Prepositional Intransitives This subcategory includes Vs with obligatory preposition, such

as: to look at, to wait for, to do with. The subcategorization frame is [__PP], the obligatory PP having the syntactic function of PO (Prepositional Object). Prepositional intransitives can undergo passivization, e.g.: Jack insisted on that proposal. That proposal was insisted on.


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

41

2. Intransitives with Particle and Preposition: [_Prt, PP] The class includes phrasal Vs, which take an obligatory

Preposition governing an Object: They had done away with this piece of legislation. The family came [up] Prt [against fresh problems] PO. 3. Intransitives with a Prepositional Indirect Object: [_to NP] Several subclasses of intransitives, among which eventive Vs,

experiencer Vs, relational Vs take an Indirect Object marked by the Dative preposition to.

a. The eventive type: verbs like happen and befall take Dative

NPs expressing the Experiencer of an event, e.g.: What's happened to the old man?

b. The experiencer type: the class consists of verbs of seeming

(seem, appear), verbs of perception (sound, taste, smell), verbs of cognition (occur to smb that..).

E.g.: It seemed to me that I was dreaming. That possibility had never occurred to anyone. c. The relational type: these Vs can be grouped into 1. hose

indicating relations between all kinds of entities (Vs indicating possession: belong to smb, pertain to smb, e.g. The dash and fire pertaining to youth are transient.) and 2. those specialized for inferiority relations between man and other entities, including bow to smb., accrue to smb., cringe to / before smb, yield to smth.

E.g.: The girl bowed to the audience. Our people will never surrender to foreign invaders.

4. Intransitives with Two Prepositional Objects: [__PP, PP] A number of intransitive Vs may be followed by two PPs.

Prepositional Object Deletion often applies, having as an effect in surface structure the removal of one or the other of the two Objects. These Vs can be further subdivided into:

a) Vs with an Indirect Object marked by to, followed by a PO in which the Prep indicates a topic about, on, upon, or the cause or purpose of an action for.


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

42

E.g.: He lectures [to undergraduates] IO [on the Elizabethan theatre]PO.

b) Vs such as argue, discuss or quarrel which take as first

Object a with NP indicating the human participating as a partner in the respective activity, e.g.: He was arguing with his wife about money.

5.Intransitives with Adverbial Modifiers: [__AvP] There are several subcategories of Vs that take obligatory

Adverbials of various kinds: a) Intransitives with Adverbial Modifiers of Place and Direction:

verbs denoting existence in space such as be, lie, remain, sit, stand commonly take a Place Adverbial either a locative Adverb or a locative PP; Motion Vs take, according to the semantic subclass they belong to, AvPs expressing: (a) the departure point; (b) the destination point; (c) the path or itinerary. One and the same V sometimes enters all four, e.g.: Have you flown up to this place? (destination point), Have you flown from Athens to Rome? (path)

b) Intransitives with Quantifying Adverbials: the verbs cost, weigh and owe, often treated erroneously as transitives (on account of their co-occurrence with a non-prepositional NP) actually take Quantifying Adverbials, e.g.: The dictionary costs 200$. Quantifying Adverbials of Place occur obligatorily with the verb stretch and optionally with most of the motion Vs, e.g.: The corn field stretched miles away. The verb last takes an obligatory Quantifying Adverbial of Time, e.g. The concert lasted (for) three hours.

6. Reciprocal Intransitives Inherently reciprocal Vs occur in two alternative configurations:

(a) with a phrasally conjoined and NP or other types of [+set] NPs as Subject; and (b) in a prepositional construction, if the Subject is a [+sg] NP. In the latter case the Preposition is indicated for each reciprocal V in its lexical entry. E.g.: (a) 1. The train and the bus / they / the trains collided (with each other).

2. The married couple has recently separated. (b) The train collided with the bus. The bus collided with the

train.


AndreeaEvideniere

43

Intransitivization Some transitive verbs may be recategorized as intransitives in

the following cases: 1. A number of transitives allow the deletion of their Direct

Object NP if the DO is more or less specialized semantically (i.e. if it satisfies the V's selectional features), but is not definite referentially.

E.g.: I don't particularly like the way she sings (songs )

Whenever I see her, she is smoking (cigarettes ). 2. The Reflexive Direct Object can also be deleted with some

transitive Vs, among which dress, shave or wash, e.g.: He is the habit of shaving (himself ) daily.

3. The Direct Object may be promoted in Subject position. This

occurs in activo-passives or passivals. E.g.: This material washes well. (DO Subj; V remains active) VII. Transitive Predications All transitives share the feature [ _NP]. This NP occupies the

Complement position, being governed by the transitive V. The V governor assigns Accusative case to its governee. The lexical entry of a transitive V also includes information about the selectional restrictions imposed by the respective item, e.g. Vs like cut and slice select [-animate], [-abstract] NPs as DOs, while know and believe select [-animate], [+ abstract] NPs as DOs. The inherent semantic features of each transitive are also specified in the lexical entry (e.g. [+causative], [+/-state] etc.). Features like [+Object Deletion] or [+Passivization] indicate the transformational behaviour of each item. The lexical entry also includes the theta-grid associated with the respective V. Most transitives take an Agent as external argument and a Patient/Theme as internal argument.


AndreeaEvideniere

44

Syntactically Simple Transitives: [ _NP] 1. Monotransitives with Affected Objects indicate activities

which affect concrete entities, including Vs like: accumulate (goods, wealth), adapt (a script, a piece of furniture), decorate, ornament (a room, a house), air (the room, the bedding), back (a car). A subcategory apart includes verbs which take as Direct Objects parts of the human body. The respective NPs are determined by Possessives which are co-referent with the NP-Subject. Passivization is blocked: bare (one's head), bite (one's tongue), bump (one's head), clap (one's hands), close (one's eyes), drag (one's feet), nod (one's head), shrug (one's shoulders).

2. Verbs with Effected / Resultative Object indicate activities

that effect/create concrete entities. The prototype of this class of Vs is to make. They often take a second object, expressing the beneficiary of the respective activity by means of a for NP. The class includes: build (a shelter), carve (a statue), compose (music), cook (cakes), create (a model), crochet (gloves), dig (ditches), draw (a cartoon), erect (a monument). A special type of effected object is the Cognate Object taken by inherently intransitive verbs, which recategorize, in this way, as transitives: to smile an amiable smile, to dream a melancholy dream, to sleep the sleep of the just.

3. Verbs with Affected and/or Effected Object One and the same verb may take, contextually, either an affected

or an effected direct object. Compare: Who'd like to carve the chicken? (affected DO) and Whoever carved this statue was a genius. (effected DO). Other verbs that may take both types of objects are: paint, raise, dig, burn etc.

4. Relational Verbs express symmetric or asymmetric relations

between entities. Symmetric relations are rendered by reciprocal verbs which express mutual relations between humans (marry, divorce) or relations of similarity between entities (resemble).

Vs of possession express asymmetric relations. Their prototype is HAVE, which has a multiple semantic and syntactic regime (as auxiliary for the Perfect, causative V, modal, prop -V). Its synonyms own and possess also predicate configurations with a possessive meaning. The Subject NP grammaticalizes the role Benefactive, the


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

45

Direct Object NP bears the role Theme. The two classes of relational Vs described above resist

Passivization. Inclusion relationships are rendered by transitive verbs such as

contain, hold, comprise, include, cover a.s.o. These verbs are semantically related to verbs of possession.

5. Verbs with Instrumental Object like use, handle, employ,

manipulate take Direct Objects that grammaticalize the role Instrument, e.g. Tom used a knife to cut the salami.

6. Verbs with Locative Object such as enter (a place), inhabit

(a flat), reach (a destination), leave (a town) co-occur with Direct Objects that have a locative or directional tinge, otherwise rendered by Prepositional markers. Compare: enter the hall to go into the hall; leave the town to depart from the town.

7. Verbs with Abstract Direct Object include Vs like denote,

imply, elucidate etc., whose Direct Object expresses an abstraction. Quite often such Vs take a Complement Clause in Object position. Vs of linguistic communication, or Vs of cognition often take such a clausal Direct Object, e.g. The jury declared that the proofs were not valid. They considered that the man was not guilty.

8. Causative Verbs (periphrastic, lexical, morphological) They are transitive verbs inherently marked by [+causative] or

intransitive ones recategorized as transitives and occurring contextually as causatives. These Vs express either mere causation of an event (cause, make, get), or an event in which causation is implied, e.g. teach (cause smb to learn), cool (cause smth. to become cool), persuade (cause smb. to believe). All causative constructions are transitive, owing to the fact that causation always implies two roles: a causer and an affected or effected entity. Causatives can be classified into:

a) Periphrastic causatives including the Vs: cause, determine,

make, have and get. Semantically speaking, they render the idea of causation quite neutrally, with the exception of have and get, which may have an additional tinge of compulsion or order, e.g.: I shall have him rewrite the story. (=I shall oblige him to)


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

46

b) Lexical causatives form pairs with intransitive verbs,

denoting the resultative aspect of the respective activity, process or state by means of a lexically distinct item. Consider the pair: Caesar died. / Brutus killed Caesar. The verb die occurs as a one-term verb, taking the Patient as Subject. The same Patient occurs as Object of its causative counterpart kill, which is a two-term verb, with an Agent as Subject. The relation between the transitive and the intransitive verb configurations is lexicalized, in that the possibility of using the same V lexeme in these cases is ruled out: *Brutus died Caesar. Here are some more members of this class: give=cause smb to have; remind=cause smb. to remember; put=cause smth. to be in a place; entertain=cause smb. to rejoice; send=cause smb to receive; raise=cause smth. to rise; fell=cause smth. to fall.

c) Morphological Causatives are derived from other lexical

items by means of word formation processes, namely by conversion or affixation.

1) Causatives derived by conversion: to cool (from the A cool, AV, She cooled the soup.), to blind (AV), to better, to empty;

2) Causatives derived by affixation include: a) causatives formed by prefixation: with prefix be (becalm,

benumb), prefix dis (disable, disanimate), en(enlarge, enrich, embitter)

b) causatives formed by suffixation: with suffix ate (activate, differentiate), with suffix ize (commercialize, criticize), with en (madden, lessen)

d) Attitudinal Causatives/Experiencer Causatives express a

psychological reaction aroused in a human being by an exterior stimulus and include verbs like puzzle, terrify, surprise, please etc., e.g.: The news pleased everybody.

e) Dative Causatives include causatives that take two objects,

an IO and a DO: give smth. to smb., sell smth. to smb., show smth. to smb.

f) Ergative Verbs are verbs which couple the basic regimes of

both transitives and intransitives. The same verb may predicate, without any difference in its phonological form, a one-term


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

47

intransitive configuration or a two-term transitive one: Sarah moved the branch. (move=transitive V) and The branch moved. (move=intransitive V). Other Vs: drop, break, melt, roll, improve and stir.

9. Lexically Complex Verbs are made up of a verbal item and

an Adverbial Particle, e.g. Turn off the lights! Some of these verbs can undergo particle movement, e.g.: Turn the lights off!

10. Intransitives Recategorized as Causatives Intransitive verbs may be recategorized as transitive, when they

contextually incorporate the [+ causative] feature: He walked the horse up and down.

Syntactically Complex Transitives 1. Dative Verbs have the following subcategorization frame:

[__NP, to/for NP], they include verbs like: make smth. for smb., lend smth. to smb., communicate smth. to smb. For details see erban, D., English Syntax, vol.1, pp. 335-364.

2. Prepositional Transitives enter configurations in which the

DO is followed by a PO ([__NP, PP]): accuse smb. of smth., blame smb. for smth., deprive smb. of smth., reproach smb. with smth.

3. Transitives with Particle and Preposition include verbs

with Adverbial Particle followed by an obligatory preposition: to look down on smb., to let smb. in on smth., to get smb. off to a good start etc.

VIII. Dative Configurations Dative structures represent a particular case of predication by

any ditransitive verb which indicates the transfer of a concrete or abstract entity from a Source to a Goal. The Source role is grammaticalized as Subject, the transferred entity, bearing the role of Patient, occurs as Direct Object, while the Goal role marks the Indirect Object:


AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

AndreeaEvideniere

48

E.g.: Little Jim gave three daisies to Lilian. Source-Su Pat-DO Goal-IO The ditransitive verb takes two objects, an AccusativeDirect

Object, followed by a DativeIndirect Object, the latter being marked by the dative preposition to. As already known, English has a synonymous alternative to this structure, resulting from the reordering of the Direct and the Indirect Objects:

E.g.: Little Jim gave Lilian three daisies.. IO DO In the second configuration the IO occurs without preposition,

occupying the position of immediate neighbour to the verb. English dative configurations can also convey the idea of an

advantage taken by a person whose role in the event is that of Benefactive:

E.g.: Daddy bought a teddy bear for little Jim.

Ag-Su Pat- DO Ben-IO The Indirect Object is marked by the preposition for, which is

dropped if we reorder the two objects: E.g.: Daddy bought little Jim a teddy bear. IO DO The theta grids of the verbs in to-Dative constructions differ

from those in for-Dative ones in that the role marking the Indirect Object is Goal in the former and Benefactive in the latter:

GIVE: Ag/Source < Pat, Goal> BUY: Ag/Source < Pat, Ben> We can see from the formulae above that the role marking the

Subject consists, actually, of a possible co-relation between an Agent that initiates and carries out the transfer and a Source of the transfer. Sometime, in particular in the case of for-Datives we only have an Agent, in case the dative predicate renders an activity performed to the benefit of another person, e.g.:


49

Henry opened the door for the guest. As regards the semantic interpretation of transfer datives, we

notice that the construction denotes a shift of possession from the Source, indicating the initial Possessor to the Recipient or Goal, who becomes the new Possessor of the transferred entity. This differentiates genuine dative structures from the ones expressing mere motion from a Source to a Goal in space. Compare:

1. Richard sent the parcel to York but never *Richard sent

York the parcel. ( the directional phrase does not allow Prep deletion or change of position; no shift of possession takes place: *York has got the parcel)

2. Richard sent the parcel to Peter = Richard sent Peter a

parcel. (shift of possession: Peter has got the parcel)

The Transformational Interpretation of Dative Structures It is quite obvious that the two synonymous dative sentences can

be related transformationally. It is commonly assumed that the basic S is the one with a prepositional dative marker, be it to or for, given the fact that the respective prepositions are meaningful, hence they are Deep Structure constituents. Besides, in transitive configurations the NP (DO) is governed by the Verb, it is its sister, being assigned Accusative case by its verbal governor. In its turn, the Preposition to or for governs the second NP, assigning it the Dative case.

The Standard approach to the Dative Transformation, also labelled as Dative Movement, takes, therefore, as basic strings, sentences with the constituent structure:

[ V NP [ to/for NP]] e.g. offer the grant to Henry/ cook a pizza for my son The two operations that apply to derive the second dative

alternative are: a) deletion of the Preposition b) movement of the second NP in between V and the other NP

(reordering of the two objects)


50

In the Relational Grammar model this movement is interpreted as an instance of promotion of an Indirect Object in the position of Direct Object. The movement affects the rank of the two objects. Hence, the Indirect Object, occupying a lower rank in the Relational Hierarchy ( Su (I) > DO (II) > IO (III)), is promoted to a higher rank ( III--- II). This allows further promotion in Subject position by passivization. Indeed the two dative alternatives can have two targets for their passive counterparts: the DO or the reordered/ promoted IO:

The Passivization of Dative Configurations Basic Dative String: X offered the grant to Henry. Pass: DO --- Su The grant was offered to Henry (by X). Dative Mov: IO---DO X offered Henry the grant. Pass: IO --- -Su Henry was offered the grant (by X). The four alternatives are quasi-synonymous, if out of Discourse

context. Once we consider the information structure of these alternatives, we are likely to find that the arrangement of Theme /Topic and Rheme/ Comment elements (Focus included) is totally different.

The Domain of Dative Movement The domain of this transformation includes all regular dative

verbs, i.e. verbs that can enter the two alternatives. Outside this domain we find two areas of dative irregularity, as follows:

1. in English there is a group of dative verbs that never lose their

prepositional marker, thus blocking reordering of the objects. The class includes transfer Vs like donate smth. to smb., return smth. to smb., deliver smth.to smb., distribute smth. to smb., contribute smth. to smb.,as well as verbs of linguistic communication like announce smth. to smb., communicate smth. to smb., say smth. to smb., mention smth. to smb., mumble/mutter smth. to smb., explain smth to smb., dictate smth to smb., describe smth. to smb. etc.


AndreeaEvideniere

51

E.g.: The tutor explained the rule to his pupils.

*The tutor explained his pupils/ them the rule. Similarly:

I dictated the telegram to the operator. Sheila will return the book to the librarian.

The only word order change that may apply on such dative configurations is the heavy NP Shift. Consider the sentence:

The tutor explained to his pupils the rule of Agreement which

applies if the Subject is expressed by a collective NP.

The Direct Object is a lengthy NP, loaded with Modifiers (including a Relative Clause), so it has to move to the end of the sentence, as required by the rule of End Rhythm.

2. English syntax also includes a group of dative verbs that take

two non-prepositional objects. In traditional grammar they are labelled as Double Object verbs. Among them there are: cost smb. smth., deal smb. a blow, forgive smb. smth., grudge smb. smth., envy smb. smth., spare smb. smth., save smb. smth., tell smb. smth. , teach smb. smth., ask smb. smth., answer smb. smth. E.g.: The new car cost him 2000$.

The last attempt cost him his life. I envied Sarah her spontaneity. We shall never forgive Tom his rudeness. You should spare Mary the trouble. The first object is usually animate, most frequently [+ human], a

feature characterizing the NP selected as Indirect Object. The dative verb GIVE, actually the prototype of the whole class has a twofold behaviour. Besides being a meaningful verb of transfer, GIVE may also be used as a prop V, i.e. a quasi-dummy item which co-occurs with non-contrastive objects in fixed phrasal expressions like: give smb. the measles, give smb. a broken arm/ a black eye/ a pain in the neck/ a kiss/ a hug/ a punch in the nose/ a strong kick/ a handshake/ a call/ a nod/ a dirty look/ the finger etc. Such phrasal combinations have got frozen as patterns with two non-prepositional objects.

Resuming the description of the domain of dative constructions we shall refer to the subcategorization of dative verbs into:


52

A. Dative verbs with to-Indirect Objects and B. Dative verbs with for-Indirect Objects The A subcategory includes the following subclasses:

i) the give class with items like: award, concede, entrust, lease, lend, loan, pay, rent, sell etc. These verbs denote an unaccompanied transfer of a physical entity.

ii) the bring class with items like take, carry, drag. hand, haul, pass etc. These denote an accompanied transfer, involving motion of the Source.

iii) the send class with items like float, fling, forward, mail, ship, throw, toss etc. The Subject is an Agent that causes a transfer to take place at a distance which is covered by a vehicle or by a motion performed by the respective Agent.

iv) the communicative verbs class includes items like wire, cable, radio, telegraph, telephone and other items meaning to send a verbal message by some specialized means of communication. Other verbs expressing the channel of communication of various communicative modalities are: tell, cite, preach, read, write, quote, articulate, confess, declare, mention, mutter, recite, recommend, report, narrate, utter, state, voice etc. They share the dative regime, but some of them evince idiosyncrasies as to the use of either a prepositional Indirect Object or, on the contrary, the use of a non-prepositional one.

v) The promise class with items like allot, assign, bequeath, guarantee, offer, permit, promise, specialized semantically for denoting a projected acquisition of an entity from a Source.

The B subcategory consists of verbs with a wide range of

meanings, rendering activities undertaken by an Agent for the benefit of the referent of the Indirect Object. The latter bears the role Benefactive or Beneficiary and is marked by the preposition for. Here are the main (sub)classes:


AndreeaEvideniere

53

i) the make class includes verbs of manufacturing/creation

that take an effected or resultative Direct Object, followed by a for- Indirect Object: boil, cook, bake, draw, knit, weave, roast, paint etc.

ii) the buy class consists of verbs denoting acquisition (sometimes involving selection): choose, gather, get, pick(out), procure, purchase, collect, obtain etc.

iii) verbs denoting artistic performance like dance, sing, hum, play, recite, waltz

iv) the earn class, including the items gain, earn and win. :

e.g.: This translation will earn Henry a lot of money. (concrete advantage)

This translation will earn Henry a wide reputation.

(abstract advantage)

Other Uses of the for-Indirect Object This type of IO can also be used to denote a person substituted

by the referent of the Subject, as in: Tom will buy the flowers for me (i.e. instead of me) Will you teach Sarah

Download - English Syntax Workbook - Domnica Serban 2007

Top Related