The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation
The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation
87 (94) Despite the fact that it is a bad theory, in any possible respect, I believe in it. Note that uttering (93) does not render the speaker completely unintelligent, quite the contrary. Despite the flaws she/he observed, she/he cannot help liking the film. Clearly then, the properties of the object are irrelevant for an emotion such as ‘like’. The irrelevance of the properties to the state denoted by the verb is proposed here to correlate with /-c. Since the specification of /m is clearly negative in the discussed case, the internal cluster of like is the fully specified [-c-m] theta-cluster. In contrast, if one insists on uttering (94), namely believing in a bad theory, we cannot but conclude that the person is not very intelligent. In other words, the properties of the object (e.g. the adequacy of the theory) are relevant for an emotion such as ’believe’. Being relevant, they can be perceived as causing the belief. Since it is the irrelevance of the properties which correlates with /-c, their relevance indicates that the value of /c is unspecified and can be interpreted both ways. The above contrasts ((88)-(94)) show that the internal argument of verbs like love does not have the same interpretative status as the internal argument of [-m] PPverbs such as believe (in). Only the internal argument of the latter can be interpreted as causing the state denoted by the verb, and therefore the role assigned to it should be identified as [-m]. The internal argument of the former verb does not have such an interpretation, suggesting that it is the fully specified [-c-m] theta-role. In this section I have established the distinction between the unary [-m] and [-c] theta-clusters and the corresponding fully specified ones, and shown that PP-verbs assign the unary internal roles, as stated in (19). In the next section I will discuss and account for the diversity attested among members of the PP-group across languages, focusing on Hebrew, Russian and English.
88 3.5 PP-verbs cross-linguistically: the issue of divergence Since the analysis of the phenomenon of PP-verbs relies on the thematic structure of the verbs, and given the standard assumption that the theta-grids of concepts do not vary dramatically across languages (Chomsky 1981), one would expect that the groups of PP-verbs across languages should overlap notably. This, however, does not seem to be the case. Taking the random sample of 70 PP-verbs in Hebrew to be the reference set, only 30 of them surface as PP-verbs in Russian, and just 20 of them are PP-verbs in English. The question arises what underlies this variation. Is it in any way systematic? Focusing on Hebrew, Russian and English, I will show that there are two major sources of variation: (i) Some non-identity between the verbal concepts across languages; (ii) The way the [-c] role is realized. 3.5.1 Realization of verbal concepts Even though the thematic structure of concepts is universal, their realization is not. In other words, verbal concepts across languages may seem identical, while in fact, they are not (Tanya Reinhart p.c.). For example, several meanings, distributed in some language between distinct verbal concepts, can be collapsed in another language in one concept. This gives rise to some non-identity between concepts crosslinguistically. The non-identity may be very noticeable, or less so. If the collapsed meanings are rather distinct, the non-identity between the ambiguous verbal concept in one language and the distinct ones in the other is easily detectable. If the collapsed meanings are closely related, the non-identity will be less noticeable. Recall that the intuition which led me to the hypothesis that PP-verbs assign an underspecified internal role was that these verbal concepts are semantically less transparent than verbs which assign fully specified internal roles. Thus, given two languages, if in one of them a certain verb carries several meanings, whereas in the other each meaning is carried by a different verb, the verb in the former is less transparent, than each of the two or three corresponding verbs in the latter. The less transparent verbal concepts are the most natural candidates to be analyzed as PP-verbs, namely verbs which assign an underspecified internal thetacluster.
- Page 55 and 56: 36 the study). Thus, taking the not
- Page 57 and 58: 38 On my proposal (section 2.2.1) m
- Page 59 and 60: 40 In this respect, let me note a p
- Page 61 and 62: 42 The phenomenon of PP-verbs, alth
- Page 63 and 64: 44 inability to agree with its DP-o
- Page 65 and 66: 46 The question which arises at thi
- Page 67 and 68: 48 (13) Internal argument-taking hi
- Page 69 and 70: 50 Grimshaw 1990; Baker 1988, 1997;
- Page 71 and 72: 52 suitable for the problem at hand
- Page 73 and 74: 54 3.2.3 The mapping generalization
- Page 75 and 76: 56 (iii) Assignment of [Acc] depend
- Page 77 and 78: 58 (25) a. on našol konfet-u v kar
- Page 79 and 80: 60 theory of P developed in chapter
- Page 81 and 82: 62 (37) a. What did he eat in the m
- Page 83 and 84: 64 Thus, whatever the exact restric
- Page 85 and 86: (46). 28 Summarizing the above, P C
- Page 87 and 88: 68 As for the alleged arbitrariness
- Page 89 and 90: 70 3.4 The [-m]/[-c] distinction Th
- Page 91 and 92: 72 viewed as necessary conditions f
- Page 93 and 94: 74 (59) [-c] PP-verbs Physical cont
- Page 95 and 96: 76 interpreted only as undergoing a
- Page 97 and 98: 78 b. dan [he’if mabat] be-rina D
- Page 99 and 100: 80 a [+animate] DP. Consequently, h
- Page 101 and 102: 82 The meaning of (78a) is somethin
- Page 103 and 104: 84 (85) a. he’emanti be-bart [I]
- Page 105: 86 asserted ‘belief’. In other
- Page 109 and 110: 90 But the non-identical realizatio
- Page 111 and 112: 92 P device involves the syntactic
- Page 113 and 114: 94 Note that the options in (103) d
- Page 115 and 116: 96 adjacency requirement between th
- Page 117 and 118: 98 would be [-c] PP-verbs in Englis
- Page 119 and 120: 100 Appendix A: Residual issues The
- Page 121 and 122: 102 (A.6) a. mabat-o nadad (motion)
- Page 123 and 124: 104 Given its theta-grid, hikša is
- Page 125 and 126: 106 Appendix B Table 1. 70 Hebrew P
- Page 127 and 128: 108 Table 2. Some properties of the
- Page 129 and 130: 110 67. serev (le-) [+c+m] [-c] - +
- Page 131 and 132: 112 4. Locative, Directional and Da
- Page 133 and 134: 114 is distinct from both the Dativ
- Page 135 and 136: 116 Let me illustrate briefly the e
- Page 137 and 138: 118 inability of the Dative PP to d
- Page 139 and 140: 120 In principle, (16) can have eit
- Page 141 and 142: 122 from natan, but from the embedd
- Page 143 and 144: 124 Both (22a) and (22b) are possib
- Page 145 and 146: 126 (ii) Binding In the Hebrew Dati
- Page 147 and 148: 128 Let us assume that in (29a) the
- Page 149 and 150: 130 4.3 The Directional P Zwarts an
- Page 151 and 152: 132 (36) a. dan šalax praxim (le-r
- Page 153 and 154: 134 The incompatibility of Dative p
- Page 155 and 156: 136 (45) ha-tiyul le-hodu haya me
87<br />
(94) Despite the fact that it is a bad theory, in any possible respect, I believe in it.<br />
Note that uttering (93) does not render the speaker completely unintelligent,<br />
quite the contrary. Despite the flaws she/he observed, she/he cannot help liking the<br />
film. Clearly then, the properties of the object are irrelevant for an emotion such as<br />
‘like’. <strong>The</strong> irrelevance of the properties to the state denoted by the verb is proposed<br />
here to correlate with /-c. Since the specification of /m is clearly negative in the<br />
discussed case, the internal cluster of like is the fully specified [-c-m] theta-cluster.<br />
In contrast, if one insists on uttering (94), namely believing in a bad theory, we<br />
cannot but conclude that the person is not very intelligent. In other words, the<br />
properties of the object (e.g. the adequacy of the theory) are relevant for an emotion<br />
such as ’believe’. Being relevant, they can be perceived as causing the belief. Since it<br />
is the irrelevance of the properties which correlates with /-c, their relevance indicates<br />
that the value of /c is unspecified and can be interpreted both ways.<br />
<strong>The</strong> above contrasts ((88)-(94)) show that the internal argument of verbs like<br />
love does not have the same interpretative status as the internal argument of [-m] PPverbs<br />
such as believe (in). Only the internal argument of the latter can be interpreted<br />
as causing the state denoted by the verb, and therefore the role assigned to it should be<br />
identified as [-m]. <strong>The</strong> internal argument of the former verb does not have such an<br />
interpretation, suggesting that it is the fully specified [-c-m] theta-role.<br />
In this section I have established the distinction between the unary [-m] and [-c]<br />
theta-clusters and the corresponding fully specified ones, and shown that PP-verbs<br />
assign the unary internal roles, as stated in (19). In the next section I will discuss and<br />
account for the diversity attested among members of the PP-group across languages,<br />
focusing on Hebrew, Russian and English.
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