Frames of semantic situations
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André Włodarczyk
Abstract
In different languages, the means of expressing a situation are shared variously between grammar and lexicon and must be represented by semantic configurations specific to a particular language (or family of languages). Situations are semantic ‘nests’ for several verbs which allow for the expression of a variety of aspects in the course of communication. For this reason, from a theoretical point of view, semantic situations can be seen as independent of the language in which they are expressed. Research into aspect in diverse languages showed that an aspect could not be explained without first describing the semantic situation. Thus numerous attempts have been made to classify semantic situations, especially after the classification proposed by Z. Vendler (1957 and 1967) for explaining aspect in English. As verbs in natural languages normally express complex situations, semantic situations are made up of other situations, with the result that it is possible to speak of situational aggregates. In other words, situations are mixed up with one another. We maintain, however, that it is possible to separate out a number of situation types and their constituent parts by considering the possibility of classifying them from two points of view. We will hypothesise a distinction between frame situations and role situations. In this article we will consider frame situations alone. Role situations are dealt with in the preceding chapter. Some of the criteria used in our approach have been variously taken into account by different theoreticians, but most have confused the frame/role distinction and have thus arrived at less homogeneous classifications than our own. Looking somewhat further ahead, we think that situations can equally be classified according to their role components, which could be by showing their interactions (situations that are intransitive, transitive, convertible etc.) or their relationship with, amongst other things, centres of attention that are global (subject) or local (object), or again, the nature, countable or otherwise, of the participants, but we will not be dealing with these here. The aim of this study is to define situations from the point of view of their “internal construction” (i.e. without taking into account modality, tense, aspect etc.) It is indeed desirable (1) to put forward a coherent system of classifying situations based on a small group of well defined primitives and (2) to show the way in which different verbal expressions, used in context, may inherit characteristics from partially organised (hierarchised) situations, taking into account the primitives that have been identified.
Abstract
In different languages, the means of expressing a situation are shared variously between grammar and lexicon and must be represented by semantic configurations specific to a particular language (or family of languages). Situations are semantic ‘nests’ for several verbs which allow for the expression of a variety of aspects in the course of communication. For this reason, from a theoretical point of view, semantic situations can be seen as independent of the language in which they are expressed. Research into aspect in diverse languages showed that an aspect could not be explained without first describing the semantic situation. Thus numerous attempts have been made to classify semantic situations, especially after the classification proposed by Z. Vendler (1957 and 1967) for explaining aspect in English. As verbs in natural languages normally express complex situations, semantic situations are made up of other situations, with the result that it is possible to speak of situational aggregates. In other words, situations are mixed up with one another. We maintain, however, that it is possible to separate out a number of situation types and their constituent parts by considering the possibility of classifying them from two points of view. We will hypothesise a distinction between frame situations and role situations. In this article we will consider frame situations alone. Role situations are dealt with in the preceding chapter. Some of the criteria used in our approach have been variously taken into account by different theoreticians, but most have confused the frame/role distinction and have thus arrived at less homogeneous classifications than our own. Looking somewhat further ahead, we think that situations can equally be classified according to their role components, which could be by showing their interactions (situations that are intransitive, transitive, convertible etc.) or their relationship with, amongst other things, centres of attention that are global (subject) or local (object), or again, the nature, countable or otherwise, of the participants, but we will not be dealing with these here. The aim of this study is to define situations from the point of view of their “internal construction” (i.e. without taking into account modality, tense, aspect etc.) It is indeed desirable (1) to put forward a coherent system of classifying situations based on a small group of well defined primitives and (2) to show the way in which different verbal expressions, used in context, may inherit characteristics from partially organised (hierarchised) situations, taking into account the primitives that have been identified.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part 1. Associative semantics and meta-informative centering
- Roles and anchors of semantic situations 3
- Frames of semantic situations 21
- Grounding of the meta-informative status of utterances 41
- Attention-centered information in language 59
-
Part 2. Neuropsychological evidence for the MIC theory
- Semantic and episodic memory by reference to the ontological grounding of the old and new meta-informative status 103
- Tracing the role of memory and attention for the meta-informative validation of utterances 121
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Part 3. Meta-informative centering in languages
- It -clefts in the meta-informative structure of the utterance in Modern and Present-day English 145
- Discourse coherence and referent identification of subject ellipsis in Japanese 167
- Structure of centre of attention in a multi-party conversation in Japanese 183
- Verbal aspect in Slavic languages between semantics and pragmatics 193
- The position in the utterance and the melodic realisation of object and reflexive pronouns in classical modern literary Russian 231
- Accented and unaccented pronouns in Ancient Greek 259
- Personal subject pronouns and the meta-informative centering of utterances in classical Latin 285
- Glossary of defined terminology 297
- Index 303
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part 1. Associative semantics and meta-informative centering
- Roles and anchors of semantic situations 3
- Frames of semantic situations 21
- Grounding of the meta-informative status of utterances 41
- Attention-centered information in language 59
-
Part 2. Neuropsychological evidence for the MIC theory
- Semantic and episodic memory by reference to the ontological grounding of the old and new meta-informative status 103
- Tracing the role of memory and attention for the meta-informative validation of utterances 121
-
Part 3. Meta-informative centering in languages
- It -clefts in the meta-informative structure of the utterance in Modern and Present-day English 145
- Discourse coherence and referent identification of subject ellipsis in Japanese 167
- Structure of centre of attention in a multi-party conversation in Japanese 183
- Verbal aspect in Slavic languages between semantics and pragmatics 193
- The position in the utterance and the melodic realisation of object and reflexive pronouns in classical modern literary Russian 231
- Accented and unaccented pronouns in Ancient Greek 259
- Personal subject pronouns and the meta-informative centering of utterances in classical Latin 285
- Glossary of defined terminology 297
- Index 303
