Home Linguistics & Semiotics How do you smile along a path?
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

How do you smile along a path?

Bodies and the semantic content of unergative roots
  • EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 6, 2019
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

This paper argues that a core component of root meaning is the distinction between body parts versus the body conceived as a whole. This distinction is shown to be relevant in the acceptability of motion sentences in English with whole-body roots like dance and body-part roots like smile. In keeping with the assumption that roots lack syntactic category, I argue that verbal roots occur freely in syntactic structures but that some root-structure combinations are degraded (or unacceptable), and that this is due to an incompatibility between conceptual root content and interpreted syntactic structure.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the organizers and participants at Roots V and to two anonymous reviewers, whose feedback greatly improved this article. Thanks also to Alison Biggs, Dave Embick, Itamar Kastner, and Alec Marantz for very helpful discussion of the ideas in this article.

References

Arad, Maya. 2003. Locality constraints on the interpretation of roots: The case of Hebrew denominal verbs. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21. 737–778.10.1023/A:1025533719905Search in Google Scholar

Beavers, John & Andrew Koontz-Garboden. 2012. Manner and result in the roots of verbal meaning. Linguistic Inquiry 43. 331–369.10.1162/LING_a_00093Search in Google Scholar

Beavers, John & Andrew Koontz-Garboden. 2017. The semantic contribution of idiosyncratic roots in ditransitive verbs. In 34th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 70–80. Cascadilla Proceedings.Search in Google Scholar

Borer, Hagit. 2003. Exo-skeletal vs. endo-skeletal explanations: Syntactic projections and the lexicon. In Masha Polinsky & John Moore (eds.), Explanation in linguistic theory, 31–67. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Search in Google Scholar

Borer, Hagit. 2005a. Structuring sense: Volume I: In name only. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263905.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Borer, Hagit. 2005b. Structuring sense: Volume II: The normal course of events. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263929.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Brenzinger, Matthias & Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (eds.). 2014. The body in language: Comparative studies of linguistic embodiment. Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture. Brill.10.1163/9789004274297Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Christie, Elizabeth. 2015. The English resultative. Ottawa, ON: Carleton University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Embick, David. 2009. Roots, states, stative passives. Handout of talk presented at Roots, Stuttgart, June 11, 2009.Search in Google Scholar

Faltz, Leonard. 1977. Reflexivization: A study in universal grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California PhD thesis. Revised version 1986: Garland Publishing.Search in Google Scholar

Folli, Raffaella & Heidi Harley. 2006. On the licensing of causatives of directed motion: Waltzing Matilda all over. Studia Linguistica 60. 121–155.10.1111/j.1467-9582.2006.00135.xSearch in Google Scholar

Folli, Raffaella & Heidi Harley. 2007. Causation, obligation, and argument structure: On the nature of little v. Linguistic Inquiry 38. 197–238.10.1162/ling.2007.38.2.197Search in Google Scholar

Francez, Itamar. 2007. Existential propositions. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Goldberg, Adele E. 1995. Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Goldberg, Adele E. & Ray Jackendoff. 2004. The English resultative as a family of constructions. Language 80. 532–568.10.1353/lan.2004.0129Search in Google Scholar

Guéron, Jacqueline. 1980. On the syntax and semantics of PP extraposition. Linguistic Inquiry 11. 637–678.Search in Google Scholar

Hale, Ken. 1981. Preliminary remarks on the grammar of part-whole relations in Warlpiri. In Jim Hollyman & Andrew Pawley (eds.), Studies in pacific languages and cultures in honor of Bruce Biggs, 333–344. Auckland, NZ: Linguistic Society of New Zealand.Search in Google Scholar

Hale, Kenneth & Samuel Jay Keyser. 1993. On argument structure and the lexical expression of syntactic relations. In Kenneth Hale & Samuel Jay Keyser (eds.), The view from Building 20: Essays in linguistics in honor of Sylvain Bromberger, 53–109. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Halle, Morris & Alec Marantz. 1993. Distributed morphology and the pieces of inflection. In Kenneth Hale & Samuel Jay Keyser (eds.), The view from building 20: Essays in linguistics in honor of Sylvain Bromberger, 111–176. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Harley, Heidi. 2005. How do verbs get their names? Denominal verbs, manner incorporation, and the ontology of verb roots in English. In Nomi Erteschik-Shir & Tova Rapoport (eds.), The syntax of aspect: Deriving thematic and aspectual interpretation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280445.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Harley, Heidi. 2014. On the identity of roots. Theoretical linguistics 40. 225–276.10.1515/tl-2014-0010Search in Google Scholar

Heine, Bernd. 2014. The body in language: Observations from grammaticalization. In Matthias Brenzinger & Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (eds.), The body in language: Comparative studies of linguistic embodiment, Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, 11–32. Brill.10.1163/9789004274297_003Search in Google Scholar

Hoekstra, Teun & René Mulder. 1990. Unergatives as copular verbs: Locational and existential predication. The Linguistic Review 7. 1–79.10.1515/tlir.1990.7.1.1Search in Google Scholar

Hovav, Malka Rappaport. 2017. Grammatically relevant ontological categories underlie manner/result complementarity. In Noa Brandel (ed.), MIT working papers in linguistics #86. proceedings of IATL 2016, 77–98. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. The 32nd annual meeting of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics took place at the Language Logic Cognition Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, October 25–26, 2016.Search in Google Scholar

Hovav, Malka Rappaport & Beth Levin. 1998. Building verb meanings. In Miriam Butt & Wilhelm Geuder (eds.), The projection of arguments: Lexical and compositional factors, 97–134. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Search in Google Scholar

Irwin, Patricia. 2012. Unaccusativity at the interfaces. New York, NY: New York University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Irwin, Patricia. 2016. English as a discourse ergative language. Paper presented at the workshop, “Between Existence and Location: Empirical, Formal and Typological Approaches to Existential Constructions” held at the University of Tübingen, Germany, University of Tübingen, Germany.Search in Google Scholar

Irwin, Patricia. 2018. Existential unaccusativity and new discourse referents. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 3(1). 1–42.10.5334/gjgl.283Search in Google Scholar

Jackendoff, Ray. 1990. Semantic structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Jackendoff, Ray S. 1972. Semantic interpretation in generative grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Jones, Michael Allan. 1988. Cognate objects and the case-filter. Journal of Linguistics 24. 89–110.10.1017/S0022226700011579Search in Google Scholar

Kastner, Itamar. 2016. Form and meaning in the Hebrew verb. New York, NY: New York University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Kastner, Itamar. 2017. Reflexive verbs in Hebrew: Deep unaccusativity meets lexical semantics. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 2(1). 1–33.10.5334/gjgl.299Search in Google Scholar

Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. Severing the external argument from the verb. In Johann Rooryck & Laurie Zaring (eds.), Phrase structure and the Lexicon, 109–137. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.10.1007/978-94-015-8617-7_5Search in Google Scholar

Legate, Julie Anne. 2014. Voice and v: Lessons from Acehnese. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262028141.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Levin, Beth. 1993. English verb classes and alternations: A preliminary investigation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Levin, Beth. 2018. The elasticity of verb meaning revisited. In Dan Burgdorf, Jacob Collard, Sireemas Maspong & Brynhildur Stefánsdóttir (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 27), vol. 27, 571–599. University of Maryland, College Park, May 12–14, 2017.Search in Google Scholar

Levinson, Lisa. 2007. The roots of verbs. New York University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Levinson, Lisa. 2010. Arguments for pseudo-resultative predicates. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 28. 135–182.10.1007/s11049-010-9089-xSearch in Google Scholar

Levinson, Lisa. 2014. The ontology of roots and verbs. In Artemis Alexiadou, Hagit Borer & Florian Schäfer (eds.), The syntax of roots and the roots of syntax, Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, chapter 10, 208–229. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665266.003.0010Search in Google Scholar

Marantz, Alec. 1992. The way construction and the semantics of direct arguments in English: A reply to Jackendoff. In Eric Wehrli & Tim Stowell (eds.), Syntax and the lexicon. Syntax and semantics, vol. 26, 179–188. San Diego: Academic Press.10.1163/9789004373181_011Search in Google Scholar

Marantz, Alec. 1997. No escape from syntax: Don’t try morphological analysis in the privacy of your own lexicon. In Alexis Dimitriadis, Laura Siegel, Clarissa Surek-Clark & Alexander Williams (eds.), Proceedings of the 21st Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, vol. 4.2, 201–225. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics.Search in Google Scholar

Marantz, Alec. 2009. Roots, re-, and affected agents: Can roots pull the agent under little v? Paper presented at Roots conference, Stuttgart, June 2009.Search in Google Scholar

Marantz, Alec. 2013. Verbal argument structure: Events and participants. Lingua 130. 152–168.10.1016/j.lingua.2012.10.012Search in Google Scholar

Massam, Diane. 1990. Cognate objects as thematic objects. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 35. 161–190.10.1017/S0008413100013566Search in Google Scholar

Mateu, Jaume. 2002. Argument structure. Relational construal at the syntax-semantics interface. Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Mateu, Jaume & V’ıctor Acedo-Matellán. 2012. The manner/result complementarity revisited: A syntactic approach. In Mar’ıa Cristina Cuervo & Yves Roberge (eds.), The end of argument structure, 209–228. Bingley, UK: Emerald Books.10.1163/9781780523774_010Search in Google Scholar

McCloskey, James. 2014. Irish existentials in context. Syntax 17. 343–384.10.1111/synt.12020Search in Google Scholar

McNally, Louise. 1992. An interpretation for the English existential construction. Santa Cruz, CA: University of California at Santa Cruz Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

McNally, Louise. 1997. A semantics for the English existential construction. New York, NY: Garland.Search in Google Scholar

Myler, Neil. 2014. Building and interpreting possession sentences. New York, NY: New York University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Myler, Neil. 2016. Building and interpreting possession sentences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262034913.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Nie, Yining. 2017. Voice morphology and the features of transitivity. Ms. New York University. Submitted.Search in Google Scholar

Oseki, Yohei. 2017. Voice morphology in Japanese argument structures. Ms. New York University. lingbuzz/003374.Search in Google Scholar

Perlmutter, David M. & Paul M. Postal. 1984. The 1-Advancement exclusiveness law. In David M. Perlmutter & Carol G. Rosen (eds.), Studies in relational grammar, vol. 2, 81–125. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Ramchand, Gillian Catriona. 2008. Verb meaning and the lexicon: A first-phase syntax. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486319Search in Google Scholar

Rice, Sally. 1988. Unlikely lexical entries. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 202–212.10.3765/bls.v14i0.1797Search in Google Scholar

Safir, Ken. 1996. Semantic atoms of anaphora. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 14. 545–589.10.1007/BF00133598Search in Google Scholar

Schladt, Mathias. 2000. The typology and grammaticalization of reflexives. In Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Traci Curl (eds.), Reflexives: Forms and functions. volume 1, volume 40 of Typological Studies in Language, 103–124. Amsterdam: Benjamins.10.1075/tsl.40.05schSearch in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 1975. Semantics and syntax of motion. Syntax and Semantics 4, 181–238. New York: Academic Press.10.1163/9789004368828_008Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 1978. Figure and ground in complex sentences. In Joseph Greenberg (ed.), Universals in human language, 625–649. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 1985. Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, vol. 3, 57–149. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a cognitive semantics, vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Wierzbicka, Anna & Cliff Goddard. 2018. Talking about our bodies and their parts in Warlpiri. Australian Journal of Linguistics 38. 31–62.10.1080/07268602.2018.1393862Search in Google Scholar

Wood, Jim. 2012. Icelandic morphosyntax and argument structure. New York, NY: New York University Doctoral Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Wood, Jim. 2015. Icelandic morphosyntax and argument structure. Switzerland: Springer International.10.1007/978-3-319-09138-9Search in Google Scholar

Zubizarreta, Maria Luisa & Eunjeong Oh. 2007. On the syntactic composition of manner and motion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/5132.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2019-07-06
Published in Print: 2019-09-25

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 24.3.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/tlr-2019-2021/html
Scroll to top button