The structure of lexical meaning
Why semantics really matters
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3030998 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Beaver (0000-0002-7040-9982, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), John Beavers (0009-0004-7922-0117) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 821-864 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/lan.2010.0040 |
| OpenAlex | W1531617493 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 26 |
| References cited | 86 |
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 capture certain generalizations about argument realization, however, focusing on arguments that alternate between direct and oblique realization. I show that for these alternations the relevant semantic contrast is in strength of truth conditions: direct realization encodes a monotonically stronger set of truth conditions associated with the alternating argument than oblique realization. This, I suggest, follows if word meanings are built from basic units that are related to one another implicationally, and the relative implicational strength of such components figures into argument realization. I use as a case study English locative and conative alternations, which, I argue, reflect stronger and weaker degrees of affectedness along an independently motivated affectedness hierarchy. I also show that similar contrasts are found with other alternations on other hierarchies. I conclude by suggesting that a theory of weakening truth conditions is not incompatible with event-structural analyses of verb meaning, and in fact the two augment one another
Argument (complex analysis) · Epistemology · Event (particle physics) · Event structure · Hierarchy · Lexical item · Lexical Semantics · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Oblique case · Physics · Realization (probability) · Relative clause · Semantic property · Semantics (computer science) · Verb · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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Classical Greek object cases
Result verbs, scalar change, and the typology of motion verbs
Aspectual classes and scales of change
The role of root semantics in determining argument alternations
An Aspectual Analysis of Ditransitive Verbs of Caused Possession in English
Telicity, Change, and State
The Oxford Handbook of the Mental Lexicon
Building involuntary states in Slavic
Ingredients of Instrumental Meaning
TheSpray/LoadAlternation
Manner/result polysemy as contextual allosemy
The Role of the Lexicon in the Syntax–Semantics Interface
The Alternation of Verbs With Motivating Argument in Bp
A Alternância De Verbos Com Argumento Motivador No Pb
Etkilenmişlik
Minimal participant structure of the event and the emergence of the argument/adjunct distinction
Revisiting aspectual se in Spanish
Applied Objects and the Syntax–Semantics Interface
On affectedness
The semantics of applicativization in Kinyarwanda
The English conative alternation between complexity effects and lexical biases
This construction needs understood
A Head Movement Approach to Talmy's Typology
The meaning of the tough-construction
A Theory of Aspectuality
On the Compositional Nature of the Aspects
Argument Realization
Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface
Morphology and Lexical Semantics
Word Meaning and Montague Grammar
Verb Meaning and the Lexicon
Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure
The Origins of Telicity
Scalar Structure Underlies Telicity in "Degree Achievements"
Measure of change
Thematic Roles and Syntactic Structure
Semantic Interpretation In Generative Grammar
Language Typology and Language Universals
Syntax
Event Structures in Linguistic Form and Interpretation
Lectures on Government and Binding
Cases and Thematic Roles
Argument Structure and Ditransitive Verbs in Japanese
Resultatives, Compositionality and Language Variation
What with? The Anatomy of a (Proto)-Role
An Aspectual Analysis of Ditransitive Verbs of Caused Possession in English
The different readings of wieder 'again'
The Relationship Between Dative and Locative
How are results represented and modified? Remarks on Jäger & Blutner's anti-decomposition
Several Problems for Predicate Decompositions
The Bounds of Subjecthood
On affectedness
Differential Object Marking
The proper treatment of measuring out, telicity, and perhaps even quantification in english
What Does It Take To Be A Dative Subject
Studies in Relational Grammar 1
The Projection of Arguments
Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages
A Theory of Aspectuality
Studies in Functional Grammar
Discourse and Syntax
English Verb Classes and Alternations
Zero Syntax
Semantics and Cognition
Word Meaning and Montague Grammar
The locative alternation and multistratalism
Some thoughts on agentivity
The English dative alternation
The grammar of ‘content’ and ‘container’
The KEY to lexical semantic representations
The Locative Alternation
Possession and the double object construction
Verb alternations and semantic classes in English and German
Structural case in finnish
On the interaction of structural and semantic case
A return to the spray paint issue
Scale Structure, Degree Modification, and the Semantics of Gradable Predicates
An Event Structure Account of English Resultatives
The View from Building 20
Objects
Thematic Proto-Roles and Argument Selection
Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse
Linking as Constraints on Word Classes in a Hierarchical Lexicon
The Learnability and Acquisition of the Dative Alternation in English
Verbal Aspect in French
Control and the Thematic Domain
The Structure of the Japanese Language
| Unique citing works | 26 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,73 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2026 (16) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |