Dissertations / Theses: 'Argument strucure'

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Henadeerage, Kumara, and kumara henadeerage@anu edu au. "Topics in Sinhala Syntax." The Australian National University. Faculty of Arts, 2002. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20060426.142352.

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This study is a detailed investigation of a number of issues in colloquial Sinhala morphosyntax. These issues primarily concern grammatical relations, argument structure, phrase structure and focus constructions. The theoretical framework of this study is Lexical Functional Grammar.¶Chapter 1 introduces the issues to be discussed, followed by a brief introduction of some essential aspects of colloquial Sinhala as background for the discussion in the following chapters. In Chapter 2 we present basic concepts of the theoretical framework of Lexical Functional Grammar.¶ The next three chapters mainly concern grammatical relations, argument structure and clause structure in colloquial Sinhala. Chapter 3 examines grammatical relations. The main focus lies in establishing the subject grammatical relation in terms of various subjecthood diagnostics. We show that only a very small number of diagnostics are reliable, and that the evidence for subject is weaker than assumed previously. All the subjecthood diagnostics that were examined select the most prominent argument in the argument structure as the subject, i.e. 'logical subject'. However, there appear to be no processes in the language that are sensitive to the subject in the grammatical relations structure, i.e. 'gr-subject'. Further, there is no evidence for other grammatical relations like objects. In Chapter 4 we discuss the agentless construction and related valency alternation phenomena. It was previously assumed that the agentless construction, valency alternation phenomena and the involitive construction are all related. We argue that the agentless construction should be treated as a different construction from the involitive construction. We also show that the agentless construction and the involitive construction have contrasting characteristics, and that treatment of them as separate constructions can account for some phenomena which did not receive an explanation previously. The valency alternation phenomena are related to the agentless construction, therefore there is no valency alternation in involitive constructions. It will be shown that verbs undergoing the valency alternation can be distinguished from the other verbs in terms of the lexical semantic properties of individual verbs. Chapter 5 examines the structure of non-verbal sentences in terms of a number of morphosyntactic phenomena. It was previously argued that verbal sentences and non-verbal sentences in colloquial Sinhala differ in terms of clause structure. However, the present study shows evidence to the contrary.¶ The next two chapters deal with modelling contrastive focus and the phrase structure of the language. Chapter 6 is a detailed analysis of the contrastive focus (cleft) construction in various clause types in the language, and proposes a unified syntactic treatment of contrastive focus. Contrastive focus is in some constructions morphologically encoded, while in others it involves both morphological and configurational assignment of focus. The complex interaction between focus markers and verb morphology in various focus constructions is accounted for by general well-formedness conditions applying to the f-structure, and the principles of Functional Uncertainty and Morphological Blocking. In Chapter 7, we discuss the phrase structure of the language, in particular such issues as its non-configurational nature and the lack of evidence for VP. We propose non-configurational S and some functional projections to account for word order freedom under S and to explain certain morphosyntactic phenomena, such as configurational focus assignment. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the conclusions made in previous chapters.

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Moretti, Fabiana Cristina Baldim Lopes. "Os verbos de transferência/movimento no PB e a expressão do objeto indireto. Revisitando a noção de estrutura argumental à luz da morfologia distribuída." Universidade de São Paulo, 2011. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14062011-143152/.

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Os verbos que expressam eventos de transferência/movimento no PB são formados a partir de Raízes que envolvem, em sua semântica, um agente, um elemento transferido/movido e um recebedor/alvo. Geralmente, esses verbos formam construções sintáticas ditransitivas, em que o agente é expresso por meio do sujeito, o elemento transferido/movido por meio de um objeto direto e o recebedor/alvo por meio de um objeto indireto. Nesses contextos sintáticos, o objeto indireto tem suscitado, na literatura pertinente, algumas discussões sobre sua natureza, como: argumento ou adjunto, e, ainda, complemento dativo ou complemento oblíquo. Essas discussões demonstram a indefinição do estatuto sintático-semântico desse elemento para as teorias linguísticas. Entendemos que essas discussões estão ligadas à concepção de estrutura da gramática assumida pelos diferentes pesquisadores e, também, ao modo como estes entendem que as noções de estrutura argumental e de estrutura sintática interagem dentro dessa concepção. Em outras palavras, o debate surge, pois, na caracterização da relação gramatical do objeto indireto com o verbo, é fundamental que o pesquisador disponha de uma teoria da estrutura argumental que lhe permita estabelecer o mapeamento e o licenciamento dos argumentos na sintaxe. Assumimos, neste trabalho, a estrutura da gramática tal como esta é concebida pela Morfologia Distribuída (Distribuited Morphology, doravante, DM) (Halle & Marantz 1993). Segundo a DM, os morfemas são constituídos por traços sintáticosemânticos disponibilizados pela Gramática Universal. Os verbos consistem de morfemas-l (Raízes) em determinadas relações estruturais com morfemas-f, licenciadores de estruturas sintáticas de natureza verbal. Não pressupondo um mapeamento determinístico das propriedades semânticas das Raízes na sintaxe, a DM consegue explicar a possibilidade de um mesmo verbo ocorrer em mais de uma estrutura sintática, sem precisar recorrer, por exemplo, a duas entradas lexicais para esse mesmo verbo. Dessa forma, constitui-se em um modelo mais vantajoso para explicar fenômenos relacionados à estrutura argumental e à realização de argumentos do que modelos baseados na entrada lexical, o que justifica nossa opção teórica. Além disso, essa teoria nos permite participar das discussões mencionadas acima sobre o objeto indireto. Assumimos que esse elemento tem o estatuto de argumento dos verbos de transferência/movimento (VT/M) no PB, sendo um complemento dativo. Pressupostos como a inserção tardia de fonologia em Spell-Out (uma operação póssintática) e a subespecificação do item de vocabulário, assinaladas pela DM, dão conta de explicar os casos em que o objeto indireto não é realizado fonologicamente, ocorrendo na estrutura sintática como um argumento nulo anafórico ou como um argumento implícito sem referência anafórica, bem como os casos em que esse elemento não ocorre na estrutura sintática derivada pelo verbo dar.
Verbs which express transfer/motion events in Brazilian Portuguese are formed by Roots that involve, in their semantics, an agent, a transferred/motioned element and a receiver/goal. In general, these verbs form ditransitive syntactic constructions, in which the agent is expressed through the subject, the transferred/motioned element through de direct object and the receiver/goal through the indirect object. In these syntactic contexts, the indirect object has aroused, in the relevant literature, some discussions about its nature: argument or adjunct, and, yet, dative complement or oblique complement. These discussions show the indefinition of the syntactic-semantic status of this element inside linguistic theories. We understand that these discussions are connected to the conception of grammar structure assumed by the different researchers, and, also, to the way they understand argument structure and syntactic structure interact inside this conception. In other words, the debate arises for, in the characterization of the grammatical relation of the indirect object with the verb, it is crucial that the researcher has an argument structure theory that allows him to establish the arguments mapping and licensing in syntax. In this research, we assume the Distributed Morphologys (DM) (Halle & Marantz 1993) grammar structure. According to DM, morphemes consist of syntacticsemantic features supplied by the Universal Grammar. Verbs consist of l-morphemes (Roots) in specific structural relations with f-morphemes, which license verbal syntactic structures. Since DM does not presupposes a deterministic Roots semantic properties mapping in syntax, it gets to explain how is it possible that one verb occur in more than one syntactic structure, without needing to appeal to two lexical entries for this same verb, for example. Thus, DM is a more advantageous model to explain argument structure and argument realization related phenomenon than lexical entry based models, what justifies our theoretical choice. Furthermore, this theory allows us to take part in the discussions listed above about the indirect object. We assume that this element is an argument of the transfer/motion verbs in Brazilian Portuguese and that it is a dative complement. Assumptions like phonology late insertion in Spell-Out (a pos-syntactic operation) and vocabulary item specification, pointed out by DM, get to explain the cases in which the indirect object is not phonologically realized, and occur in the syntactic structure as an anaphoric null argument, or as an implicit argument, without anaphoric reference. Besides that, these theoretical resources also get to explain the cases in which this element does not occur in the syntactic structure derived by the verb give.

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Grahek, Sabina. "Argument structure in Slovene." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.438579.

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DIAS, RONALDO SOUZA. "TWO CLASSES OF PRACTICAL ARGUMENTS: THE PRACTICAL ARGUMENT STRUCTURE FROM THE VISION OF STEPHEN TOULMIN AND JOSEPH RAZ." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2012. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=21597@1.

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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
A distinção entre argumentar a partir de regra, e argumentar quando não há regra, é retomada para elucidar alguns aspectos da atividade justificatória no âmbito legal. A referida distinção encontrou em Rawls um porta-voz que realçou de modo incisivo sua importância para a prática legal. Antes dele, porém, Hume, Mill, Ryle e Toulmin, entre outros, já haviam tecido considerações relevantes ao tema. A distinção serve de motivação para dividir o campo da argumentação prática, particularmente da argumentação jurídica, em duas classes, a saber, argumentos de primeira e de segunda ordem. Nos argumentos de segunda ordem, uma regra atua na forma descrita no modelo de Toulmin. Nos argumentos de primeira ordem, caracterizados pela ausência de regra, procede-se mediante ponderação de razões, substanciadas em princípios gerais, valores morais, interesses políticos, programas econômicos, considerações religiosas e pretensões corporativas. Alguns exemplos ilustram a distinção. Argumenta-se que a base lógica dessa distinção assenta-se no conceito de regra como razão excludente, no sentido estabelecido por Joseph Raz.
The distinction between justify a conclusion from rule and justify it when no rule is resumed to elucidate some aspects of legal activity. This distinction found in Rawls a spokesman that incisively pointed out its importance for the legal practice. Before him, however, Hume (A Treatise of Human Nature), Mill (A System of Logic), Ryle (The Concept of Mind) and Toulmin (The Uses of Argument), among others, had already made relevant considerations to the topic. The distinction serves as motivation to split the field of argumentation practice, particularly of the legal argument, into two classes, namely, arguments of first and second order. In the arguments of second order, a rule operates in the manner described in the Toulmin model, in the arguments of the first order, characterized by the absence of rule, by weighting of reasons, substantiated on general principles, moral values, political interests, religious considerations and corporate claims. Some examples illustrate the distinction. It is argued that the logical basis of this distinction is based on the concept of rule as exclusionary reason, within the meaning established by Joseph Raz.

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Darteni, Silvia. "Italian parasynthetic verbs : argument structure." Thesis, Paris 8, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA080073/document.

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La thèse porte sur la structure argumentale des verbes parasynthétiques italiens. Elle s'intéresse En particulier à deux sous-groupes : les dénominaux dont la paraphrase est « faire devenir S », où S est le substantif de base (appelés BN); et les désadjectivaux dont la paraphrase est « faire quelque chose plus A », où A est l'adjective de base (appelés DPV). Les deux types de verbes posent des questions très différentes, mais liées à la question de la syntaxe lexicale : les premiers forment une construction seconde inattendue dans le domaine roman ; les deuxièmes peuvent générer deuxlectures aspectuelles (stative et événementiel) même en étant causatifs.La thèse s'ouvre avec des chapitres de caractère général. Le premier plaide pour une amélioration des méthodes de collecte de données dans le domaine génératif. Les deuxième et troisième chapitres décrivent les cadres formels pertinents ainsi que la parasynthèse.La première partie de la thèse porte sur les BN. Au moyen de tests conduits sur des locuteurs natifs de l'italien, elle affirme et analyse l'acceptabilité de la construction pseudo-résultative en italien. Cette enquête se poursuit par une comparaison avec les données du français, qui se comporte différemment. La deuxième partie s'ouvre avec une réflexion sur les diagnostics de la stativité, et se poursuit avec l'analyse des DPVs. En particulier, le concept de causalité stative est analysé et traduit dans la théorie de la causalité de force-dynamics.Enfin, une application au TALN des diagnostics de stativité est décrite dans le dernier chapitre. L'importance de l'identification précise de la stativité est éclaircie
The present dissertation investigates the argument structure of two groups of Italian parasyntheticverbs: denominal verbs paraphrased as "make X become N", where N is the base noun (henceforth BN); adjectival verbs paraphrased as "make X more A", where A is the base adjective. The two groups present different issues linked to the lexical syntax, the former can participate in a secondary predication that is unexpected for Romance languages; the latter can receive two aspectual readings (stative and eventive) which are both causative.The dissertation starts with three chapters of general interest. The first one describes new experimental methods that can be employed in generative linguistics. The second and third one describe useful frameworks and the morphological process of parasynthesis.The first part of the dissertation analyses BNs. It is shown by means of several experiments that Italian native speakers accept the pseudo-resultative construction. Results of a comparative study with French are reported and show that French behaves differently to Italian in this respect.4The second part analyses stativity diagnostics and apply them in the study of DPVs. It gives account for the causal stativity in the force-dynamic framework.The last chapter applies stativity diagnostics in the natural language processing domain

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Rosen, Sara Thomas. "Argument structure and complex predicates." New York : Garland publ, 1990. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb35690826v.

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Xiong, Yiting. "La expresión de la causatividad en español y en chino: en la interfaz léxico-sintáctica." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/670985.

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La causativitat, un concepte que es repeteix en diferents llengües, sempre ha estat un punt d’interès per a la lingüística generativa, que ha intentat analitzar la forma en què aquesta s’expressa en les diferents llengües. El present treball té com a objecte d’estudi els verbs causatius i les construccions causatives de l’espanyol i del xinès, amb la finalitat d’indagar en les seves distribucions i les seves propietats, així com de descriure i resumir els punts tant convergents com divergents entre les dues llengües, als quals intentem donar explicacions des del punt de vista de l’estructura argumental. Al mateix temps, també es fa una aproximació a les qüestions més discutides de la causativitat a la interfície lèxico-sintàctica. El treball es porta a terme des d’una perspectiva neoconstruccionista, amb el patró d’anàlisi basat en la teoria de l’estructura argumental de Hale i Keyser (1993) i Mateu (2002), la Morfologia Distribuïda proposta per Halle i Marantz (1993), el tractament de la v petita de Cuervo (2003), la Hipòtesi del nucli Veu de Kratzer (1996) i la teoria del nucli Aplicatiu de Pylkkänen (2002). Amb l’anàlisi que presentem, es conclou que les dues llengües tenen divergències importants en l’expressió de la causativitat. D’una banda, en la distribució, la manera més freqüent de l’espanyol correspon als verbs morfològics, mentre que en xinès els verbs compostos constitueixen la forma més recurrent. Això es deu a la diferència tipològica entre les dues llengües: l’espanyol, com a llengua flexiva, té la derivació com un procediment important en la formació de paraules; en canvi, el xinès, sent una llengua aïllant, es caracteritza per tenir nombroses paraules compostes. D’altra banda, en l’estructura, les construccions causatives de l’espanyol presenten més variants, mentre que l’ordre de paraules de les construccions causatives del xinès és més fix. La raó és que en el cas de l’espanyol el verb causatiu hacer i el verb en infinitiu poden formar un predicat complex, però en el cas del xinès el verb subordinat pertany a una predicació completa. O, millor dit, la mida de l’estructura del predicat subordinat difereix entre les dues llengües: el de l’espanyol és Sv i el de l’xinès és SComp. Això també confirma la natura sintètica de l’espanyol i la analiticitat del xinès, ja que una característica d’aquest darrer consisteix que els nuclis funcionals són massa febles com per desencadenar desplaçaments; per exemple, el verb causatiu shi no pot desencadenar el desplaçament del verb subordinat.
La causatividad, un concepto que se repite en diferentes lenguas, siempre ha sido un punto de interés para la lingüística generativa, que ha intentado analizar la forma en que esta se expresa en las distintas lenguas. El presente trabajo tiene como objeto de estudio los verbos causativos y las construcciones causativas del español y del chino, con la finalidad de indagar en sus distribuciones y sus propiedades, así como de describir y resumir los puntos tanto convergentes como divergentes entre las dos lenguas, a los cuales intentamos dar explicaciones desde el punto de vista de la estructura argumental. Al mismo tiempo, también se hace una aproximación a las cuestiones más discutidas de la causatividad en la interfaz léxico-sintáctica. El trabajo se lleva a cabo desde una perspectiva neoconstruccionista, con el patrón de análisis basado en la teoría de estructura argumental de Hale y Keyser (1993) y Mateu (2002), la Morfología Distribuida propuesta por Halle y Marantz (1993), el tratamiento de la v pequeña de Cuervo (2003), la Hipótesis del núcleo Voz de Kratzer (1996) y la teoría del núcleo Aplicativo de Pylkkänen (2002). Con el análisis del trabajo concluimos que las dos lenguas tienen divergencias importantes en la expresión de la causatividad. Por un lado, en la distribución, la manera más abundante del español corresponde a los verbos morfológicos, mientras que en chino los verbos compuestos constituyen la forma más recurrente. Esto se debe a la diferencia tipológica entre las dos lenguas: el español, como una lengua flexiva, tiene la derivación como un procedimiento importante en la formación de palabras; en cambio, el chino, siendo una lengua aislante, se caracteriza por tener numerosas palabras compuestas. Por otra parte, en la estructura, las construcciones causativas del español presentan más variantes, mientras que el orden de palabras de las construcciones causativas del chino es más fijo. La razón reside en que en el caso del español el verbo causativo hacer y el verbo en infinitivo pueden formar un predicado complejo, pero en el caso del chino el verbo subordinado pertenece a una predicación completa. O, mejor dicho, el tamaño de la estructura del predicado subordinado difiere entre las dos lenguas, consideramos que el del español es Sv y el del chino es SComp. Esto también confirma la sinteticidad del español y la analiticidad del chino, puesto que una característica del último consiste en que los núcleos funcionales son débiles como para desencadenar desplazamientos, por ejemplo, el verbo causativo shi no puede desencadenar el desplazamiento del verbo subordinado.
The causation, a concept that is repeated in different languages, has always been a point of interest for generative linguistics, which has tried to analyze the way in which it is expressed in different languages. The object of this study is to analyze the causative verbs and the causative constructions of Spanish and Chinese, in order to investigate their distributions and properties, as well as to describe and summarize both the convergent and divergent points between the two languages, to which we try to give explanations from the point of view of the argument structure. At the same time, an approach is also made to the most controversial questions of causation at the lexical-syntactic interface. The work is carried out from a neoconstructionist perspective, with the analysis pattern based on the semantic-relational structure theory of Hale and Keyser (1993) and Mateu (2002), the Distributed Morphology proposed by Halle and Marantz (1993), the treatment of the little v of Cuervo (2003), the Kratzer’s Voice Hypothesis (1996) and the theory of Applicative proposed by Pylkkänen (2002). With the analysis of the work we conclude that the two languages have important divergences in the expression of causation. On the one hand, in the distribution, the most abundant form of Spanish corresponds to morphological verbs, while in Chinese compound verbs are the most recurrent form. This is due to the typological difference between the two languages: Spanish, as an inflectional language, has derivation as an important procedure in word formation; instead, Chinese, being an isolating language, is characterized by having numerous compound words. On the other hand, in the structure, the causative constructions in Spanish present more variants, while the word order of the causative constructions in Chinese is more fixed. The reason is that in the case of Spanish the causative verb hacer and the infinitive verb can form a complex predicate, but in the case of Chinese the subordinate verb belongs to a complete predication. Or rather, the size of the subordinate predicate structure differs between the two languages, we consider that of Spanish is vP and that of Chinese is CP. This also confirms the syntheticity of Spanish and the analyticity of Chinese, since a characteristic of the latter is that the functional heads are not strong enough to trigger displacements, for example, the causative verb shi cannot trigger the displacement of the subordinate verb.

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Crespí, Riutort Isabel. "Aspecte i estructura argumental en les construccions passives del català." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/670459.

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En aquesta tesi ens proposem identificar i analitzar les diferents construccions passives del català i fer una proposta formal que permeti analitzar de manera unificada les passives de diferents llengües. Seguint Embick (2004), identifiquem tres tipus de construccions passives en català: eventives, resultatives i estatives. Ara bé, modifiquen la definició de la passiva estativa que proposa Embick i considerem que és la passiva que es forma a partir de verbs estatius. En aquest sentit, considerem estatius els verbs que expressen estats kimians (Maienborn 2005). Desenvolupem la proposta d’anàlisi des de la perspectiva neoconstruccionista que sosté que la sintaxi interna del SV determina la seva estructura eventiva i la interpretació temàtica dels seus arguments, concebuts com rols eventius que adquireix un argument en funció de la seva posició en l’estructura. D’acord amb aquests supòsits, assumim que l’aspecte lèxic es deriva configuracionalment a partir de l’estructura eventiva. La contribució més important d’aquesta tesi és una nova perspectiva en l’anàlisi de les construccions passives com a patrons de lexicalització de l’estructura eventiva en un model nanosintàctic com el de Ramchand (2008, 2018).
En esta tesis nos proponemos identificar y analizar las diferentes construcciones pasivas del catalán y hacer una propuesta formal que permita analizar de manera unificada las pasivas de diferentes lenguas. Siguiendo a Embick (2004), identificamos tres tipos de construcciones pasivas en catalán: eventivas, resultativas y estativas. Sin embargo, modificamos la definición de la pasiva estativa que propone Embick y consideramos que es la pasiva que se forma a partir de verbos estativos. En este sentido, consideramos estativos los verbos que expresan estados kimianos (Maienborn 2005). Desarrollamos la propuesta de análisis desde la perspectiva neoconstruccionista que sostiene que la sintaxis interna del SV determina su estructura eventiva y la interpretación temática de sus argumentos, concebidos como roles eventivos que adquiere un argumento en función de su posición en la estructura. De acuerdo con estos supuestos, asumimos que el aspecto léxico se deriva configuracionalmente a partir de la estructura eventiva. La contribución más importante de esta tesis es que constituye una nueva perspectiva del análisis de las construcciones pasivas como patrones de lexicalización de la estructura eventiva en un modelo nanosintáctico como el de Ramchand (2008, 2018).
This dissertation aims at identifying and analysing different passive constructions in Catalan and providing a unified proposal to analyse passives cross-linguistically. In this respect, following Embick (2004), we identify three different passive constructions in Catalan: eventive, resultative and stative. However, we modify the definition of the so-called stative passive: it is the passive structure created from stative verbs. Specifically, we consider verbs that express Kimian states (Maienborn 2005) to be stative. We conduct our research from the neoconstructionist view that the internal syntax of the VP determines its formal event structure and the thematic interpretation of its arguments, conceived as entailments from event structure. Consequently, we assume that lexical aspect is configurationally derived from event structure. The key contribution of this dissertation is a new outlook on the formation of passive structures as lexicalisation patterns of event structure in a nanosyntactic model such as the one presented in Ramchand (2008, 2018).

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Calindro, Ana Regina Vaz. "Introduzindo argumentos: uma proposta para as sentenças ditransitivas do português brasileiro." Universidade de São Paulo, 2015. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8142/tde-01032016-154938/.

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O objetivo desta tese é discutir uma mudança diacrônica na introdução dos argumentos indiretos das sentenças ditransitivas do português brasileiro (PB). Desde o século XIX, o PB iniciou uma reanálise das estratégias possíveis para a introdução de seus objetos indiretos (OI), generalizando o uso da preposição lexical para em detrimento da preposição a, nos contextos de verbos ditransitivos de movimento, transferência e criação dar, enviar, preparar, respectivamente. Ao mesmo tempo em que essa mudança ocorreu, a expressão morfológica do argumento dativo representada pelo clítico dativo de terceira pessoa lhe(s) também foi substituída por outras estratégias, tais como objetos pronominais para / a ele(s)/ ela(s) (cf. Gomes, 2003; Freire, 2005; Torres Morais & Berlinck, 2006, 2007; Torres Morais & Salles 2010). Com o intuito de apresentar uma análise abrangente desse processo de mudança histórica no PB, analisei um corpus jornalístico composto por 223 primeiras capas da Folha de São Paulo escritas entre as décadas de 1920 e 2010, recolhidas do livro 90 anos de história nas capas mais importantes da Folha. Dessa forma, o PB não possui mais a expressão de caso dativo, nem através da preposição funcional a, nem do clítico dativo lhe(s), portanto assumo nesta tese que, diferentemente do PE, a introdução dos argumentos indiretos em PB não pode ser feita através de núcleos aplicativos. Assim sendo, o PB passou de um tipo de língua que apresentava evidência de Caso dativo para uma variante na qual apenas Caso oblíquo é atribuído ao OI por meio de preposições transitivas lexicais. Desse modo, proponho que os argumentos indiretos em PB são introduzidos por uma projeção pP (cf. Svenonius 2003, 2004, 2007; Wood 2012).
The aim of this paper is to discuss a diachronic change in the introduction of indirect arguments in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Since the 19th century, BP has initiated a reanalysis of the possible strategies to head indirect objects (IO) by generalizing the use of the full preposition para to instead of the preposition a in ditransitive sentences with verbs of movement, transfer and creation as dar give, enviar send and preparar prepare, respectively. Alongside with the substitution of the prepositions stated above, the morphological notation of the dative argument - represented by the third person clitic lhe(s) has also been replaced by other strategies, such as 3rd person pronouns preceded by para - para ele(s)/ ela(s) to him/ her/ them (cf. Gomes, 2003; Freire,2005; Torres Morais & Berlinck, 2006, 2007; Torres Morais & Salles 2010). Hence, in order to make a more thorough analysis of this historical change in BP, I analyzed a corpus of first pages from a Brazilian newspaper, Folha de São Paulo collected in the monograph 90 anos de história nas capas mais importantes da Folha (90 years of History through the most important cover pages of Folha), which spans the 20th century with 223 covers from 1920 to 2010. Hence, as BP cannot express the dative case anymore, nor via a functional preposition, nor by its morphologic counterpart (the dative clitic lhe), it has also lost the possibility of introducing dative elements in its argument structure by an applicative head. Thus, BP has shifted from a type of language which has evidence for Case, as EP, to one where Case is assigned via lexical prepositions. Consequently, I assume that the indirect arguments in BP are always headed by a lexical preposition and are introduced in the argument structure via a p head (cf. Svenonius 2003, 2004, 2007 and Wood 2012).

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Armelin, Paula Roberta Gabbai. "Sentenças bitransitivas do português do Brasil revisitas à luz da teoria de núcleos funcionais aplicativos." Universidade de São Paulo, 2011. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-04052011-142215/.

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Este trabalho revisita as sentenças bitransitivas do Português do Brasil (PB) a partir de dois aspectos que consideramos ser fundamentais para descrever e explicar a bitransitividade nessa língua: (a) a possibilidade de alternância entre as preposições a e para na introdução do elemento indireto e (b) a possibilidade de alternância na ordem dos complementos do predicado verbal. Nesse mesmo sentido, surgem como questão os dados do dialeto falado no português da Zona da Mata Mineira (PBM), já atestado e investigado em Scher (1996), em que verificamos a possibilidade de omissão da preposição, mas uma manutenção da possibilidade de alternância da ordem dos complementos verbais. Para dar conta do primeiro aspecto em questão, apoiamo-nos na proposta de núcleos funcionais Aplicativos introdutores de argumento nos moldes de Pylkkänen (2002). A escolha teórica se justifica pelo fato de a presença da preposição a gerar sentenças não-ambíguas em que uma relação semântica de transferência de posse, representada por um Aplicativo Baixo, nos termos de Pylkkänen (2002), é estabelecida entre os dois complementos verbais. A escolha da preposição para, por outro lado, gera sentenças ambíguas entre essa mesma relação de transferência de posse e o estabelecimento de uma espécie de beneficiário do evento, esse último representado por um Aplicativo Alto, também nos termos de Pylkkänen (2002). A partir daí, propomos que os argumentos de um verbo bitransitivo são inseridos via uma projeção funcional que licencia ambos os elementos e estabelece a relação semântica adequada entre eles. Para o PB, a nossa proposta é a de que a preposição seja a realização fonológica do núcleo da projeção Aplicativa. Mais especificamente para a variante do PBM, a nossa análise é a de que o mesmo núcleo Aplicativo esteja presente, sem a realização fonológica da preposição, mas com a mesma constituição de traços formais das sentenças do PB. A hipótese que daí se segue é que uma operação morfológica, sem consequências sintáticas, seja responsável pela ausência dessa preposição. Um modelo teórico separacionista, em que a sintaxe trabalha com traços formais e não fonológicos e em que a inserção de fonologia acontece depois de operações sintáticas e morfológicas, tal como a Morfologia Distribuída (Halle & Marantz, 1993), surge, então, como perspectiva de análise. Para dar conta da possibilidade de alternância na ordem dos complementos em sentenças bitransitivas do PB e do PBM, propomos, então, que aspectos informacionais sejam responsáveis pelo licenciamento dessas estruturas. Sugerimos, com Scher (1996), que a ordem VPPNP, no PB e, possivelmente, VNPNP, no PBM, em entonação normal, revela o caráter de Tópico do elemento colocado entre o verbo e o objeto direto e, assim, finalizamos nossa proposta apoiadas em Armelin (2009), em especial, no quadro teórico do modelo cartográfico, nos moldes de Rizzi (1997) e Belletti (2002). Esses autores, explodindo respectivamente CP e a periferia de VP, encontram aí crucialmente posições informacionais de Foco e Tópico. A nossa proposta, nesse sentido, é a de que o aspecto informacional, a saber, a movimentação de um elemento para a posição de especificador da projeção de Tópico, será responsável pelo licenciamento da ordem VPPNP nos dados do PB.
This work revisits ditransitive sentences in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) guided by two fundamental aspects on the description and explanation of the ditransitivity in this language: (a) the possibility of the alternation between the prepositions a (to) and para (for) in the introduction of the indirect element and (b) the possibility of alternation in the order of the verbal predicate complements. In this sense, the data of a Brazilian dialect spoken at the Zona da Mata Mineira (PBM), attested and investigated in Scher (1996), emerge as a question. In this dialect it is possible to omit the preposition even if the possibility of verbal complements order alternation is maintained. The investigation of the first aspect is based in the theory of functional Applicative heads proposed by Pylkkänen (2002). This theoretical choice is justified by the fact that the a (to) preposition creates non ambiguous sentences in which a semantic relation of possession transference, represented by a Low Applicative (Pylkkänen, 2002), is established between the two complements of a ditransitive predicate. The presence of the para (for) preposition, creates ambiguous sentences between the possession transference relation and the establishment of an event beneficiary, this last one represented, in Pylkkänen (2002), by a High Applicative. This work proposes that the arguments of a ditransitive predicate is inserted by a functional projection that licenses both elements and performs the right semantic relation between then. For the PB, its proposed that the preposition is the head of such functional projection. Specifically for the PBM data, this work proposes that the very same functional projection is present, without the phonological realization of the preposition, but with the same morphosyntactic traces constitution. A morphological operation, without syntactic consequences, is responsible for the absence of this preposition The investigation of the possible alternation in the order of the complements in the PB and PBM ditransitive sentences is based on informational aspects. It is suggested, with Scher (1996), that de VPPNP order revels the Topic function of the element located between the verb and the direct object. The structre proposed to this word order is based in the cartographic model, specifically in Rizzi (1997) and Belletti (2002). These authors, exploding CP and the periphery of VP respectively, propose the existence of informational positions, like Focus and Topic. Our hypothesis, then, is that the movement of an element to the Topic specifier position is responsible for the grammaticality of the order VPPNP in BP data.

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11

Grenat, Mohamed Hasan. "Argument structure and the Arabic Masdar." Thesis, University of Essex, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.309770.

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Taoka, Chiaki. "Aspect and argument structure in Japan." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.533262.

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Aspect, described by Comrie (1976: 3) as the `temporal structure of events', and argument structure are two important facets of verbal semantics. Individual verbs, in linguistic expressions, always occur with a certain tense-aspect (TA) construction such as the Present and the Present Progressive and with a certain argument linking construction such as the Transitive construction and the Resultative construction. Verbal lexical semantics combined with these constructions determine the grammaticality and acceptability of, and the interpretative sense of, a predicate phrase as a whole. Therefore, aspect and the argument structure of verbs are fundamental information every speaker has to know in using a certain language. Croft (2000) represents aspect as a two dimensional model, which has a time scale and a qualitative scale. Argument structure is derived directly from the causal structure where the force-dynamic relationship between participants in event determines the order of participants according to Croft (1990,1991,1993,1994ab, 1995ab, 1998a, 1999a). These are ranked in the causal order and mapped into syntactic arguments via the linking rules. These two dimensions of verbal semantics, which are independent but related, are represented in the causal-aspectual model (Croft 2000), which combines the two dimensional representation of aspect and of the force dynamic causal structure of events. The main purpose of this thesis is to apply the causal-aspectual representation of verbal semantics proposed by Croft (2000) to Japanese predicates. First of all, the aspectual dimension of Japanese predicates is focused on. I analyze forty-eight situation types of Japanese predicates in terms of their behaviour in relation to three constructions: the Present, the Te-iru, and the Past constructions. Through an examination of the situation types that occur in these constructions, the Present is revealed to have four senses, the Te-iru to have eight senses, and the Past to have eight senses. Secondly, I focus on both the causal and aspectual structures and analyse verbs of putting and removing in terms of the causal-aspectual model for two reasons. Firstly, these two classes of verbs are important because they refer to situation of motion and location which are within the essential experience of human beings. Secondly, since causal structures with these two classes of verbs have three arguments (agent, figure, and ground), they are more complicated than the structures involved in verbs that denote non-causal relations or that involve only two participants. The verbs are subcategorised mainly according to the linking constructions. Various occurrences of verbs with the constructions are examined and their semantic structures are represented in the causal-aspectual model. A semantic structure for each construction is also proposed. Finally, systematic differences between English and Japanese verbs of putting and removing are observed and syntactic asymmetries between the two verb classes are explained in terms of the differences between the semantic natures of the events that they denote.

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Kolokonte, Marina. "Bare argument ellipsis and information structure." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3141.

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This dissertation presents a cross-linguistic study of three elliptical predicate constructions: (a) stripping, (b) negative-contrast, and (c) yes/no ellipsis, which are all argued to fall under the scope of a more general type of ellipsis, Bare Argument Ellipsis. From an interpretive point of view, in all three constructions, the constituent that is present in the second conjunct ('the remnant') has a characteristic information role. In yes/no ellipsis, the remnant functions as a contrastive topic whereas in stripping and negative-contrast the remnant is a focused constituent. The latter two constructions are further differentiated with regard to the semantic characteristics of Focus. Based on the assumption that Focus is not uniform, it is shown that stripping involves narrow information focus whereas negative-contrast involves contrastive focus. From a syntactic point of view, I argue that Bare Argument Ellipsis involves overt movement of the remnant to the left periphery of the clause, followed by IP deletion. The PF-deletion approach is extended to all three constructions. Following Rizzi's (1997) split-CP hypothesis, it is proposed that the remnant in yes/no ellipsis moves to TopP, a functional projection in the left periphery of the clause that encodes contrastive topics, by the process of Clitic Left Dislocation. Contrastive topicalization of the remnant forces narrow focus on the polarity marker. Regarding stripping and negative-contrast, it is argued that the semantic difference between narrow information and contrastive focus is directly related to the focus projection that hosts the remnant. Following recent proposals that Focus should be split into several projections, I show that the remnant in negative-contrast ends up in F₁P, a focus projection marked for contrastiveness whereas the remnant in stripping moves to a lower F₂P, which simply encodes new information.

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Gao, Quian E. "Argument Structure, HPSG, and Chinese Grammar." The Ohio State University, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391590058.

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Gao, Qian. "Argument structure, HPSG, and Chinese grammar /." The Ohio State University, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1488204276532252.

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Lüpke, Friederike. "A grammar of Jalonke argument structure /." Nijmegen : Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2005. http://webdoc.ubn.ru.nl/mono/l/luepke_f/gramofjaa.pdf.

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Escalante, Fernando. "Voice and argument structure in Yaqui." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185073.

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This thesis is a description, analysis and functional interpretation of voice and argument structure in Yaqui, a Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Yaqui is a SOV language with a complex verbal morphology, and voice alternations are morphologically marked. I begin with the analysis of argument structure in basic clause types, and describe lexical and clitic arguments. The voice alternates I identify are Passive, Impersonal, Anti-passive, Impersonal Anti-Passive and Unaccusative. I also provide an analysis of Dative and Applicative constructions, and a type of Possessive sentence where the head of the Possessed NP is incorporated into the verb. Each of these construction types has a specific function in discourse. The speaker selects the construction type that places an argument with a particular theta role in focus position, determines what other arguments are present, and determines which arguments are referential. This functional perspective gives us an integrated view of voice and argument type in Yaqui.

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Titov, E. "Information structure of argument order alternations." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2012. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1370567/.

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This thesis is concerned with NP/DP argument reordering and the question of what licenses it formally and interpretatively. Its primary focus is on the syntax of Russian. It is argued that two types of reordering exist, with each type linked to a distinct interpretative effect and involving a distinct syntactic process. More specifically, neutral reordering is licensed by the encoding of relative interpretative argument prominence, which requires linear precedence of an interpretatively prominent argument with respect to a non-prominent argument. The relative interpretative prominence of arguments is argued to be established on the basis of a variety of cognitive interpretations, with languages varying as to how many of these interpretations are required to license neutral reordering of arguments. In Russian, this type of reordering is claimed to exhibit properties of A-scrambling and to favour an analysis that refers to a variation in the base-component. It is argued that the availability of neutral reordering of arguments cross-linguistically is reliant on the type of prominence, thematic or information-structural, that a language encodes via syntactic structure. When thematic and information-structural prominence relations do not coincide, only one of them can be structurally/linearly represented. The relation that is not structurally/linearly encoded must be made visible at the PF interface either via prosody or morphology. The second type of argument reordering is argued to be licensed by a restriction of the set of syntactic constituents included in the scope of pragmatic quantification. This type of reordering is shown to exhibit properties of A’-scrambling. Various categories that involve different types of pragmatic quantification are considered. It is demonstrated that an A-scrambled structure licensed by the relative argument prominence encoding can serve as input for an A’-scrambled structure as long as one of the arguments involves quantification over a pragmatic set of alternatives. The proposals advanced in this thesis resolve a number of long-standing controversies concerning the properties of Russian A- and A’-scrambling.

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Sabbagh, Joseph. "Non-verbal argument structure : evidence from Tagalog." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33712.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-220).
This dissertation examines the syntax and argument structure of non-verbal predicates (focusing primarily on adjectives) in Tagalog. Drawing on evidence from a variety of construction types (including Comparative, Existential, and Ellipsis constructions among others), I argue against the claim that adjectives differ from verbs in their ability to project an internal theme argument (Pesetsky 1982; Borer 1984, 1991; Levin and Rappaport 1986; Baker 2003; among others). More generally, I argue that evidence about the argument structure of non-verbal predicates offers a more general argument against strong decompositional views of argument in which both external and internal arguments are 'severed' from the predicate.
by Joseph A. Sabbagh.
Ph.D.

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Hoffman, Mika Christine. "The syntax of argument-structure-changing morphology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/13519.

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Lau, Lai Lai Cubie. "The argument structure of fund-raising texts." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2001. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/385.

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22

Williams, Adina. "Representing Relationality| MEG Studies on Argument Structure." Thesis, New York University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10750823.

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One of the quintessential properties of the human semantic system is its ability to flexibly combine the meanings of smaller pieces into larger wholes. However, not all smaller conceptual pieces are created equal; concepts differ in the extent to which they can drive meaning composition. Some concepts can drive semantic composition by establishing relationships with other concepts, while others cannot. For example, we know the concept labelled by “friend” can drive composition, since one cannot be a friend without being someone’s friend, while an animal can be a cat without standing in a similar relationship. We can thus divide the conceptual space of humans into two sections: relational concepts labelled by words like “friend”, and non-relational concepts like the one labelled by “cat”.

Evidence in favor of this division indicates that in early childhood humans are aware of the relationality of concepts (Smiley and Brown 1979; Mirman and Graziano 2012), and as we age, relational concepts remain extremely common in our lexicon, making up nearly half of the adult English vocabulary (Asmuth and Gentner, 2005; Gentner, 2005). Some relational words have been extensively studied by cognitive psychologists and formal linguists alike. One relatively mature set of investigations utilizes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural basis of relational verb meaning, and finds that relational (i.e., transitive) verbs drive activity in left perisylvian cortical regions more than their intransitive counterparts (Meltzer-Asscher et al., 2015; Thompson et al., 2010, 2007; Bornkessel et al., 2005; Ben-Shachar et al., 2003). These investigations attribute this activity to verb-specific or event-specific information that is stored as part of the verb’s conceptual representation. Some support for this comes from Binder and Desai 2011 that holds that the left AG is a main semantic hub that specializes in event processing. However, formal linguistic investigations suggest that relationality should be independent of verbhood or eventivity; it is an independent abstract property of some lexical items which enables them to establish relationships and drive semantic composition. The neural basis of relationality and whether it can be independent of verbhood and eventivity is still relatively underexplored. As relationality straddles the boundary between syntax and semantics, disentangling the contributions of various linguistic features, such as syntactic category, eventivity, and plurality to left AG activity becomes a crucial exercise—one that a linguist is uniquely poised to address.

A main candidate region for relational processing is the left Angular Gyrus (lAG), because prior literature suggests it is sensitive to at least some of the features that a region that processes relationality would be sensitive to. In addition to being implicated in tasks that probe the argument structure of verbs, the left AG was found to be the most consistently activated region across numerous semantic tasks in a recent, large-scale meta-analysis (Binder and Desai, 2011), prompting it to be dubbed a domain-general ”semantic” hub (Bonner et al., 2013; Binder and Desai, 2011). Because of this, this dissertation reports the results of three MEG experiments and one computational experiment, and focuses on the left AG and surrounding perisylvian cortical regions, and uses Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate its role in relational processing.

Chapter 2 asks whether left AG tracks relationality, the eventivity of verbs, or a word’s combinatorial context, and finds a main effect of relationality from 170–260 ms after the visual presentation of the target noun, and no other effects of the other factors, suggesting that it is indeed relationality and not eventivity (or context) that drives left AG argument structure findings.

Chapter 3 asks whether relationality effects could be driven by something other than the relationality of concepts, namely, by the quantity of concepts. In addition to being activated for numerous number-related tasks (see Dehaene et al. 2003 a.o., for a review), the left posterior perisylvian cortex has been found to be differentially active for plurals as opposed to for singulars (Domahs et al., 2012), suggesting that the lAG might track semantic information about plurality. Contrasting plural and singular nouns that vary in relationality, I replicate the relationality effect, and find no interaction with plurality, suggesting that, indeed, left posterior perisylvian relationality effects cannot be explained as a type of quantity processing.

Chapter 4 presents a filler experiment to the second experiment, which investigates the mass-count distinction and asks whether left AG activity is sensitive to countability and whether it interacts with plurality. I observed a main effect of countability (count nouns > mass nouns), in a broad swath of left hemisphere from 295–465 ms after noun presentation, and additionally observe a left frontal effect of plurality (bare nouns > plurals), paralleling what I found in Chapter 3. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

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23

Poudyal, Prakash. "Automatic extraction and structure of arguments in legal documents." Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Évora, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10174/24848.

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A argumentação desempenha um papel fundamental na comunicação humana ao formular razões e tirar conclusões. Desenvolveu-se um sistema automático para identificar argumentos jurídicos de forma eficaz em termos de custos a partir da jurisprudência. Usando 42 leis jurídicas do Tribunal Europeu dos Direitos Humanos (ECHR), anotou-se os documentos para estabelecer um conjunto de dados “padrão-ouro”. Foi então desenvolvido e testado um processo composto por 3 etapas para mineração de argumentos. A primeira etapa foi avaliar o melhor conjunto de recursos para identificar automaticamente as frases argumentativas do texto não estruturado. Várias experiencias foram conduzidas dependendo do tipo de características disponíveis no corpus, a fim de determinar qual abordagem que produzia os melhores resultados. No segundo estágio, introduziu-se uma nova abordagem de agrupamento automático (para agrupar frases num argumento legal coerente), através da utilização de dois novos algoritmos: o “Algoritmo de Identificação do Grupo Apropriado”, ACIA e a “Distribuição de orações no agrupamento de Cluster”, DSCA. O trabalho inclui também um sistema de avaliação do algoritmo de agrupamento que permite ajustar o seu desempenho. Na terceira etapa do trabalho, utilizou-se uma abordagem híbrida de técnicas estatísticas e baseadas em regras para categorizar as orações argumentativas. No geral, observa-se que o nível de precisão e utilidade alcançado por essas novas técnicas é viável como base para uma estrutura geral de argumentação e mineração; Abstract: Automatic Extraction and Structure of Arguments in Legal Documents Argumentation plays a cardinal role in human communication when formulating reasons and drawing conclusions. A system to automatically identify legal arguments cost-effectively from case-law was developed. Using 42 legal case-laws from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), an annotation was performed to establish a ‘gold-standard’ dataset. Then a three-stage process for argument mining was developed and tested. The first stage aims at evaluating the best set of features for automatically identifying argumentative sentences within unstructured text. Several experiments were conducted, depending upon the type of features available in the corpus, in order to determine which approach yielded the best result. In the second stage, a novel approach to clustering (for grouping sentences automatically into a coherent legal argument) was introduced through the development of two new algorithms: the “Appropriate Cluster Identification Algorithm”,(ACIA) and the “Distribution of Sentence to the Cluster Algorithm” (DSCA). This work also includes a new evaluation system for the clustering algorithm, which helps tuning it for performance. In the third stage, a hybrid approach of statistical and rule-based techniques was used in order to categorize argumentative sentences. Overall, it’s possible to observe that the level of accuracy and usefulness achieve by these new techniques makes it viable as the basis of a general argument-mining framework.

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Silva, Ivan Rocha da. "A estrutura argumental da língua karitiana: desafios descritivos e teóricos." Universidade de São Paulo, 2011. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-12092012-120027/.

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Esta dissertação tem por objetivo descrever a estrutura argumental da língua Karitiana (grupo Tupi, família Arikém, aproximadamente 400 falantes) em uma perspectiva descritiva e teórica. Nesse trabalho, buscou-se o desafio de descrever as classes verbais da língua com base em uma teoria formal: a teoria de estrutura argumental de Hale e Keyser (2002). O trabalho encontra-se dividido em duas partes. Na parte I, descreve-se a morfossintaxe das classes verbais. Na parte II, foram analisadas, em termos de estrutura argumental, as evidências morfossintáticas notadas no padrão verbal. A segunda parte, ainda, oferece uma análise preliminar para a estrutura passiva impessoal em Karitiana, dentro da teoria Gerativa. A transitivização, a passivização, a construção de cópula e o padrão de concordância funcionam como evidências morfossintáticas para descrever classes verbais na língua. Todos os verbos intransitivos podem ser afetados pela causativização sintética (transitivização) através de um morfema causativo que permite a adição de um argumento externo (o sujeito agente ou causa) a uma sentença intransitiva, tornando-a transitiva. Através do morfema de passiva impessoal em Karitiana, é possível transformar um verbo biargumental em monoargumental, apagando o sujeito original da sentença transitiva. O morfema de passiva é adicionado apenas a um verbo minimamente biargumental ou a um verbo intransitivo que tenha sido antes transitivizado via . A construção de cópula nesta língua apresenta uma estrutura bioracional (S Copula minioração) em que a cópula toma como complemento uma minioração. No núcleo desta minioração, pode entrar apenas um verbo intransitivo, um adjetivo ou um nome. O padrão de concordância ergativo-absolutiva é o último diagnóstico utilizado como evidência de valência na língua. Com base nestas evidências, foram descritas três classes verbais: uma classe de verbos intransitivos (formada por 3 subclasses: composta de intransitivos comuns, de intransitivos com objeto oblíquo e sujeito experienciador e, por último, a subclasse de intransitivos locativos), uma classe de verbos transitivos e uma terceira classe composta por verbos bitransitivos. Esta última tem um objeto direto com papel semântico ALVO e um objeto indireto, marcado obliquamente (com a posposição ty) com papel TEMA. Os verbos intransitivos com objeto oblíquo apresentam um comportamento especial, comportando-se, morfossintaticamente e em termos de alternância, como os demais intransitivos, mas projetando em sua estrutura um complemento oblíquo, o que leva a considerar que eles são sintaticamente intransitivos e semanticamente transitivos. Concluimos que todos os verbos intransitivos nesta língua têm o comportamento de verbos inacusativos do tipo alternante. Na proposta de Hale e Keyser, os verbos são formados, estrutural e hierarquicamente, a partir de duas estruturas básicas (monádica e diádica) nucleadas pelos núcleos verbais (V1 e V2). Deste modo, os verbos do Karitiana descritos como intransitivos são analisados como verbos diádicos compostos, em conformidade com suas propriedades alternantes. Os verbos intransitivos com objeto oblíquo e aqueles verbos intransitivos locativos foram analisados como verbos diádicos compostos com complemento oblíquo (P-complemento). Os verbos bitransitivos são analisados como diádicos básicos. Apenas os verbos transitivos em Karitiana podem ser analisados como verbos monádicos.
This masters thesis aims to describe the argument structure in Karitiana (Tupi branch, Arikém family, about 400 speakers) both in a theoretical and in a descriptive perspective. In this work, the challenge is to describe the verb classes identified in Karitiana in the formal theory of argument structure proposed by Hale and Keyser (2002). The work is divided in two parts. In Part I, the morphosyntax of the verb classes is described. In Part II, the verb patterns were analyzed in terms of their argument structure. Still in this part, a preliminary analysis of the structure of the impersonal passive is presented, inside the Generativist framework. All instransitive verbs may be affected by the synthetic causativization (transitivization) in which a causative morpheme allows the addition of an external argument (the subject) to an intransitive sentence, transitivizing it. By the use of the impersonal passive in Karitiana it is possible to turn a bi-argumental verb into a mono-argumental one, causing the demotion of the initial subject and the promotion of the initial object to subject of the passive. The passive morpheme is added only to a transitive verb or to an intransitive verb which has been first transitivized via . The copular construction in Karitiana presents a biclausal structure (Subject + copular verb + small clause) in which the copular verb selects a small clause as its complement. Copular verbs can only select complements headed by nouns, adjectives or intransitive verbs. If a transitive verb is added to the head of the small clause, the sentence is ungrammatical. However, if a transitive verb has undergone a passivization process via , that verb may be the head of the small clause. The ergative-absolutive agreement pattern is also used as evidence of valency in Karitiana. Based on this evidence, three verbal classes were described: a large class of intransitive verbs (with three subclasses, one of common intransitive verbs, another of intransitive verbs with oblique objects and experiencer subjects, and one of intransitive locatives), a class of transitive verbs, and a third class of ditransitive verbs. The latter presents a direct object with the semantic role GOAL, whereas the indirect object is a THEME, marked as oblique (with the postposition ty). These intransitive verbs with an oblique object are part of a special subclass of intransitives because they behave, in terms of morphosyntax and valency, as other intransitive verbs, but they also project in their structure an oblique complement; it seems to be the case that they are syntactically intransitive and semantically transitive. We conclude that all intransitive verbs in Karitiana have the behavior of unaccusative verbs that may alternate. In Hale and Keysers proposal, verbs are formed, in structural and hierachical terms, from two basic structures (monadic and dyadic) headed by the verbal heads (V1 and V2). Thus, the Karitiana verbs described as common intransitives are analyzed as dyadic because of their alternation properties. The intransitives with oblique objects and the locative intransitives were analyzed as composite dyadic with oblique complements (P-complements). The ditransitive verbs are analyzed as basic dyadic, and only the transitive verbs in Karitiana may be analyzed as projecting monadic argument structures.

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Costa, Jéssica Clementino da. "A estrutura argumental da língua Dâw." Universidade de São Paulo, 2014. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-30092014-175441/.

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Esta dissertação descreve e analisa a estrutura argumental e as classes verbais da língua Dâw (família Nadahup, Amazonas). Estudamos os verbos dessa língua do ponto de vista semântico e sintático, identificando classes e subclasses de acordo com o comportamento morfossintático das raízes verbais. Além disso, avaliamos as hipóteses descritivas e explicativas das classes verbais identificadas por Martins (2004), primeira pesquisadora a abordar a morfossintaxe Dâw. Nosso arcabouço teórico é a teoria de estrutura argumental desenvolvida por Hale & Keyser (2002), que propõe uma análise da sintaxe e da semântica dos itens lexicais por meio da estrutura argumental sistema de relações estruturais estabelecidas entre o núcleo e seus argumentos, dentro de estruturas sintáticas projetadas pelo próprio núcleo. Por meio de testes linguísticos variados, incluindo alternância de valência e julgamento de (a)gramaticalidade, reclassificamos as nove classes verbais identificadas por Martins (2004) em três classes de acordo com a valência do verbo: classe dos verbos intransitivos, classe dos verbos transitivos e classe dos verbos bitransitivos. Martins (2004) afirma que, na sentença, os verbos podem mudar de tom devido à presença de um morfema tonal transitivizador ou intransitivizador. Contudo, mostramos neste trabalho que o sistema tonal da língua, no nível da sentença, é previsível. Desse modo, independentemente do processo de aumento de valência envolvido, percebemos que a mudança tonal dos verbos decorre devido ao fraseamento fonológico das sentenças. Quanto ao processo de transitivização, este identificou subclasses de verbos intransitivos: verbos alternantes e verbos nãoalternantes. As restrições de alternância devem-se à estrutura argumental de cada tipo verbal. No caso dos verbos intransitivos alternantes ou inacusativos, observamos que eles são formados a partir de estrutura diádica composta, que projeta um especificador interno e um complemento, o que lhe permite alternar entre uma forma intransitiva e transitiva. No caso dos verbos não-alternantes encontramos três padrões: verbos denominais e inergativos, formados a partir de uma estrutura argumental monádica (que não projeta especificador interno), o que impede a alternância; verbos inacusativos nãoalternantes, formados a partir de uma estrutura monádica que toma como complemento uma estrutura diádica básica verbos desse tipo não alternam, pois eles não são formados por uma estrutura diádica, mas contêm tal estrutura; e ve b s e jetiv is, formados a partir de uma cópula que toma como complemento um adjetivo. Uma vez que raiz e núcleo verbal possuem conteúdo fonológico pleno (não vazio), não é possível fazer conflation entre núcleo e raiz, o que impede que o predicado verbal seja formado. Essa estrutura explica a agramaticalidade desses verbos frente ao processo de transitivização automática. Também testamos a sintaxe e a semântica da intransitivização (construções incoativas, voz passiva, reflexiva e média). De modo geral, percebemos que não há morfologia específica para a construção de sentenças médias, incoativas ou anticausativas. Não existem passivas em Dâw; no lugar desta voz, os falantes produzem sentenças incoativas ou com o sujeito subespecificado. As sentenças reflexivas são geradas por meio de pronomes reflexivos na posição de objeto da sentença. Por fim, vimos que objetos diretos de sentenças transitivas são marcados pelo morfema {-uuy\'} analisados por nós como MDO. Sua aplicação está condicionada a restrições semânticas de definitude e animacidade
This thesis describes and analyzes the argument structure and verbal classes of the Dâw language (Nadahup family, Amazon). We studied the verbs of that language from the semantic and syntactic perspective, identifying classes and subclasses according to the morphosyntactic behavior of verbal roots. Furthermore, we evaluated the descriptive and explanatory hypotheses of verb classes identified by Martins (2004), the first researcher to address Dâw morphosyntax. Our theoretical framework is the theory of argument structure developed by Hale & Keyser (2002), which proposes an analysis of the syntax and semantics of lexical items by means of the argument structure the pattern of structural relations between the head and its arguments within syntactical structures projected by the head itself. Through various language tests, including verbal valency alternation and judgment of (a)grammaticality, we reclassified the nine verb classes identified by Martins (2004) into three classes according to the verbal valency: the classes of intransitive verbs, transitive verbs and bitransitive verbs. Martins (2004) states that, in the sentence, the verbs may change in tone due to the presence of a transitivizing or intransitivizing tonal morpheme. However, we show in this paper that the tonal system of the language is predictable at the sentence level. Thus, regardless of the valency-increasing process involved, we realized that the tonal change of verbs arises due to the phonological phrasing of sentences. Regarding the transitivization process, subclasses of intransitive verbs were identified: alternating and non-alternating verbs. The restrictions on alternation are due to the argument structure of each verb type. In the case of unaccusative or alternating intransitive verbs, we observed that they are formed from a composite dyadic structure, projecting an internal specifier and a complement, which allows them to switch between intransitive and transitive forms. In the case of non-alternating verbs we found three patterns: denominal and unergative verbs, based on a monadic argument structure (that does not project internal specifier) that prevents alternation; non-alternating unaccusative verbs based on a monadic structure that takes a basic dyadic structure as a complement verbs of this type do not alternate because they are not formed by a dyadic structure, but contain such a structure n e jectiv l ve bs, f me f m c p l ve b th t t kes n jective s complement. Since the root and verbal head have full (non-empty) phonological content, no conflation is possible between head and root, which prevents the formation of the verbal predicate. This structure explains the agrammaticality of these verbs with regard to the automatic transitivization process. We also tested the syntax and semantics of intransitivization (inchoative constructions, passive, reflexive and middle voices). In general, we found that there is no specific morphology for constructing middle, inchoative or anticausative sentences. There are no passives in Dâw; in place of this voice, the speakers form sentences that are inchoative or have a subspecified subject. Reflexive sentences are created using reflexive pronouns in the position of the object of the sentence. Finally, we found that direct objects of transitive sentences are marked by the {-uuy\'} morpheme analyzed by us as DOM. Its use is subject to semantic constraints of definiteness and animacy

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Silva, Ivan Rocha da. "Não-finitude em Karitiana: subordinação versus nominalização." Universidade de São Paulo, 2016. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-25102016-122036/.

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A meta da presente tese é analisar as orações não-finitas em Karitiana. Esta é uma língua Ameríndia falada atualmente por 400 pessoas que habitam a Terra Indígena Karitiana. A reserva Karitiana está localizada a 95 quilômetros ao sul da área urbana de Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brasil. A língua é a única representante do ramo Arikém, família Tupi. A presente pesquisa investiga as diferenças entre as orações subordinadas que funcionam como orações subordinadas adverbiais, relativas e completivas, bem como a nominalização oracional e as orações infinitivas marcadas pelos sufixos e , respectivamente. Apesar de a língua não apresentar morfologia de tempo, modo ou concordância em subordinadas, ela possui várias outras características, tais como núcleos aspectuais, voz, variação na ordem de palavras (SOV ou OSV), morfologia de foco do objeto, o que sugere que se trata subordinação e não nominalização (Storto 1999, Storto 2012, Vivanco 2014). Mostramos ainda que as orações encaixadas Karitiana podem ser modificadas por advérbios, negação e evidenciais que estão associados a orações ou sintagmas verbais. Esta pesquisa levantou uma discussão que tem sido amplamente abordada na literatura sobre as orações subordinadas nãofinitas em línguas Ameríndias. A literatura sobre essas orações não-finitas mostra que muitos autores que assumem que elas são nominalizações utilizam dois argumentos: (1) a falta de traços finitos e (2) o fato de algumas línguas exibirem marcas de caso. Os argumentos com base no item (2) supramencionado não parece muito convincentes para assumirmos uma análise de nominalização em Karitiana, visto que orações subordinadas finitas em várias línguas podem ser usadas como complemento verbal e receber marcas de caso. A nossa análise apresentada nesta tese assume que a falta de traços finitos não significa necessariamente que estas orações sejam nominalizadas porque elas exibem em suas estruturas várias características de orações ativas, tais como núcleos funcionais de voz, aspecto, advérbios, negação e evidenciais. Tipologicamente, esses núcleos funcionais estão associados a orações ou a sintagmas verbais. E, internamente à língua, eles estão também relacionados a orações ou a sintagmas verbais tanto em ambientes finitos quanto em ambientes não-finitas.
The main aim of this dissertation is to analyze non-finite clauses in Karitiana. Karitiana is an endangered Amerindian language spoken today by approximately 400 people who live in a reservation located 59 miles south of the urban area of Porto Velho, the capital of the state of Rondônia, Brazil (Amazonian region). The language is the unique representative of the Arikém branch, one of the ten linguistic groupings identified inside the Tupian family. The current research investigates differences among embedded clauses that function as adverbial, relative, and complement clauses in Karitiana, as well as nominalization and infinitival embedding marked respectively by the suffixes and . Even though subordinate clauses in Karitiana do not display any finite morphology of agreement, tense, or mood, it is true that the language shows many other functional heads such as morphemes of causativization, passivization, and object focus construction, as well as aspectual nuclei, and word order variation (SOV, OSV), suggesting that they are clauses and not nominalizations (Storto 1999; Vivanco 2014). Furthemore, we show that Karitiana embedded clauses can be modified by adverbs, negation and evidentials that are associated with clauses or verbal phrases. The literature on non-finite clauses in Amerindian languages shows that many specialists in these languages have claimed that these clauses are nominalized based on two arguments: (1) lack of finite traits and (2) the fact that some of these languages display case-marking. The argument that the presence of case-marking in subordination characterizes them as nominalizations seems to be unconvincing because finite subordinate clauses in several languages can be used as verbal complement and can be marked with case. In our analysis, the lack of finite features also does not necessarily mean that these clauses are nominalizations, since Karitiana subordinate clauses exhibit other properties of active clauses such as functional heads: voice, aspect, adverbs, negation, and evidentials. Typologically, these functional heads are associated with clauses and, internally to the language, they are also correlated with clauses and verbal phrases, functioning either in matrix clauses or in subordinate clauses.

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Bassani, Indaiá de Santana. "Formação e interpretação dos verbos denominais do português do Brasil." Universidade de São Paulo, 2009. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-23112009-144713/.

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Em uma visão etimológica, o Verbo Denominal (VD) é aquele verbo que surgiu historicamente a partir de uma base nominal. Os dicionários consideram que um verbo é denominal quando sua forma nominal cognata tem uma datação anterior nos registros da língua. Há, dessa forma, duas maneiras de tratar a relação entre nome e verbo: em uma perspectiva sincrônica ou diacrônica. Como há certa mistura no tratamento do fenômeno, faz-se necessária uma distinção entre critérios etimológicos e sincrônicos para a determinação do que é um verbo denominal. No presente trabalho, buscamos encontrar critérios formais e sincrônicos para saber quais verbos diacronicamente considerados como denominais podem também ser assim considerados em uma análise sincrônica de formação das palavras e em quais casos há razões comprovadas para propor o abandono do rótulo denominal. Partimos de uma amostra de 4.548 verbos etimologicamente denominais do português, retirados do Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa, e a restringimos por critérios de frequência a 95 verbos, que constituíram de fato o objeto de análise do estudo. Submetemos todos os verbos a testes estruturais de formação de sentenças sugeridos por Kyparsky (1987), Hale & Keyser (2002) e Arad (2003), a saber: Alternância Causativo-incoativo (Teste1); Alternância Média (Teste 2); Presença de Expressão Perifrástica (Teste 3); Presença de Objeto Cognato (Teste 4); Presença de Adjunto Cognato (Teste 5); Presença de Adjuntos Hipônimos e Hiperônimos (Teste 6). As sentenças foram submetidas a julgamento de 40 falantes nativos de português brasileiro. Os resultados apontaram para uma heterogeneidade no comportamento da classe geral dos VDs. Em suma, há um grupo para os quais os testes indicam uma etapa nominal (gramaticalidade para testes 3,(4),5 e 6) e um outro grupo para os quais os testes não indicam a presença de uma etapa nominal na formação (agramaticalidade para testes 3,5 e 6). Há verbos que participam e não participam de alternâncias (gramaticalidade e agramaticalidade para testes 1 e 2) e, por fim, há um grupo de verbos em que uma acepção remete a uma etapa nominal e outra acepção remete a ausência de etapa nominal. Após observar alternativas de análise em teorias lexicalistas de regras de formação de palavras (Basílio, 1993) e sintaxe-lexical (Hale & Keyser, 2002), conseguimos diferenciar estruturas com uma etapa nominal (denominais) de estruturas derivadas diretamente da raiz com base nos pressupostos da teoria da Morfologia Distribuída (Halle & Marantz, 1993; Harley & Noyer, 1999), mais especificamente Arad (2003), Marantz (2008) e Harley (2005). Conseguimos representar estruturalmente os diferentes tipos de (supostos) VDs no que se refere ao seu comportamento sintático e sua relação semântica com os (supostos) nomes formadores. Em primeiro lugar, tratamos dois grandes grupos: o primeiro contém os verbos que são formados a partir da categorização de uma raiz por um nome (n) e, em seguida, por um verbo (v) (estruturas denominais sincrônicas) e o segundo por verbos que são formados pela categorização direta de uma raiz () por um verbo (v) (estruturas não-denominais). No primeiro grupo, o dos denominais, observamos diferenças no comportamento sintático e sugerimos para eles diferentes tipos de estruturas: de alternância, de não-alternância e location/locatum. Em seguida, discutimos dois tipos de fenômenos que culminam na formação tanto de verbos denominais quanto de verbos derivados diretamente da raiz para aqueles que parecem, em princípio, tratar-se de um só verbo (verbos com estruturas denominais e estruturas de maneira e Mesmo verbo com comportamentos opostos). Por fim, a maior contribuição teórica deste trabalho está em que avançamos no esclarecimento da diferença entre uma formação sincrônica e diacrônica de palavras, mostrando que nem sempre a explicação histórica é a única possível.
From an etymologycal point of view, the Denominal Verb is the one that derives historically from a nominal base. Dictionaries consider a verb as denominal when its cognate nominal form is older than the verbal one in language records. Thus, there are two ways of treating what is called denominal verb, regarding the relation between the noun and the verb: from a synchronic or from a dyachronic perspective. Since the description of this class is rather misleading, it is necessary to make a distinction between etymological and synchronic criteria in the definition of what a denominal verb is. For these reasons, the aim of this work is i) to find out synchronic and formal criteria to know which denominal verbs, from a diachronic point of view, can also be considered as such under a synchronic analysis of word formation and ii) in which cases can real reasons be found for the abandonment of the label denominal. We started from a sample of 4.548 etymologically denominal verbs in Portuguese, collected from Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa, and, due to a frequency criteria, we reduced it to 95 verbs that constitute, in fact, the object of this study. We submmited all the verbs to structural tests of sentence formation suggested by Kyparsky (1987), Hale & Keyser (2002) and Arad (2003), namely: Inchoative- Causative Alternation (Test 1); Middle Alternation (Test 2); Presence of Periphrastic Expression (Test 3); Presence of Cognate Object (Test 4); Presence of Cognate Adjunct (Test 5); Presence of Hiponimous and Hiperonimous Adjunction (Test 6).The sentences were submitted to the judgement of 40 native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The results pointed to heterogeneity in the behaviour of the general class of denominal verbs. To sum up, there is a group of verbs to which the tests indicated a nominal stage in the derivation of the verb (grammaticality for tests 3 (4), 5 and 6) and another group of verbs to which the tests did not indicate the presence of that nominal stage (agrammaticality for tests 3, 5 and 6). There are verbs that do and do not participate in alternations (gramaticality and agramaticality for tests 1 and 2) and, finally, there is a group of verbs for which one meaning indicates a nominal stage and the other meaning indicates the absence of such a nominal stage. After observing some analysis under lexicalist theories based on word formation rules (Basílio, 1993) or under lexico-syntactic approaches such as Hale & Keyser (2002), we could offer an analysis under which it is possible to distinguish the so-called denominal verbs in two classes: i) those represented by structures that include a nominal stage in the derivation (denominals), ii) those represented by structures in which the verb is derived directly from roots. This analysis is based on the Distributed Morphology model (Halle & Marantz, 1993; Harley & Noyer, 1999), more specifically, on Arad (2003), Marantz (2008) and Harley (2005). Our first step was to separate the two big groups: the first containing verbs that are derived from the categorization of a root () by a noun (n) and, then, by a verb (v) (synchronic denominal structures), and the second group containing verbs that are derived from the direct categorization of a root () by a verb (v) (non-denominal structures). In the first group, the denominal one, we observed that the sentences containing such verbs presented different syntactic behaviors and we suggested different kinds of structures: alternating, non-alternating and location/locatum. In sequence, we discussed some verbs that led us to suggest that they can be formed either as denominal verbs or as root-derived ones. We could then represent the structure of different types of so-called denominal verbs regarding their syntactic behavior and the relation they establish with the noun formed by the same root. Finally, the major theoretic contribution of this work is that we improved in clarifying the difference between a synchronic and a dyachronic word formation process, showing that the historical explanation is not always the single possibility.

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Assimakopoulos, Stavros. "Logical structure and relevance : on the context dependence of argument structure." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/24742.

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This thesis sets out to investigate mentalist pragmatics and its contribution to the study of the human cognitive capacity to develop linguistic abilities. Implementing the inferential view of communication that Relevance Theory endorses, it is indicated that the inferential processes that are involved in instances of linguistic usage are far more pervasive than already thought both within and outside the framework. Differentiating between the cognitive notion of maximal relevance and the communicative one of optimal relevance, it is argued that relevance considerations, in the two corresponding technical senses of the term, play a decisive role in the processes of context selection, communicated meaning attribution and argument realisation. More specifically, it is initially suggested that the hypothesis that human cognition tends to be geared towards maximal relevance can provide significant insights into the ways contextual information is selectively accessed in interpretation. Then, the semantics/pragmatics distinction is readdressed from a radically pragmatist perspective and a case is made for a ‘looser’ context-dependent semantics that provides the basis upon which interpretation occurs at both the lexical and – a fortiori – the propositional level. Furthermore, the organisation of the mental lexicon is discussed in this new setting where relevance constraints guide both the storage and employment of conceptual content that is used in communication. Against this background, a relevance-theoretic approach to problems that theories of argument structure face is provided in an attempt to account for the various patterns of argument realisation certain verbs customarily present. Overall, this research aims to shed light to the particulars mediating the contribution of context with respect to the usage of language, but also – and more crucially – reveal its significance in relation to the organisation of linguistic knowledge as a cognitive capacity.

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Mead, Jonathan Tufts. "Argument structure and the interpretation of deverbal compounds." Thesis, McGill University, 1988. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=64082.

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Noble, Claire. "Early comprehension of argument structure and semantic roles." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.526846.

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Klein, Udo Michael. "Encoding of argument structure in Romanian and Siswati." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498072.

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Ramchand, Gillian. "Aspect and predication : the semantics of argument structure /." Oxford : New York : Clarendon press ; Oxford university press, 1997. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37510857k.

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Sethuraman, Nitya. "The acquisition of verbs and argument structure constructions /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3049671.

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Goksel, Ash. "Levels of representation and argument structure in Turkish." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 1993. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28667/.

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This is a study of the argument structure of complex predicates in Turkish. The central hypothesis is that grammatical function changing phenomena such as morphological causativisation, passivisation and reflexivisation exhibit the interaction of processes of grammar and general reasoning. The work aims at explaining the properties of these constructions in the newly emerging framework of Labelled Deductive Systems (Gabbay 1990, Gabbay and Kempson 1992a,b), a model which articulates grammar as a natural deductive system. Part I provides the theoretical background for the analysis of complex predicates. The first chapter introduces the issues surrounding the representation of complex predicates and argues against a particular multi-stratal approach, syntactic incorporation. In the second chapter complex predicates are investigated within Licensing Grammar, a two-level syntactic model. It is argued that although this model accounts for certain asymmetries by virtue of characterising syntax and logic separately, its commitment to a static understanding of logic undermines its explanatory capacity. The third chapter lays out the properties of the model which is used in the remainder of the dissertation. The framework of LDS characterises linguistic phenomena as a process whereby instructions provided by lexical specifications dynamically interact, and syntactic structures unfold as these specifications are implemented. Part II is an analysis of causativisation, passivisation and reflexivisation in Turkish. It is argued that causativisation involves an altogether different mechanism from passivisation and reflexivisation. The causative affix in Turkish has declarative content and behaves like a predicate, whereas passivisation and reflexivisation are instructions operating on the argument structure of verbs. Chapter IV focuses on causativisation. It is shown that LDS, with its procedural apparatus, captures the problems surrounding the clausal nature of causativisation quite naturally. It is also argued that case marking in causative constructions, a previously problematic issue, receives a straightforward explanation once case marking is taken to give instructions for structure building in the combinatorial process. In Chapter V I propose a unitary account for passives and reflexives in Turkish. I suggest that both involve argument absorption defined through a notion of logical dependency, the difference between them being stated in terms of the argument to be absorbed. The interaction of these processes with case marking is analysed and the analysis of case marking is shown to make correct predictions. In Chapter VI the proposed analysis is extended to combinations of causatives, passives and reflexives and their interaction with case marking. We see that separating causativisation as a process which is radically distinct from the other two is justified and that the proposed properties of case marking are verified. Some sequences which remain problematic for all analyses are also discussed. The final chapter discusses the status of certain concepts and principles of Universal Grammar (the Projection Principle, Theta Theory, Case Theory, the Mirror Principle) in the light of the newly emerging model of LDS. With respect to configurationality, I argue that hierarchy and linearity need to be characterised separately, a possibility which is available in the framework of LDS.

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Gil, Vallejo Lara. "Exploiting verb similarity for event modelling." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668907.

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Aquest treball s'emmarca en l'àmbit del processament del llenguatge natural. Té l'objectiu d'explorar el potencial de la similitud verbal i, més concretament, de les classificacions verbals, a l'hora de capturar i modelitzar la informació bàsica relacionada amb l'expressió d'esdeveniments en espanyol. La tesi s'articula entorn de dos estudis que examinen la capacitat que té la similitud verbal de modelitzar la informació relativa als participants en esdeveniments. En primer lloc, elaborem una anàlisi de la similitud verbal amb relació a l'estructura argumental. Amb aquesta finalitat, partim de tres perspectives que tracten aquest tema: la lingüística teòrica, la lingüística de corpus i la psicolingüística, i analitzem com cadascuna defineix la similitud entre els verbs. Aquesta anàlisi ens serveix per a definir un conjunt de característiques lingüístiques i configuracions que s'apliquen en el segon estudi. Aquest estudi consisteix en la creació d'una classificació automàtica de sentits verbals amb l'ús d'un algorisme de clusterització (clustering). L'objectiu d'aquesta classificació és capturar l'estructura argumental dels verbs i reflectir-la en les classes, de tal manera que permeti modelitzar els participants en els esdeveniments expressats pels verbs. Les troballes ens permeten afirmar que la classificació verbal organitza la informació de manera que és capaç d'acomodar diferents aspectes de l'estructura argumental.
Este trabajo se enmarca dentro del ámbito del procesamiento del lenguaje natural. Su objetivo es explorar el potencial de la similitud verbal y, más concretamente, de las clasificaciones verbales, a la hora de capturar y modelizar la información básica relacionada con la expresión de acontecimientos en español. La tesis se articula en torno a dos estudios que examinan la capacidad de la similitud verbal para modelizar la información relativa a los participantes en acontecimientos. En primer lugar, elaboramos un análisis de la similitud verbal con relación a la estructura argumental. Para ello tomamos tres perspectivas que tratan este tema: la lingüística teórica, lingüística de corpus y la psicolingüística, y analizamos de qué modo cada una de ellas define la similitud entre los verbos. Este análisis nos sirve para definir un conjunto de características lingüísticas y configuraciones que se aplican en el segundo estudio. Este estudio consiste en la creación de una clasificación automática de sentidos verbales usando un algoritmo de agrupamiento (clustering). El objetivo de esta clasificación es capturar la estructura argumental de los verbos y reflejarla en las clases, de tal manera que permita modelizar a los participantes en los acontecimientos expresados por los verbos. Los hallazgos nos permiten afirmar que la clasificación verbal organiza la información de manera que es capaz de acomodar diferentes aspectos de la estructura argumental.
This paper aims to explore the potential of verb similarity, and more specifically of verb classifications, when it comes to capturing and modelling basic information related to events expressed in Spanish. The research is based on two studies that examine verb similarity's ability to model event participant information. We first perform a study of verb similarity with respect to argument structure, looking at its relevant characteristics through the lens of three different perspectives: linguistic theory, corpus linguistics and psycholinguistics. Based on this analysis, we choose the features and configurations to be explored in order to create an automatic classification of verb senses using a clustering algorithm. The aim of this automatic classification is to capture the argument structure of the verbs and apply it to the classifications in a way that allows us to adequately model the participants in the events expressed by those verbs. The evaluations carried out for this verb classification confirm automatic classifications' ability to capture and infer relevant information related to participants in events.

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Mateu, Fontanals Jaume. "Argument structure: relational construal at the syntax-semantics interface." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/4828.

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Aquesta tesi tracta de les propietats relacionals de la sintaxi i la semàntica de l'estructura argumental. En especial, estudio la relació entre l'estructura argumental i la descomposició lèxica: defenso que una descomposició mínima dels elements lèxics (e.g., ensellar o trencar) és necessària si es vol donar compte de les seves estructures relacionals complexes.
Al capítol primer s'hi proposa la hipòtesi teòrica principal segons la qual hi ha un homomorfisme important entre la sintaxi i la semàntica relacionals de l'estructura argumental. Demostro que a aquesta hipòtesi se li pot donar una base teòrica si i només si es fa la distinció langackeriana següent: el significat és una funció del contingut conceptual i de la construalitat semàntica. En introduir aquesta distinció en el paradigma generativista, argumento que només la construalitat semàntica es codifica de manera transparent a la sintaxi. Poso també especial èmfasi a fer veure que la meva aproximació a l'estudi de l'estructura argumental participa tant de la teoria sintàctica de Hale i Keyser (1998, 1999a) com de la teoria semàntica de Mateu (1999).
Al capítol segon s'hi analitzen les propietats relacionals de la sintaxi i la semàntica dels verbs inacusatius i inergatius. Exemplifico la meva anàlisi de la 'inacusativitat' amb l'estudi de dos casos diferents: en primer lloc, faig una explicació formal dels aspectes semàntics relacionals que determinen la selecció d'auxiliar en llengües com l'italià i el francès; en segon lloc, defenso que l'anàlisi de la construcció progressiva implica una estructura inacusativa locativa que domina l'estructura argumental que està lèxicament associada al predicat verbal.
Al capítol tercer s'hi estudien les propietats relacionals de la sintaxi i la semàntica de l'anomenada 'elasticitat del significat verbal' (Rappaport Hovav i Levin 1998). Es demostra que la variació lingüística que afecta aquest fenomen està relacionada amb la distinció tipològica de Talmy (1985, 1991, 2000) entre llengües d'emmarcament en el satèl·lit com l'anglès, l'alemany o el neerlandès, i llengües d'emmarcament en el verb com el català, l'espanyol o el francès. S'hi analitzen de manera detallada la sintaxi i la semàntica relacionals de dues construccions que són típiques de les llengües d'emmarcament en el satèl·lit: les construccions de moviment que inclouen un verb de manera de moviment i un trajecte fitat, i les construccions resultatives complexes. Poso especial èmfasi a demostrar per què en català no existeixen aquestes construccions. Faig veure també per què en català no existeixen determinats verbs denominals complexos ni certs casos d'alternances locatives, que són més aviat típics de llengües germàniques com l'alemany o el neerlandès.
Al capítol quart s'hi estudia l'anomenada 'restricció d'objecte directe' en les construccions resultatives de l'anglès. Tot i que s'ha posat en dubte aquesta restricció (e.g., vegeu Rappaport Hovav i Levin 2001), faig veure les raons per les quals cal recuperar la validesa d'aquesta restricció. En aquest capítol s'hi analitza també la sintaxi i la semàntica relacionals d'una construcció idiomàtica de l'anglès que té un correlat molt directe amb les construccions resultatives: i.e., la "way-construction". Demostro també per què aquesta construcció no transgredeix la 'restricció d'objecte directe', tot i que ho pugui semblar a primer cop d'ull.
Al capítol cinquè s'hi fa un resum força extens de les tesis més rellevants que un hom pot extreure d'aquest treball. Aquestes tesis les exemplifico a partir de l'anàlisi de la sintaxi i la semàntica relacionals d'un dels meus casos d'estudi preferits: el verb climb. Cal advertir que aquest capítol està pensat per a aquell lector (cada vegada més freqüent!) que vol saber amb un cert detall de què tracta la tesi, però que no té temps per a llegir-se-la tota.
This thesis deals with the relational syntax and semantics of argument structure. Special attention is paid to the relation between argument structure and lexical decomposition: a minimal decomposition of lexical items like to saddle or to break is argued to be necessary in order to elucidate their complex relational structures.
In chapter 1 I put forward the hypothesis that there is a strong homomorphism between the relational syntax and semantics of argument structure. This hypothesis is shown to gain theoretical support iff a fundamental distinction is drawn: meaning is a function of both non-syntactically transparent conceptual content and syntactically transparent semantic construal. Accordingly, a syntactically transparent approach to semantic composition is adopted in the present framework, which partakes in both Hale & Keyser's (1998, 1999a) syntactic theory of the basic argument structure types and Mateu's (1999) semantic theory of argument structure, which assumes that certain meanings are associated to certain structures.
In chapter 2 I analyze the relational syntax and semantics of unaccusative and unergative verbs. The present analysis of unaccusativity is exemplified with two different case studies: Firstly, I provide a formal account of the relational semantic determinants of 'aux-selection' in languages like Italian and French. Secondly, I argue that the progressive construction can be analyzed as involving a locative unaccusative structure over that argument structure lexically associated to the verbal predicate.
In chapter 3 I put forward a relational syntactic and semantic account of the crosslinguistic variation involved in the so-called 'elasticity of verb meaning' (Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998). Such a variation is argued to be related to Talmy's (1985, 1991, 2000) typological distinction between 'satellite-framed languages' and 'verb-framed languages'. In particular, I analyze two constructions that are typical of satellite-framed languages like English, Dutch or German: complex telic path of motion constructions and complex resultative constructions. I also show why these constructions are impossible in verb-framed languages like Catalan or Spanish. Moreover, I provide an explanation of why certain classes of complex denominal verbs and some cases of locative alternation are more productive in satellite-framed languages rather than in verb-framed ones.
In chapter 4 I argue my way to the conclusion that the so-called 'Direct Object Restriction' (DOR) on resultative constructions, which has been recently called into question by Rappaport Hovav & Levin (2001), must be regained. In this chapter I also put forward a relational syntactic and semantic analysis of the so-called way-construction, showing that, despite appearances, such an idiomatic construction does not violate the DOR either.
Chapter 5 provides an extensive recapitulation of some relevant theses worth being drawn from the present work. I exemplify them by providing a relational syntactic and semantic analysis of one of my favorite case studies: i.e., the verb climb.
CAVEAT: Chapter 5 is mainly intended for that reader who does not want to spend time reading a 300-pages work on lexical decomposition issues, but nonetheless wants a very detailed summary of it.

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Theakston, Anna L. "Investigation into the early acquisition of verb-argument structure." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.488203.

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This study examines the early acquisition of verb-argument structure within the theoretical frameworks of both nativist and empiricist approaches to language acquisition. The aim is to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach and establish to what extent each approach provides an accurate description of the developmental data. Data collect ion took the form of naturalistic audio-tape recordings of individual mother-child dyads engaged in normal everyday interaction. Twelve predominantly middle-class families took parr in the study. The children are all first-borns and monolingual. At the beginning of the study. the children were aged between 21-24 months with MLUs of between 1.00-2.50. Each child was taped for two separate hours in each three week period for the duration of one year. In total, 395 hours of data were collected. The data was transcribed in CHAT format using the CHILDES system of transcription (MacWhinney. 1995). Three separate analyses were carried out to assess the role of performance limitations in the acquisition of verb-argument structure (Valian, 1991), the role of semantically simple or 'light' verbs in early speech (Pinker. 1989). and the development of argument structure from a constructivist perspective (Tomasello, 1992). In all cases, the method of analysis used was fine-grained and operated at the lexical level rather than at the level of abstract grammatical classes. The findings of these studies suggest that analysis at the general level, as adopted by nativist ihcorixts, typically results in children being credited with an abstract knowledge of grammatical categories and rules which is not supported by fine-grained analysis of [he data. When the data is examined at the lexical level. there is evidence to suggest that children acquire verb-argument structure in a lexically-specific manner based around individual verbs and other lexical items. Thus. in no sense do children show evidence of operating with innate grammatical knowledge. Furthermore, the particular verbs and structures the children acquire early in development are closely related to the verbs and structures used by their mothers. with frequency of use playing a particularly important role. These findings suggest that children are unlikely to learn language guided by innate grammatical knowledge of the type assumed by nativist theorists. Instead. it is proposed that the process of language acquisition may depend on a distributional processor which is sensitive to the distributional regularities of the input. This process would predict that children will first learn lexically-specific patterns of high frequency in the input. and only over time will children come to acquire the more complex grammatical classes assumed to exist in adult language.

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Perek, Florent. "Verbs, Constructions, Alternations : Usage-based perspectives on argument realization." Thesis, Lille 3, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012LIL30036.

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L’objectif général de la présente thèse est d’évaluer dans quelle mesure la grammaire des verbes, aussi appelée complémentation verbale, peut être basée sur l’usage de la langue. La linguistique de l’usage (usage-based approach) constitue un récent changement de paradigme dans les sciences du langage, qui défend l’idée que la grammaire est un inventaire dynamique d’unités symboliques qui émergent et sont constamment redéfinies par l’usage de la langue. En adoptant une approche constructionnelle de la complémentation verbale et sur la base de données de l’anglais, nous traitons la question de la relation entre la grammaire des verbes et leur usage à trois niveaux d’organisation.Au niveau des verbes, nous comparons des résultats expérimentaux à des données de corpus, et trouvons que les plus fréquentes valences d’un verbe sont traitées plus facilement, ce qui montre que la valence est basée sur l’usage. Au niveau des constructions, nous montrons que, dans le cas de la construction conative, il est possible de formuler le sens d’une construction sur la base du sens des verbes en se plaçant au niveau de classes sémantiques, mais moins facilement au niveau le plus abstrait. Nous considérons ceci comme une preuve supplémentaire de l’importance des schémas de bas niveau sur les généralisations abstraites. Au niveau des alternances, nous suggérons que la productivité verbale peut être basée sur des relations d’alternances. Nous montrons que l’alternance dative présente une asymétrie en productivité, et que cette asymétrie peut être expliquée par des différences correspondantes en termes du nombre de verbes utilisés dans chaque construction
The general goal of this thesis is to investigate to what extent the grammar of verbs, also called argument realization, can be based on linguistic usage. The usage-based approach is a recent paradigm shift in linguistics which takes the view that grammar is a dynamic inventory of symbolic conventions that emerges through, and is likewise shaped by, actual language use. Adopting a constructional approach to argument structure and on the basis of English data, we address the question of the usage basis of argument realization at three levels of organization.At the level of verbs, we compare experimental results to usage data, and find that more frequent valency patterns of a verb are processed more easily. These findings provide evidence for the usage basis of valency. At the level of constructions, we show that, in the case of the conative construction, it is possible to formulate constructional generalizations on the basis of verbal meaning at the level of semantically defined verb classes, but not so easily at the most abstract level. We take this as further evidence of the importance of lower-level schemas over broad generalizations. At the level of alternations, we present usage-based evidence that productivity can be based on alternation relations. We report that the dative alternation displays a productivity asymmetry, and we show that these differences can be explained by corresponding asymmetries in type frequencies

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Melchin, Paul. "The Semantic Basis for Selectional Restrictions." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/38831.

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In this thesis I investigate the relationship between the semantics of a verb and its selectional restrictions, which determine how many and what kind of arguments it must occur with in a clause. For most verbs, these restrictions are predictable from the semantics of the verb, but there are pairs of verbs with very similar semantics that differ in their argument restrictions. For example, both ask and wonder can take questions as their complements (John asked/wondered what time it was), but of the two, only ask can take a noun phrase complement with a question-like interpretation (John asked/*wondered the time). Similarly, while both eat and devour are verbs of consumption, the object can be omitted with eat but not devour (John ate/*devoured yesterday). Due to these and similar examples, many linguists have claimed that selectional restrictions are to some extent arbitrary and unpredictable from the semantics, and therefore must be learned as part of our knowledge of the relevant verbs. In this thesis I argue that these differences are not arbitrary; they recur across languages, and they can be predicted on the basis of lexical semantics, meaning they do not need to be learned on a word-by-word basis. In order for selectional features to be eliminated from the grammar, and replaced with semantic generalizations, two things must be shown. First, it must be demonstrated that the elements being selected for can be defined in terms of their semantics, rather than their syntactic properties. If not, the selectional properties could not be considered to be fully predictable based on the semantics of the selecting and selected items. Second, it must be shown that the selectional restrictions of a predicate are predictable from components of the selecting predicate’s meaning. In other words, the semantics of both the selected and the selecting elements must be accounted for. I focus mainly on the semantics of selected elements in Chapter 2, and on selecting elements in Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 2 provides a brief review of the literature on selectional features, and argues that the elements being selected need not be defined in terms of their syntactic category and features. Instead, what are selected for are the semantic properties of the selected items. While the relationship between syntactic and semantic categories and properties is often systematic, it is not always, which can make it difficult in certain cases to determine the semantic basis for predicting what elements will be selected. Specifically, I argue that what appears to be selection for clausal categories (CPs or TPs) is in fact selection for propositional entities (including questions, assertions, facts, and so on); apparent selection for bare verb phrases (vPs) is selection for eventualities (events or states); and apparent selection for nominals (DPs) is selection for objects or things. Only properties of the nearest semantic entity (i.e., excluding elements embedded therein) can be selected for. In this way, I account for the selectional asymmetries between clausal and nominal complements noted by Bruening (2009) and Bruening et al. (2018): predicates selecting clausal complements can only select for (semantic) properties of the upper portion of the clause (in the CP domain), not for the lower portion (the vP domain), while predicates taking nominal complements can select for any properties of the nominal rather than being restricted to the upper portion. Since all syntactic properties of items are encoded as features, on a syntactic account it is expected that all features should be involved in selectional restrictions, contrary to fact; the semantic approach taken here allows for a principled explanation of what can and cannot be selected for. In Chapters 3 and 4 I turn to the lexical semantics of selecting elements, showing that these too are involved in determining selectional restrictions. I start in Chapter 3 by looking at c-selection (i.e., syntactic selection), specifically the case of eat versus devour. As mentioned above, their selectional properties of these two verbs differ in that the complement of eat is optional, while that of devour is obligatory, despite the two verbs having similar meanings. I show that this is due to the aspectual properties of these verbs: devour denotes an event where the complement necessarily undergoes a complete scalar change (i.e., it must be fully devoured by the end of the event), which means that the complement must be syntactically realized (Rappaport Hovav and Levin 2001; Rappaport Hovav 2008). Eat, on the other hand, does not entail a complete change of state in its complement, and so the complement is optional. I show that the correlation between scalar change entailments and obligatory argument realization holds for a wider group of verbs as well. Thus, the c-selectional properties of eat, devour, and similar verbs need not be stipulated in their lexical entries. In Chapter 4 I turn to the selection of complements headed by a particular lexical item, as with rely, which requires a PP complement headed by on, a phenomenon commonly referred to as l-selection. I show that the sets of verbs and prepositions involved in l-selection, and the observed verb-preposition combinations, are not fully random but can instead be (partially) predicted based on the thematic properties of the items in question. Furthermore, I show that there are different kinds of l-selecting predicates, and one kind is systematically present in satellite-framed languages (like English) and absent in verb-framed languages (like French), based on the Framing Typology of Talmy (1985, 1991, 2000). I account for this difference by analyzing l-selection as an instance of complex predicate formation, and showing that a certain kind of complex predicate (exemplified by rely on) is possible in satellite-framed languages but not in verb-framed languages. Thus, I show that the features that get selected for are semantic features, and that the problematic cases of eat versus devour and l-selection have semantic correlates, and need not be stipulated in the lexicon. While this leaves many instances of selectional features unaccounted for, it provides proposals for some components of lexical semantics that are relevant to selection, and demonstrates that a research program directed toward eliminating the remaining cases is plausibly viable.

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McCann, Clare. "Verb production in fluent aphasia : an analysis of argument structure and event structure." Thesis, University of Reading, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.414617.

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Belkacem, Nadia. "Les Verbes en Tamazight: structure argumentale et sémantique." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/672718.

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Notre sujet de recherche se focalise sur la structure argumentale et la sémantique des verbes en tamazight, un sujet peu étudié auparavant. Dans la classification linguistique des langues, tamazight est classifiée comme une branche à part de la famille afro-asiatique. Cette langue, occupant un vaste espace géographique en Afrique du Nord appelé Tamazgha, est composée de plusieurs variantes dont celle du Centre-Nord (Algérie). C’est sur cette variante que nous avons centré notre recherche qui a produit les résultats suivants : 1. Analyse syntactico-sémantique de classes de verbes en tamazight, incluant, entre autres, la diathèse, les alternances de la structure argumentale et les morphèmes de dérivation verbale; 2. description de la structure argumentale de 150 verbes en tamazight, correspondant à 300 formes verbales, 700 acceptions et 850 structures, accompagnée des expressions figées et semi-figées associées à chaque verbe; 3. construction d’une base de données numérique convenablement structurée qui contient toutes les informations sur la structure argumentale des verbes analysés et qui présente une riche interface de recherche sur internet. C’est un outil qui servirait aux lexicographes de tamazight pour améliorer et enrichir les entrées de verbes dans les dictionnaires, qui actuellement n’incluent pratiquement pas d’informations sur la structure argumentale des verbes. Ces nouvelles données linguistiques apportées sur les structures et expressions verbales de cette langue serviront entre autres pour sa lexicographie, son traitement automatique et son enseignement. En général, elles constituent un approfondissement des connaissances sur cette langue.
El nostre tema de recerca es centra en l'estructura argumental i semàntica dels verbs en tamazight. En la classificació llingüística de les llengües, tamazight constitueix una branca pròpia en la família afro-asiàtica. Aquesta llengua, que ocupa un vast espai geogràfic al nord d’Àfrica anomenat Tamazgha, es compon de diverses variants, inclosa la del centre-nord (Algèria). És en aquesta variant que hem centrat la nostra investigación que ha produit els següents resultats: 1. Anàlisi sintactico-semàntica de certes classes de verbs en tamazight incloent, entre d'altres, la diàtesi, les alternances de l'estructura argumental i els morfemes de derivació verbal; 2. descripció de l’estructura argumental de 150 verbs en tamazight, corresponents a 300 formes verbals, 700 significats i 850 estructures, acompanyades de les expressions congelades i semicongelades associades a cada verb; 3. construcció d'una base de dades estructurada adequadament que conté tota la informació sobre l'estructura argumental dels 150 verbs analitzats i que presenta una interfície de cerca complexa. És una eina que els lexicògrafs de tamazight utilitzarien per a millorar i enriquir les entrades verbals dels diccionaris, que actualment amb prou feines inclouen informació sobre l’estructura argumental dels verbs. Aquestes noves dades lingüístiques proporcionades sobre les estructures i expressions verbals d’aquesta llengua s’utilitzaran, entre altres coses, per a la lexicografia, el seu processament automàtic i l’ensenyament. En general, constitueixen un aprofundiment del coneixement d’aquest idioma.
Our research topic focuses on the argument structure and semantics of verbs in Tamazight. In the linguistic classification of languages, Tamazight constitutes a separate branch of the Afro-Asian family. This language present in a vast geographical area in North Africa called Tamazgha, is composed of several varieties including Northern-Central Tamazight (Algeria). It is on this variety that we have concentrated our research which has produced the following results: 1. Syntactico-semantic analysis of certain classes of verbs in Tamazight, including, among others, diathesis, alternations of argument structure and morphemes of verbal derivation; 2. description of the argument structure of some 150 verbs in Tamazight, corresponding to 300 verbal forms, 700 meanings and 850 structures, accompanied by the fixed and semi-fixed expressions associated with each verb; 3. construction of a suitably structured database which contains all the information on the argument structure of the 150 verbs analyzed and which presents a rich web-based search interface. It is a tool that would be used by Tamazight lexicographers to improve and enrich verb entries in dictionaries, which currently hardly include information on the argument structure of verbs. This new linguistic data on verbal structures and expressions of this language will be used, among other things, for its lexicography, its automatic processing and teaching. In general, it will increase the knowledge on this language.
Nuestro tema de investigación se centra en la estructura argumental y la semántica de los verbos en tamazight, un tema poco estudiado antes. En la clasificación lingüística de idiomas, el tamazight se clasifica como una rama separada de la familia afroasiática. Esta lengua, que ocupa un vasto espacio geográfico en el norte de África llamado Tamazgha, se compone de varias variantes, incluida la del centro-norte (Argelia). Es en esta variante que hemos centrado nuestra investigación que ha producido los siguientes resultados: 1. Análisis Análisis sintáctico-semántica de ciertas clases de verbos en tamazight incluyendo, entre otros, la diátesis, las alternancias de la estructura argumental y los morfemas de derivación verbal; 2. descripción de la estructura argumental de 150 verbos en tamazight, correspondientes a 300 formas verbales, 700 significados y 850 estructuras, acompañadas de las expresiones fijas y semi-fijas asociadas a cada verbo; 3. Construcción de una base de datos adecuadamente estructurada que contenga toda la información sobre la estructura argumental de los 150 verbos analizados y que presente una rica interfaz de búsqueda. Es una herramienta que utilizarían los lexicógrafos de tamazight para mejorar y enriquecer las entradas verbales de los diccionarios, que actualmente apenas incluyen información sobre la estructura argumental de los verbos. Estos nuevos datos lingüísticos aportados sobre las estructuras y expresiones verbales de esta lengua serán utilizados, entre otras cosas, para su lexicografía, su procesamiento automático y su enseñanza. En general, constituyen una profundización del conocimiento de este idioma.

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de, Valdivia Pujol Glòria. "Russian Deverbal Nouns: Lexical Denotation, Argument Structure & Translation Mismatches." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/285528.

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This thesis presents a descriptive empirical study of deverbal nominalizations. Very often what can be expressed by means of a deverbal noun can also be expressed by means of a verbal construction and vice-versa. Deverbal nouns are hybrid categories that have a mixture of verbal and nominal features. These nouns can denote either the action named by the base verb, being, in this case, a paraphrase of a verbal construction, or the result of that action. If nouns denoting processes are closer to verbs, nouns denoting a result, that is, a concrete or an abstract entity resulting from the action, are closer to nouns. Both result and event nouns inherit the argument structure of the base verb. These analyses of the lexical denotation of deverbal nouns and their argument structure are two of the main aims of this thesis. The third goal is the descriptive and comparative study of translation mismatches between Russian and Spanish deverbal noun constructions. The thesis is structured in the following way in order to cover these three points. In the first chapter, we present a brief introduction of the whole thesis, we highlight the main goals and motivations for carrying out this threefold study. In the second chapter, we describe the linguistic resources used in the development of this project. We first introduce the monolingual and bilingual corpora, and then, the lexicons. In the third chapter, we discuss the relationship between the morphological and lexical aspects of the base verb and the lexical denotation of the deverbal noun. We also study other factors that may influence the lexical denotation of the deverbal noun. In the fourth chapter, we present the study of the argument structure of deverbal nouns focusing on the type of constituent that can be an argument, how the arguments are realized and their possible combinations, which ends in the obtention of the more freqüent syntactico-semantic patterns. In chapter five, we present the descriptive and comparative study of translation mismatches of deverbal nouns between Russian and Spanish. We provide our classification of the translation mismatches depending on the interrelation and number of linguistic changes (morphologic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic) involved. Finally, in the last chapter we present our conclusions and ideas for further research.
Aquesta tesi presenta un estudi descriptiu empíric sobre les nominalitzacions deverbals del rus. Molt sovint, allò que es pot expressar a través d’un nom deverbal es pot expressar també a través d’una construcció verbal. Els noms deverbals són categories mixtes que barregen trets verbals amb trets nominals. Aquests noms poden expressar l’acció denotada pel verb base, en aquest cas es poden considerar paràfrasis d’una construcció verbal, o bé el resultat de l’acció. Així doncs, els noms deverbals que denoten l’acció del verb estan més a prop del verb, mentre que els noms deverbals que denoten el resultat de l’acció, és a dir, una entitat concreta o abstracta, estan més a prop del nom. Partim de la hipòtesi que ambdós tipus de nom hereten l’estructura argumental del verb base. Aquestes dues anàlisis, és a dir, l’estudi de la denotació lèxica del nom deverbal i de l’estructura argumental dels noms deverbals són dos dels tres objectius principals de la tesi. El tercer objectiu és l’estudi descriptiu i comparatiu dels desajustos de traducció entre les construccions amb noms deverbals en rus i castellà. La tesi s’estructura de la manera següent: En el primer capítol, presentem una breu introducció a la tesi on descrivim els objectius i les motivacions principals d’aquest estudi. En el segon capítol, es descriuen els recursos lingüístics que hem utilitzat en el transcurs del treball. Primer, introduïm els corpora monolingües i bilingües i, finalment, els lexicons. En el tercer capítol, analitzem la relació entre l’aspecte morfològic i lèxic del verb base. També estudiem altres factors que poden influir en la denotació lèxica del nom deverbal. En el quart capítol, presentem l’estudi de l’estructura argumental dels noms deverbals centrant-nos en el tipus de constituent que pot ser argumental, com es realitzen els arguments i les seves possibles combinacions. D’aquesta anàlisi, en resulta l’obtenció dels patrons sintàctico-semàntics dels noms deverbals més freqüents. En el cinquè capítol, presentem l’estudi descriptiu i comparatiu dels desajustos de traducció entre el rus i el castellà. En aquest capítol proposem una classificació de desajustos de traducció en funció de la interrelació i el nombre de canvis lingüístics (morfològics, sintàctics, semàntics i pragmàtics). Finalment, en el darrer capítol presentem les nostres conclusions i idees per a una futura recerca.

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Ebbels, Susan Helen. "Argument structure in Specific Language Impairment : from theory to therapy." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2005. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1444649/.

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This thesis is in two parts: the first focuses on theories of SLI and the development of argument structure while the second focuses on intervention. Chapter 1 reviews experimental findings and theories of SLI and finds that while some areas of language are well-researched, others (including argument structure) have received relatively little attention. Chapter 2 reviews the literature regarding the development of argument structure and concludes that studies of typical development have not investigated use of alternations and omissions of obligatory arguments, whereas studies of SLI have little focus on alternations or overgeneralisations. Chapters 4 and 5 therefore consider the performance of typically developing children and children with SLI on all these areas. I find typically developing children differ from adults in their use of the causative alternation and overgeneralisation of the locative alternation. The children with SLI have difficulties with argument structure, avoiding the ditransitive form of the dative alternation and making more errors with change of state verbs and omission of arguments. A secondary focus (Chapter 6) is on the influence of phonological complexity and length (measured by a non-word repetition test) on the language abilities of children with SLI. The results show a bimodal split where half the children with SLI show normal abilities and half have significant difficulties. Chapter 7 discusses the implications of the experimental findings for theories of SLI. Part 2 reviews intervention studies for SLI (Chapter 8) and presents an intervention study focusing on argument structure (Chapter 9). 27 secondary-aged children with SLI are randomly assigned to three groups, one control and two target therapies focusing on semantics vs constructions. Both target groups show significant progress. Thus, this thesis shows that detailed investigations of the nature of the deficit in SLI can lead to successful interventions even for children with severe, persistent difficulties.

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Jong, Jan de. "Specific language impairment in Dutch : inflectional morphology and argument structure /." Groningen, Netherlands : [Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen], 1999. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=008846575&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.

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Noh, Bokyung. "English secondary prediction : the interface between focus and argument structure /." Digital version accessible at:, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.

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Hughson, Stuart Ian. "Pitching an argument : intonation, information, and inference in syllogistic discourse." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1907.

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In the century or so that syllogisms have received the attention of psychologists, their interpretation both as and within particular types of discourse has been largely downplayed. A significant element in the guidance of interpretation is information structure as expressed in prosody. This thesis explores the role of intonation in syllogistic discourse and its effect on reasoning. A theoretical analysis of the information structures of syllogisms is presented which produces two classes of intonation patterns, the 'contextually concordant' (CC) and the 'contextually neutral' (CN), putatively corresponding to two discourse types. These are then investigated in a series of experiments. The initial observational study aims at confirming the use and significance of CC and CN patterns in a syllogism solving task. The remaining two experiments employ a purpose-built voice synthesiser to investigate the effects of imposing CC and CN contours on premises, first in a syllogism solving task and then in a syllogism evaluation task. The results show that both CC and CN intonation patterns are indeed used by participants and bear a systematic relationship to both the number and accuracy of conclusions they draw. When used in the presentation of syllogisms, however, these patterns do not influence the production of conclusions, only the evaluation of them. It is therefore argued that the discourse types to which they relate depend upon whether the syllogism is interpreted as a proof or as a problem. Further work based on these findings could aim to probe the informational links between conclusions and premises and thereby elucidate the coherence of arguments.

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Minussi, Rafael Dias. "Os sabores do nome: um estudo sobre a seleção de argumentos e as nominalizações do hebraico." Universidade de São Paulo, 2012. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-10122012-104650/.

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O objetivo maior deste trabalho é argumentar em favor de que a informação sobre a estrutura argumental das nominalizações está codificada em núcleos funcionais, os quais podem possuir sabores diferentes, isto é, propriedades diversas como causatividade, eventividade, reflexividade etc., em vez de tal informação estar codificada nas raízes abstratas como assumem autores como: Marantz (1997), Embick (2004), Harley (2008), entre outros. O objetivo específico deste trabalho, por sua vez, é analisar como é formado um grupo de padrões do hebraico, o qual forma nomes de ações (cf. GLINERT, 1989), e mostrar que nem todas as nominalizações são formadas por uma camada verbal, contra Hazout (1995) e Shlonsky (2004). Utilizamos como arcabouço teórico do presente trabalho a Morfologia Distribuída (cf. HALLE; MARANTZ, 1993; MARANTZ, 1997; SIDDIQI, 2009), uma teoria não-lexicalista, a qual propõe que tanto palavras, quanto sentenças são formadas pelas mesmas operações durante a derivação sintática. De modo especial, utilizamos a noção de fase dentro de palavras (cf. MARANTZ, 2001 e ARAD, 2003), para explicar que alguns nominais possuem padrões vocálicos que não são atômicos (contra ARAD, 2005), mas são formados em duas fases: uma fase verbal e outra nominal, enquanto outros nominais são formados em apenas uma fase: a nominal. Em nossa análise, privilegiamos quatro padrões vocálicos formadores de nominais de ação: CCiCa, CiCuC, haCCaCa, hitCCaCut, de modo que encontramos restrições diferentes para cada um dos padrões. Tais restrições dizem respeito a: (i) modificação por adjetivos e advérbios; (ii) possibilidade de alçamento dentro de DPs; (iii) obrigatoriedade de interpretação de um argumento agente e (iv) obrigatoriedade de interpretação reflexiva. Além disso, analisamos os possíveis contextos sintáticos em que são encontrados esse nominais, isto é, analisamos quais são as possibilidades de interação desses nominais com o Construct State, o Free State, a Marca Diferencial de Objeto et e com a presença de uma by phrase. Como resultado da análise, defendemos que o padrão CCiCa seja um padrão formado por apenas uma fase nominal, o que explica a sua impossibilidade de modificação por advérbios genuínos, isto é, advérbios que possuem uma morfologia típica de advérbio. Por sua vez, o padrão CiCuC é formado por duas fases: uma fase verbal, que aceita a modificação por advérbios genuínos; e uma fase nominal, que permite a modificação por adjetivos. Já o padrão haCCaCa foi analisado como formado por apenas uma fase nominal, tanto por causa da sua morfologia, que não apresenta resquícios de uma morfologia verbal, quanto pela sua semântica obrigatoriamente agentiva, que o diferencia do padrão verbal ao qual ele está relacionado. Por fim, consideramos que o padrão hitCCaCut é formado por duas fases, o que está de acordo com a presença de uma morfologia verbal que compõe o padrão e com o tipo de argumento interno que é licenciado.
The main goal of this work is to argue that information over argument structure of nominalizations is coded in functional heads, which can have distinct flavors, that is, distinct properties, such as causativity, eventivity, reflexivity, etc., instead of that information being coded in the abstract roots, as assumed by Marantz (1997), Embick (2004), Harley (2008), among others. The specific object of this work, on the other hand, is to analyze how a certain group of patterns that generates action nouns in Hebrew is formed, and to show that not all nominalizations are formed by a verbal layer, contra Hazout (1995) and Shlonsky (2004). We use, in this work, the theoretical framework of Distributed Morphology (cf. HALLE; MARANTZ, 1993; MARANTZ, 1997; SIDDIQI, 2009), a non-lexicalist theory which claims that both words and sentences are formed by the same operations, within the syntactic derivation. In a special way, we use the notion of phases within words (cf. MARANTZ, 2001 e ARAD, 2003) in order to explain that some nouns possess vocal patterns that are not atomic (contra ARAD, 2005), but are formed in two separate phases: a verbal one, and a nominal one, while other nouns are formed only by the nominal phase. In our analysis, we privilege four noun formation vocal patterns: CCiCa, CiCuC, haCCaCa, hitCCaCut, each one of them bearing a distinct set of restrictions. Such restrictions concern: (i) modification by adjectives and adverbs; (ii) possibility of raising within DPs; (iii) mandatory interpretation of an agentive argument and (iv) mandatory reflexive interpretation. Furthermore, we analyzed the possible syntactic contexts in which these nouns are found, that is, we analyzed which are the possibilities of interaction between these nouns and the Construct State, the Free State, the Differential Object Marker et a the presence of a by phrase. As a result of the analysis, we defend that the pattern CCiCa is formed by only a nominal phase, which explains its impossibility of being modified by genuine adverbs, that is, adverbs that possess adverbial morphology. On the other hand, the pattern CiCuC is formed by two phases: a verbal phase, which accounts for the modification by genuine adverbs; and a nominal phase, which allows for the modification by adjectives. The pattern haCCaCa, in its turn, was analyzes as formed by a nominal phase alone, both because its morphology, which does not present traces of verbal morphology, as for its obligatory agentive semantics, which differentiates it from the verbal pattern to which it is related to. Last, we considered that the pattern hitCCaCut is formed by two phases, which is compatible to the presence of verbal morphology, that composes the pattern, and to the type of argument that is licensed by it.

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Jung, Hyun Kyoung. "On the Syntax of Applicative and Causative Constructions." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/321581.

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This dissertation investigates the argument structure of verb phrases by identifying the syntactic roles and locations of the functional heads it consists of. Since the early 1990s, it has been widely accepted that the basic verb phrase consists of two distinct projections of a functional layer v/VoiceP, and a lexical layer √/VP (Chomsky 1995, Hale & Keyser 1993, Harley 1995; 2008a, Kratzer 1996, Marantz 1997). Recent developments in generative grammar, however, suggest that it may comprise of three projections (Pylkkanen 2002; 2008, Cuervo 2003, Collins 2005, Alexiadou et al. 2006, Harley 2013a, Merchant 2013): two functional projections – Voice, which introduces the external argument and licenses accusative Case; verbalizing v, which marks the eventuality type be/do/become/cause – and an acategorial lexical root (Cuervo 2003, Harley 2013a). In this dissertation, I explore the consequences of adopting the tripartite theory of verb phrases with two particular foci: (i) the structure of applicative and causative constructions and the interactions between the two; (ii) languages where the applicative and causative constructions are formed by attaching affixes to the verbal root. The main proposal of this dissertation is that various morpho-syntactic behaviors of applicatives and causatives and their cross-linguistic variation can be captured with two tools: (i) the hypothesis of the tripartite verb structure; and (ii) an understanding of the selectional criteria of the functional heads – Voice, Appl, and v – and their head-specific properties. The tripartite assumption solves for us some empirical puzzles and raises some new questions. I show that the three major achievements of the tripartite hypothesis are that it provides a syntactic account of the constraints on applicative and causative affix ordering, the distinct patterns of functional heads in their ability to introduce arguments, and the disparate morpho-syntactic behaviors of the three causative types due to the size of their complements. I then provide answers to some new questions that follow from the transition to the tripartite hypothesis. I elaborate the selectional mechanisms of the Voice, Appl, and v heads involved in applicatives and causatives. I reinterpret previously established facts about applicatives and causatives within the updated verbal structure.

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Nasika, Fani. "Verb Argument Structure Effects on Tense : Evidence form Aphasia in Greek." Thesis, University of Reading, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.519872.

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Crammond, Joanna G. "An analysis of argument structure in expert and student persuasive writing /." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=37709.

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This study investigated differences among student writers at three grade levels (i.e., 6, 8, and 10), and between expert writers and students, in terms of (a) the extent to which argument structures were used in their persuasive texts, (b) the complexity of these argument structures (as measured by depth and elaboration), and (c) the use of general semantic structures and conjunctive ties to represent argument substructures. In addition, the study determined the predictive relationship between the holistic scores assigned to student texts and argument structure measures. To identify and analyze argument structure a model was developed that could account for the variability in structure observed across a range of persuasive writing situations. The model was a modified version of Toulmin's (1958) schematic, and its characteristics were defined using categories derived from a theory of semantic representation in discourse.
Results of the structural analyses indicated that (a) argument was the predominant organizational structure for expert and student writers, (b) over 80% of students produced elaborated arguments involving some form of opposition, (c) experts produced more arguments and more complex arguments than students, and (d) expert texts contained relatively higher frequencies for warrants, countered rebuttals, and modals, and student use of these argument substructures increased with grade level. The general semantic and linguistic analyses revealed the following patterns particular to experts: (a) the use of identification types of claims, (b) an increased use of modals and decreased use of opinions as marks of argumentation, and (c) an infrequent use of causal conjunctions to mark data structures. Results of a forward stepwise regression analysis revealed that argument structure complexity accounted for 40% of the variance associated with quality ratings assigned to students' texts. Two other variables were significant predictors: number of supporting structures and number of opposing structures.
The results were interpreted from a rhetorical perspective: the developmental and expertise-related patterns of performance associated with the use of particular argument substructures, and the representation of these substructures were seen as reflecting an awareness of and ability to manipulate one's audience---skills that are necessary to achieve the goals of persuasive discourse.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Argument strucure'

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