John Beaver
Biographic Data
| ID | 742902 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Beaver |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Beaver |
| SIGNATURE | BEAVER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7040-9982 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 138 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1973 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The role of root semantics in determining argument alternations
Argument alternations are an empirical mainstay in studying the building blocks of verb meaning and how such meanings link to a verb’s grammatical properties. Event structures are widely adopted for exploring these questions, where a verb’s meaning is decomposed into an event template (defining grammatically coherent verb classes) and a root (filling in idiosyncratic verb-by-verb details). An alternation is analyzed as one root occurring in two t…
The Editors’ Report
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The Editors’ Report
Commentary
A few days ago I found myself back at my old alma mater, Stanford University, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Department of Linguistics. Much was familiar to me since I left nineteen years ago—the building, the offices, a few of the faculty, the random musical equipment lying around—but there were some changes. The most notable was in the first floor break room: the built-in bookshelves that had long stood at the end …
Middle voice as generalized argument suppression
The Editors' Report
The Editors' Report Andries W. Coetzee and John Beavers [The following is a modified and updated version of the report made to the LSA membership at the annual business meeting, on January 7, 2022.] 1. Impact of COVID-19 on language Although operations at Language continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to publish all four issues for 2021 on time, and we are also on track to publish all four issues of 2022 on time. This is …
States and changes-of-state
What are the basic building blocks of verb meanings, how are they composed into more complex meanings, and how does this explain the grammatical properties of verbs and their relationships to other words with related meanings? These questions are fundamental to the study of verb meaning, and some of the most fruitful attempts to answer them have come from event-structural theories, wherein verb meanings are assumed to be decomposed into an event …
States and changes of state
[Download PDF file] Supplemental materials on alternative statistical treatments This PDF file outlines the alternative statistical treatments to those applied to the typological data set in the main article. This includes the same statistical tests as used in the article but including hypotheticalized data points, as well as Monte Carlo simulations for those tests with and without hypotheticals to show that the procedure of randomly selecting sy…
The Editors' Report
The Editors' Report Andries W. Coetzee, Editor and John Beavers, Co-Editor [The following is a slightly modified and updated version of the report made verbally to the LSA membership at the virtual annual meeting, on January 4, 2021.] In spite of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was another successful year at Language, during which we maintained a good submission record and a good time-to-decision. It was also a time of transi…
What Makes a Paper Appropriate for Language
States and changes of state
What are the basic building blocks of verb meanings, how are they composed into more complex meanings, and how does this explain the grammatical properties of verbs and their relationships to other words with related meanings? These questions are fundamental to the study of verb meaning, and some of the most fruitful attempts to answer them have come from event-structural theories, wherein verb meanings are assumed to be decomposed into an event …
Intentionality, scalar change, and non-culmination in Korean caused change-of-state predicates
This paper investigates the interpretations of caused change-of-state predicates in Korean, and in particular non-culmination readings in which the result state inherent to the meaning of the predicate fails to obtain either fully (zero result) or partially. We argue that zero result readings require that the subject intended the coming about of the result state, while readings in which some result obtains (partially or completely) lack this enta…
A lake-centric geospatial database to guide research and inform management decisions in an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska experiencing climate and land-use changes
Lakes are dominant and diverse landscape features in the Arctic, but conventional land cover classification schemes typically map them as a single uniform class. Here, we present a detailed lake-centric geospatial database for an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska. We developed a GIS dataset consisting of 4362 lakes that provides information on lake morphometry, hydrologic connectivity, surface area dynamics, surrounding terrestrial ecotypes, an…
TheSpray/LoadAlternation
In the English spray/load diathesis alternation (also sometimes known as the "locative alternation") causative verbs with meanings in which some locatum is moved into or onto some location allow either non-causer argument to be realized as the object, with the other argument realized as an oblique (e.g., John sprayed the paint on the wall vs. John sprayed the wall with the paint ). For several decades this alternation has been a significant, cros…
Result verbs, scalar change, and the typology of motion verbs
In this article we consider the nature of ‘result verbs’, typically defined as verbs describing scalar changes, which have played a significant role in the literature on verb typologies, event structures, and theories of (im)possible word meanings. We argue that the entailment of scalar change and the entailment of a new result state should not be wholly conflated. Rather, various previously proposed diagnostics for scalar change actually pick ou…
Anticausatives in Sinhala
In defense of the reflexivization analysis of anticausativization
Complications in diagnosing lexical meaning
Aspectual classes and scales of change
Standard models of aspectual classes focus on event decompositional or featural distinctions. However, such classifications often over- or under-generate, and do not necessarily capture the temporal properties aspectual classifications are based on. I develop a predictive model of aspectual classes based on theories of scalar change, taking two independently motivated properties of scales as key: (a) how specific the predicate is about the theme'…
Effect of the dopamine D3 receptor antagonist GSK598809 on brain responses to rewarding food images in overweight and obese binge eaters
Manner and Result in the Roots of Verbal Meaning
Rappaport Hovav and Levin (2010) argue that verbs fall into (at least) two classes: result verbs (e.g., break) and manner verbs (e.g., run). No verb encodes both manner and result simultaneously, a truth-conditional fact that Rappaport Hovav and Levin argue follows from how verb meanings are composed at the level of event structure. However, a key issue in verifying this claim is isolating truth-conditional diagnostics for manner and result. We d…
An Aspectual Analysis of Ditransitive Verbs of Caused Possession in English
In this paper I examine ditransitive verbs that can describe caused possession (e.g. give, throw, send) by looking at their lexical aspectual properties, a methodology that has proven fruitful for the exploration of (in)transitive verbs. I show that as a whole these ditransitives share a number of aspectual properties in common with (in)transitive verbs of change of state and motion, suggesting a single, shared underlying analysis, which I outlin…
On affectedness
Repatriation at the Smithsonian Institution
The structure of lexical meaning
This article explores the architecture of the interface between morphosyntax and lexical semantics, in particular the semantic underpinnings of argument realization. Many theories of lexical meaning assume that argument realization is derived from underlying event structure: the relative prominence of coarguments in a clause follows from their relative semantic prominence in how the event unfolds. I show that event structure is not sufficient to …
The typology of motion expressions revisited
This paper provides a new perspective on the options available to languages for encoding directed motion events. Talmy (2000) introduces an influential two-way typology, proposing that languages adopt either verb- or satellite-framed encoding of motion events. This typology is augmented by Slobin (2004b) and Zlatev & Yangklang (2004) with a third class of equipollently-framed languages. We propose that the observed options can instead be attribut…
On affectedness
Manner and Result in the Roots of Verbal Meaning
Rappaport Hovav and Levin (2010) argue that verbs fall into (at least) two classes: result verbs (e.g., break) and manner verbs (e.g., run). No verb encodes both manner and result simultaneously, a truth-conditional fact that Rappaport Hovav and Levin argue follows from how verb meanings are composed at the level of event structure. However, a key issue in verifying this claim is isolating truth-conditional diagnostics for manner and result. We d…
States and changes of state
What are the basic building blocks of verb meanings, how are they composed into more complex meanings, and how does this explain the grammatical properties of verbs and their relationships to other words with related meanings? These questions are fundamental to the study of verb meaning, and some of the most fruitful attempts to answer them have come from event-structural theories, wherein verb meanings are assumed to be decomposed into an event …
Anticausatives in Sinhala
In defense of the reflexivization analysis of anticausativization
The structure of lexical meaning
This article explores the architecture of the interface between morphosyntax and lexical semantics, in particular the semantic underpinnings of argument realization. Many theories of lexical meaning assume that argument realization is derived from underlying event structure: the relative prominence of coarguments in a clause follows from their relative semantic prominence in how the event unfolds. I show that event structure is not sufficient to …
Result verbs, scalar change, and the typology of motion verbs
In this article we consider the nature of ‘result verbs’, typically defined as verbs describing scalar changes, which have played a significant role in the literature on verb typologies, event structures, and theories of (im)possible word meanings. We argue that the entailment of scalar change and the entailment of a new result state should not be wholly conflated. Rather, various previously proposed diagnostics for scalar change actually pick ou…
Aspectual classes and scales of change
Standard models of aspectual classes focus on event decompositional or featural distinctions. However, such classifications often over- or under-generate, and do not necessarily capture the temporal properties aspectual classifications are based on. I develop a predictive model of aspectual classes based on theories of scalar change, taking two independently motivated properties of scales as key: (a) how specific the predicate is about the theme'…
On the nature of goal marking and delimitation
This paper investigates two ways goals of motion events can be expressed in so-called ‘verb-framed’ languages (Talmy 2000), focusing on the Japanese postpositions - made and - ni . It is typically assumed that these postpositions are both goal-markers, but differ in the exact goal semantics they encode, giving rise to non-overlapping distributions. Based on a range of distributional differences, I argue instead that they are more radically distin…
Complications in diagnosing lexical meaning
Intentionality, scalar change, and non-culmination in Korean caused change-of-state predicates
This paper investigates the interpretations of caused change-of-state predicates in Korean, and in particular non-culmination readings in which the result state inherent to the meaning of the predicate fails to obtain either fully (zero result) or partially. We argue that zero result readings require that the subject intended the coming about of the result state, while readings in which some result obtains (partially or completely) lack this enta…
"What Do We Mean by "Heritage
A Universal Pronoun in English
July 01 2006 A Universal Pronoun in English? In Special Collection: CogNet John Beavers, John Beavers Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Andrew Koontz-Garboden Andrew Koontz-Garboden Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information John Beavers Stanford University Andrew Koontz-Garboden Stanford University Online ISSN: 1530-915…
Middle voice as generalized argument suppression
What Makes a Paper Appropriate for Language
TheSpray/LoadAlternation
In the English spray/load diathesis alternation (also sometimes known as the "locative alternation") causative verbs with meanings in which some locatum is moved into or onto some location allow either non-causer argument to be realized as the object, with the other argument realized as an oblique (e.g., John sprayed the paint on the wall vs. John sprayed the wall with the paint ). For several decades this alternation has been a significant, cros…
Effect of the dopamine D3 receptor antagonist GSK598809 on brain responses to rewarding food images in overweight and obese binge eaters
La Métaphore théâtrale dans l'œuvre romanesque d'André Langevin
Dans son conte l'Homme qui ne savait plus jouer, Langevin dveloppe la mtaphore du thtre dont il s'est dj servi dans ses deux premiers romans. Cette mtaphore traduit dans ses oeuvres une crise d'inscurit ontologique qui mne finalement une prise de conscience du pouvoir de la fatalit sur les hommes. Il s'agit d'un acteur, Max Boucher, dj sur le retour de l'ge, qui joue dans une premire de Jules Csar de Shakespeare. Avant d'aller au thtre pour se pr…
Front-end evaluation at the North Carolina transportation museum
Several Problems for Predicate Decompositions
A Universal Pronoun in English
July 01 2006 A Universal Pronoun in English? In Special Collection: CogNet John Beavers, John Beavers Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Andrew Koontz-Garboden Andrew Koontz-Garboden Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information John Beavers Stanford University Andrew Koontz-Garboden Stanford University Online ISSN: 1530-915…
On the nature of goal marking and delimitation
This paper investigates two ways goals of motion events can be expressed in so-called ‘verb-framed’ languages (Talmy 2000), focusing on the Japanese postpositions - made and - ni . It is typically assumed that these postpositions are both goal-markers, but differ in the exact goal semantics they encode, giving rise to non-overlapping distributions. Based on a range of distributional differences, I argue instead that they are more radically distin…
"What Do We Mean by "Heritage
The typology of motion expressions revisited
This paper provides a new perspective on the options available to languages for encoding directed motion events. Talmy (2000) introduces an influential two-way typology, proposing that languages adopt either verb- or satellite-framed encoding of motion events. This typology is augmented by Slobin (2004b) and Zlatev & Yangklang (2004) with a third class of equipollently-framed languages. We propose that the observed options can instead be attribut…
Repatriation at the Smithsonian Institution
The structure of lexical meaning
This article explores the architecture of the interface between morphosyntax and lexical semantics, in particular the semantic underpinnings of argument realization. Many theories of lexical meaning assume that argument realization is derived from underlying event structure: the relative prominence of coarguments in a clause follows from their relative semantic prominence in how the event unfolds. I show that event structure is not sufficient to …
An Aspectual Analysis of Ditransitive Verbs of Caused Possession in English
In this paper I examine ditransitive verbs that can describe caused possession (e.g. give, throw, send) by looking at their lexical aspectual properties, a methodology that has proven fruitful for the exploration of (in)transitive verbs. I show that as a whole these ditransitives share a number of aspectual properties in common with (in)transitive verbs of change of state and motion, suggesting a single, shared underlying analysis, which I outlin…
On affectedness
Effect of the dopamine D3 receptor antagonist GSK598809 on brain responses to rewarding food images in overweight and obese binge eaters
Manner and Result in the Roots of Verbal Meaning
Rappaport Hovav and Levin (2010) argue that verbs fall into (at least) two classes: result verbs (e.g., break) and manner verbs (e.g., run). No verb encodes both manner and result simultaneously, a truth-conditional fact that Rappaport Hovav and Levin argue follows from how verb meanings are composed at the level of event structure. However, a key issue in verifying this claim is isolating truth-conditional diagnostics for manner and result. We d…
Anticausatives in Sinhala
In defense of the reflexivization analysis of anticausativization
Complications in diagnosing lexical meaning
Aspectual classes and scales of change
Standard models of aspectual classes focus on event decompositional or featural distinctions. However, such classifications often over- or under-generate, and do not necessarily capture the temporal properties aspectual classifications are based on. I develop a predictive model of aspectual classes based on theories of scalar change, taking two independently motivated properties of scales as key: (a) how specific the predicate is about the theme'…
A lake-centric geospatial database to guide research and inform management decisions in an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska experiencing climate and land-use changes
Lakes are dominant and diverse landscape features in the Arctic, but conventional land cover classification schemes typically map them as a single uniform class. Here, we present a detailed lake-centric geospatial database for an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska. We developed a GIS dataset consisting of 4362 lakes that provides information on lake morphometry, hydrologic connectivity, surface area dynamics, surrounding terrestrial ecotypes, an…
TheSpray/LoadAlternation
In the English spray/load diathesis alternation (also sometimes known as the "locative alternation") causative verbs with meanings in which some locatum is moved into or onto some location allow either non-causer argument to be realized as the object, with the other argument realized as an oblique (e.g., John sprayed the paint on the wall vs. John sprayed the wall with the paint ). For several decades this alternation has been a significant, cros…
Result verbs, scalar change, and the typology of motion verbs
In this article we consider the nature of ‘result verbs’, typically defined as verbs describing scalar changes, which have played a significant role in the literature on verb typologies, event structures, and theories of (im)possible word meanings. We argue that the entailment of scalar change and the entailment of a new result state should not be wholly conflated. Rather, various previously proposed diagnostics for scalar change actually pick ou…
Intentionality, scalar change, and non-culmination in Korean caused change-of-state predicates
This paper investigates the interpretations of caused change-of-state predicates in Korean, and in particular non-culmination readings in which the result state inherent to the meaning of the predicate fails to obtain either fully (zero result) or partially. We argue that zero result readings require that the subject intended the coming about of the result state, while readings in which some result obtains (partially or completely) lack this enta…
States and changes-of-state
What are the basic building blocks of verb meanings, how are they composed into more complex meanings, and how does this explain the grammatical properties of verbs and their relationships to other words with related meanings? These questions are fundamental to the study of verb meaning, and some of the most fruitful attempts to answer them have come from event-structural theories, wherein verb meanings are assumed to be decomposed into an event …
States and changes of state
[Download PDF file] Supplemental materials on alternative statistical treatments This PDF file outlines the alternative statistical treatments to those applied to the typological data set in the main article. This includes the same statistical tests as used in the article but including hypotheticalized data points, as well as Monte Carlo simulations for those tests with and without hypotheticals to show that the procedure of randomly selecting sy…
The Editors' Report
The Editors' Report Andries W. Coetzee, Editor and John Beavers, Co-Editor [The following is a slightly modified and updated version of the report made verbally to the LSA membership at the virtual annual meeting, on January 4, 2021.] In spite of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was another successful year at Language, during which we maintained a good submission record and a good time-to-decision. It was also a time of transi…
What Makes a Paper Appropriate for Language
Linguistics (20 works) · Computer Science (18 works) · Philosophy (18 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (18 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Verb (9 works) · Mathematics (8 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (7 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (7 works) · Categorization, perception, and language (6 works)