Verbs in the passenger seat

• Thematic role


  The semantic role that a noun phrase plays in a sentence, e.g. agent, patient, experiencer, etc.
• Problems with traditional Verb Argument Structure accounts
• Weird thematic relations


  Thematic roles that don't fit the typical roles associated with a verb
• Goldberg's theory


  • Constructions solve the issues with traditional Verb Argument Structure accounts
  • Constructions have their own semantic and syntactic properties
• The implications of Verb Argument Structure constructions
• Implications for linguistic analysis
• Implications for therapy
• orange


  • PAT
• Jack


  Wants a drink
• Jack


  Needs a drink
• The chair


  Needs a new leg
• Angie


  Is really nice
• She


  Sneezed the napkin off the table
• Paula


  Lost her watch
• Problems with traditional accounts
• Problems with traditional accounts

  • Valency augmentation
  • Weird thematic relations
• Valency augmentation


  • The multiple sense account
  • The construction based account (the extra argument is specified by the construction itself)
• Weird thematic relations


  • If roles are (in part) given by the construction itself, we are not committed to a small set of roles
  • Roles which are 'abstract' (i.e. which appear on lists devised by linguists) are those which are echoed across verbs and across constructions
  • Some arguments feel 'natural' and others feel 'added on' - the 'natural' ones are represented in the lemma, high frequency links between verbs and VAS constructions are lexically-stored while low frequency links are formed on the spur of the moment
• Goldberg's theory


  Verb Argument Structure Constructions
• Valency augmentation
• Weird thematic relations
• Dealing with weird roles

  • NP1 needs NP2
  • NP1 looks good on NP2
  • ADJ/NP2 denotes a property of NP1
  • Both NPs identify the same referent
  • The individual identified by both NPs has a property which is relevant to the discussion