Verbconstructions cross-linguistically - Introduction

Presented here is an initiative for constructing an environment enabling the enumeration of verb constructions cross-linguistically. The aims are:

For each language, that the enumeration be complete and transparent;
Across languages, that the enumerations be comparable.

The environment includes a labeling system which, for any verb construction of a given language, provides a template for that construction type displaying its argument structure and other properties, in a fashion as transparent as possible. The template is constructed from a universally established inventory of labeling primitives. The initiative has started with, on the one hand, a rather extensive inventory of Verb Constructions in Norwegian (based on the TROLL 1989 work, NorKompLeks 1996, and Norsource 2007), and on the other, a comparative survey of closely related languages of the Volta Basin Area (supported by The Legon-Trondheim project on Ghanaian languages). Thus both scenarios mentioned above are being instantiated.

The characterization of a construction type relates to at least the following parameters, when applicable:

diathesis/argument operations (such as passive, causativisation, applicative formation),
syntactic valency,
semantic participants,
particular patterns of agreement, including coreference patterns (such as 'equi' and 'raising' patterns, argument sharing, secondary predication), tense/aspect agreement, and subject and object marking,
'full' vs 'expletive' elements. NOT included is modification and syntactic processes not particular to the formation or modification of argument structure.

The basic structural parts of a Template are referred to as slots. In the slot specification, the following conventions are observed:

Slots are interconnected by '-' (hyphen).
Distinct items inside a slot are interconnected by '_' (underline).
An item label containing neither ‘-‘ nor ‘_’ is an uninterrupted string of letters. If it acts as a complex label, the internal composition is indicated by alternation between small and capital letters (however, no labels are distinguished in terms of CAP vs. not).

Constructions with a Verb as head have a Template structure with maximum five slots:

Slot 1: POS of the head, and diathesis information (e.g.: 'V_pas' for passive diathesis; 'V' alone if the construction is active).
Slot 2: Valency: transitivity specification - intr, tr, ditr, ... (see list below) (if the construction is passive, the valence given is that of its corresponding active form).
Slot 3: Dependent Specification: comments on syntactic and referential properties of specific arguments – see list below.
Slot 4: Participant Roles.
Slot 5: Situation Type: a label for the situation type expressed by the construction, written in CAPS

Slots 1 and 2 are obligatorily filled, the others not. A slot not specified is not displayed; however, the labels defined for the various slots are distinct, hence no specification can be misread with regard to which slot it fits into. Likewise, no labels are distinguished in terms of CAP vs. not.

The following template exemplifies the notation (with an English example sentence):

(1) v-tr-ag_affincrem-COMPLETED_MONODEVMNT

the boy eats the cake

The template reads as:

Slot 1: The head is V;
Slot 2: the syntactic frame is transitive;
Slot 4: the thematic roles expressed are 'agent' and 'incrementally affected';
Slot 5: the situation type is (partially characterized as) 'completed monotonic development'.

Nothing here occupies Slot 3. (Since neither 'ag_affincrem' nor 'COMPLETED_MONODEVMNT' is a defined slot 3-specification, there is no ambiguity as to which slot is here empty.)

The following template has specification for the first three slots (from Norwegian, with gloss and translation):

(2) v-trScpr-scObNrgCse_scAdj

han sang rommet tomt

“he sang the room empty”

han

heSBJ3PSGNOM

PN

sang

singPAST

Vitr

rommet
rom	et
roomOBJ	DEFSGNEUT
CN

tomt
tom	t
emptySC	SGNEUT
ADJ

This template reads as:

Slot 1: The head is V;
Slot 2: the syntactic frame is transitive with a secondary ('small clause') predicate;
Slot 3: the secondary predicate is predicated of the object, which is a 'non-argument', i.e., does not have a semantic argument relation to the verb, and expresses the result of a causation; moreover, the secondary predicate is headed by an adjective.

If a construction has a verbal complement, or is a series of verbs, where there is reason to comment on each verbal domain, the construction is entered as a sequence of two (or more) v-constructions, where each has the argument frame instantiated by the verb in question. The v-constructions are separated by double hyphen. After the first slot, which indicates the kind of construction, there is a slot with information on how constituents from the different v-constructions interrelate. The following is an example of a Serial Verb Construction in Akan, where 'sv' indicates this type:

3) sv-objIDsu_aspID--v-tr-ag_ejct--v-tr-th_endpt-CONTACTEJECTION

This template reads as:

Slot 1: The construction is an SVC;
Slot 2: The object of the first clause is (referentially) identical to the subject of the second clause, and aspect (PST) is identical across the clauses;
Slot 3: The v-constructions: the first v-construction has a transitive verb, and its participant roles are 'agent and ejected'; the second v-construction also has a transitive verb, with the participant roles 'theme' and 'endpoint' (notice that in each of these frames, there is no slot 3-specification, but both have slot 4-specification);
Slot 4: The whole construction expresses the situation-type 'CONTACTEJECTION', that is, 'ejection with the ejected obtaining contact with an expressed entity'.

v-intrImpers ROLE: SIT-TYPE: PHENOM det regner

'it rains'

v-intrImpersPrtcl ROLE: SIT-TYPE: PHENOM_TELIC det klarner opp

'it clears up'

v-intrImpersObl ROLE: locObl SIT-TYPE: SEMELFACTIVE det kvekker i Ola

'it startles in Ola'

det sprekker i glasset

'it cracks in the glass'

ROLE: locObl SIT-TYPE: ACTIVITY det synger i fjellene

'it sings in the mountains'

v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: agmover SIT-TYPE: MOTION det springer en mann

'there runs a man'

v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: agmover SIT-TYPE: ENDPNTMOTION det springer en mann hit

'there runs a man to here'

v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: thmover SIT-TYPE: MOTION det ruller en ball

'there rolls a ball'

v-intrDirPresentational ROLE: thmover SIT-TYPE: ENDPNTMOTION det ruller en ball hit

'there rolls a ball to here'

v-intrPresentationalLoc ROLE: ag_locObl SIT-TYPE: POSTURE_LOC det sitter en mann i stolen

'there sits a man in the chair'

det sitter en mann her

'there sits a man here'

v-trPresentational ROLE: ben_th SIT-TYPE: PENDINGSTATE det venter ham en ulykke

'there awaits him an accident'

det tilkommer ham hundre kroner

'there "to-come" him a hundred kroner' - "he is supposed to get 100 kroner"