Cognition in Language Use Selected Papers from the Seventh International Pragmatics Conference, Vol 1, edited by Eniko Németh T., Antwerp, Belgium: International Pragmatics Association, pp. 388-404., 2000
This paper deals with the semantics of French verbs capable of denoting a "motion event" when the... more This paper deals with the semantics of French verbs capable of denoting a "motion event" when they enter into the Direct Transitive Construction.
We present here a detailed analysis of the interaction between the semantics of verbs and their arguments. We introduce a distinction between two types of verbs which is based on their lexical properties and the kind of relation they establish with their direct objects. This leads us to investigate the problem of the articulation between syntactic and semantic transitivity : cognitively, it seems paradoxical to express motion (i.e. a perfectly continuous phenomenon) in a DTC which prototypically expresses a telic, discontinuous action where the subject (Agent) affects the object (Patient). We put forward criteria which make it possible to determine the assignment of the thematic roles Trajector and Landmark, rather than Agent and Patient, to the subject and the object of the transitive construction, respectively. The aim is to determine whether it is possible to classify the processes either as motion-events (which exploit the Trajector and Landmark roles) or as actions (which use Agent and Patient thematics).
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Papers by Sarda Laure
We present here a detailed analysis of the interaction between the semantics of verbs and their arguments. We introduce a distinction between two types of verbs which is based on their lexical properties and the kind of relation they establish with their direct objects. This leads us to investigate the problem of the articulation between syntactic and semantic transitivity : cognitively, it seems paradoxical to express motion (i.e. a perfectly continuous phenomenon) in a DTC which prototypically expresses a telic, discontinuous action where the subject (Agent) affects the object (Patient). We put forward criteria which make it possible to determine the assignment of the thematic roles Trajector and Landmark, rather than Agent and Patient, to the subject and the object of the transitive construction, respectively. The aim is to determine whether it is possible to classify the processes either as motion-events (which exploit the Trajector and Landmark roles) or as actions (which use Agent and Patient thematics).
We propose a representation of (essentially) topological aspects of the class of french direct transitive motion verbs. The semantics of the verbs is expressed in a "motion structure" accounting for these aspects in an under-specified manner. After defining representation patterns for those verbs (i.e. basic predication patterns), we propose a representation of their semantics in a logical model of common sense space-time. The characterizing of these structures is part of a larger enterprise aiming at the development of a lexical model, pairing the motion structures with information of ontological, aspectual and intentional nature.
We present here a detailed analysis of the interaction between the semantics of verbs and their arguments. We introduce a distinction between two types of verbs which is based on their lexical properties and the kind of relation they establish with their direct objects. This leads us to investigate the problem of the articulation between syntactic and semantic transitivity : cognitively, it seems paradoxical to express motion (i.e. a perfectly continuous phenomenon) in a DTC which prototypically expresses a telic, discontinuous action where the subject (Agent) affects the object (Patient). We put forward criteria which make it possible to determine the assignment of the thematic roles Trajector and Landmark, rather than Agent and Patient, to the subject and the object of the transitive construction, respectively. The aim is to determine whether it is possible to classify the processes either as motion-events (which exploit the Trajector and Landmark roles) or as actions (which use Agent and Patient thematics).
We propose a representation of (essentially) topological aspects of the class of french direct transitive motion verbs. The semantics of the verbs is expressed in a "motion structure" accounting for these aspects in an under-specified manner. After defining representation patterns for those verbs (i.e. basic predication patterns), we propose a representation of their semantics in a logical model of common sense space-time. The characterizing of these structures is part of a larger enterprise aiming at the development of a lexical model, pairing the motion structures with information of ontological, aspectual and intentional nature.