DOCSLIB.ORG

An Analysis of Theta Roles in Aphasic Speakers' Speech

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Analysis of Theta Roles in Aphasic Speakers' Speech View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repositorio Documental de la Universidad de Valladolid FACULTAD de FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO de FILOLOGÍA INGLESA Grado en Estudios Ingleses TRABAJO DE FIN DE GRADO AN ANALYSIS OF THETA ROLES IN APHASIC SPEAKERS’ SPEECH PRODUCTION Andrea Sánchez Cabrejas Tutora: Raquel Fernández Fuertes 2018-2019 ABSTRACT This dissertation is an empirical study on theta role assignment in aphasics’ linguistic production. Its aim is twofold: to address whether aphasics follow specific patterns regarding the form and function of the Determiner Phrases (DPs) that are assigned theta roles, and to know whether theta role assignment is an impaired stage of the speech production process and, if not, which causes deficits on aphasics’ speech production. To this purpose and considering previous empirical studies on aphasics’ language, the use of verb assigned theta roles by one anomic aphasic and one Broca’s aphasic is analysed. Conclusions reached from this analysis reveal that (1) specific patterns in terms of theta role type and DP form and function are followed by anomic and Broca’s aphasics, and that (2) it is confirmed that the theta role assignment process is not altered, and that linguistic deficits come from aphasics’ difficulties in accessing phonological representations of lemmas from their lexicon. Key words: theta roles, speech production, Broca’s aphasia, anomic aphasia. RESUMEN Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado es un estudio empírico sobre la asignación de los papeles temáticos en la producción lingüística de afásicos. El objetivo es determinar, por un lado, si los afásicos siguen patrones específicos considerando la forma y la función de los sintagmas determinantes a los que se les asignan papeles temáticos; y, por otro lado, si el proceso de asignación de papeles temáticos está alterado y la causa de los déficits lingüísticos en afásicos. Para ello, y partiendo de estudios empíricos previos sobre el lenguaje de los afásicos, se analiza el uso de papeles temáticos asignados por verbos de un anómico y de un afásico de Broca. Las conclusiones alcanzadas son: (1) que los anómicos y afásicos de Broca siguen un patrón según el tipo de papel temático y la forma y la función; y (2) que el proceso de asignación de papeles temáticos no está alterado y, los déficits del lenguaje que presentan provienen de las dificultades de los afásicos cuando acceden a las representaciones fonológicas de los lemas en su léxico. Palabras clave: papeles temáticos, producción del lenguaje, afasia de Broca, afasia anómica. CONTENTS 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. Theoretical background ...................................................................................................... 2 2.1. On aphasia ................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1. Broca’s aphasia .................................................................................................... 7 2.1.2. Anomic aphasia .................................................................................................... 8 2.2. On theta roles ............................................................................................................ 10 3. Previous empirical studies on aphasics’ language ............................................................ 13 4. Research questions ........................................................................................................... 16 4.1. Question set 1: arguments’ form ............................................................................... 16 4.2. Question set 2: arguments’ function ......................................................................... 17 4.3. Question set 3: theta role assignment ........................................................................ 17 5. Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 18 5.1. Participants ................................................................................................................ 18 5.2. Data selection ............................................................................................................ 19 5.3. Data classification ..................................................................................................... 22 6. Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 25 6.1. Question set 1: arguments’ form ............................................................................... 26 6.2. Question set 2: arguments’ function ......................................................................... 29 6.3. Question set 3: theta role assignment ........................................................................ 34 7. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 36 8. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 39 1 1. Introduction Due to different factors and causes, people suffer strokes. Many of the damages associated to the different pathologies affect brain’s left hemisphere, where speech areas are located. When an area in charge of speech is affected by a stroke, speech impairments are produced, as for instance aphasia. Depending on the affected area of the brain, aphasics have specific deficits in speech production and comprehension. Nowadays, aphasic speakers have access to many treatments in order to improve speech production and comprehension. These types of pathologies are more and more studied both to be prevented and to find a solution to their effects. However, most of the studies are produced from a clinical point of view, rather than from a linguistic one. For this reason, the present dissertation contributes as a linguistic study of aphasic speakers’ speech production. The study analyses the speech production of two participants, one Broca’s aphasic and one anomic aphasic. From their speech, the focus of analysis is placed on theta roles which are a semantic-syntactic feature of language. Theta roles have been analysed in terms of the DPs (Determiner Phrases) they are assigned to and both the form and function of these DPs is analysed in order to establish patterns in the aphasic speakers’ production. There are different classifications of theta roles, and the one considered in this study is Haegeman’s (1994). Among the theta roles, the ones the present dissertation will target are those assigned by the verb and assigned to DPs which function as subjects, direct objects and indirect objects. Throughout the analysis of theta roles, this study aims to contribute to previous linguistic studies on aphasics’ speech production. Also, its aim is to check whether aphasics’ theta role assignment is impaired, and if it is not, which stage of speech production is altered for each participant. Universidad de Valladolid Andrea Sánchez Cabrejas 2 For this purpose, the present dissertation is divided into eight sections (apart from the introduction). First, a theoretical background on aphasics and on theta roles is provided. Second, previous empirical works on aphasics’ language has been considered. Third, three sets of research questions according to patterns of (1) form, (2) function, and (3) theta role assignment are presented. This will guide the data analyses. Fourthly, the methodology followed in the present study is presented. This includes the selection of data from one anomic and one Broca’s aphasic from the Fridriksson Corpus of Aphasia Bank (MacWhinney, Fromm, Forbes and Holland, 2011) and the data classification criteria followed. Next, the results of the study are presented and discussed in terms of the research questions. And finally, the conclusions section includes the conclusions reached from the dissertation. The dissertation ends with a bibliography section. To accomplish this study, data have been compiled in a database where they are classified and analysed. This is done on an Excel spreadsheet attached to the dissertation in an electronic file. 2. Theoretical background We call speech to the staged process throughout which we can express our feelings or ideas. To perform a word, as it is a meaningful component of speech, it is necessary to associate it with a lexical concept, a process called conceptual preparation (Levelt, Roelofs and Meyer, 1999). Then, each concept is linked with a word or a so-called lemma. To do that, it is necessary to have a lexical selection throughout which we retrieve a lemma from our lexicon. As our lexicon stores thousands of words, the selection of that lemma depends on the context and on the decision-making process of the speaker (Butterworth, 1994); (Levelt, 1999). When doing this selection, the speaker may retrieve two or three lemmas, and will finally select the most activated one according to the concept and the lemma’s frequency of use. When getting a Universidad de Valladolid Andrea Sánchez Cabrejas 3 lemma, the speaker also retrieves its group of diacritic parameters, which must be set for a proper realization of the word, for example the transitive or intransitive feature of a verb (Levelt et al., 1999). After getting the lemma and its parameters from
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Verbal Case and the Nature of Polysynthetic Inflection
    Verbal case and the nature of polysynthetic inflection Colin Phillips MIT Abstract This paper tries to resolve a conflict in the literature on the connection between ‘rich’ agreement and argument-drop. Jelinek (1984) claims that inflectional affixes in polysynthetic languages are theta-role bearing arguments; Baker (1991) argues that such affixes are agreement, bearing Case but no theta-role. Evidence from Yimas shows that both of these views can be correct, within a single language. Explanation of what kind of inflection is used where also provides us with an account of the unusual split ergative agreement system of Yimas, and suggests a novel explanation for the ban on subject incorporation, and some exceptions to the ban. 1. Two types of inflection My main aim in this paper is to demonstrate that inflectional affixes can be very different kinds of syntactic objects, even within a single language. I illustrate this point with evidence from Yimas, a Papuan language of New Guinea (Foley 1991). Understanding of the nature of the different inflectional affixes of Yimas provides an explanation for its remarkably elaborate agreement system, which follows a basic split-ergative scheme, but with a number of added complications. Anticipating my conclusions, the structure in (1c) shows what I assume the four principal case affixes on a Yimas verb to be. What I refer to as Nominative and Accusative affixes are pronominal arguments: these inflections, which are restricted to 1st and 2nd person arguments in Yimas, begin as specifiers and complements of the verb, and incorporate into the verb by S- structure. On the other hand, what I refer to as Ergative and Absolutive inflection are genuine agreement - they are the spell-out of functional heads, above VP, which agree with an argument in their specifier.
    [Show full text]
  • Resultatives at the Crossroads Between the Lexicon and Syntax: Where Are They Formed
    Resultatives at the Crossroads between the Lexicon and Syntax Hans C. Boas1 International Computer Science Institute/ UC Berkeley 1 Introduction The sentences in (1) are examples of transitive resultative constructions which are composed of the following elements: an agent NP, an activity-denoting verb, a postverbal patient NP, and a resultative phrase which expresses the change of state or location of the patient as a result of the event expressed by the matrix verb. (1) a. Claire painted the door red. c. Chris drank Martin under the table. b. Pat ran his Nikes threadbare. d. Nicole danced Sascha tired. Resultative constructions have received much attention over the last decade because their syntactic and semantic distribution constitutes a challenge to theories within the Principles and Parameters framework (henceforth: P & P), such as the Small Clause Theory or the Binary Branching Analysis. There has, by no means, been any consensus as to whether the semantic predication relation that holds between the postverbal NP and the resultative phrase should be encoded syntactically, or not. This paper has two main goals. In the first part, I want to challenge the assumption that purely syntactic analyses are indeed the best way to account for the distribution of resultative constructions. The discussion focuses on the theory-internal syntactic motivations that underlie the individual analyses of resultative constructions within the P & P framework. In the second part, I will discuss a lexicalist approach to resultatives in terms of complex predicates. I will propose three different kinds of lexical rules, each forming a complex predicate in a different way.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ergativity Parameter Holmer, Arthur
    The ergativity parameter Holmer, Arthur 2001 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Holmer, A. (2001). The ergativity parameter. (Working Papers, Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics; Vol. 48). http://www.ling.lu.se/disseminations/pdf/48/Holmer.pdf Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics 1 Working Papers 48 (2001), 101–113 The ergativity parameter Arthur Holmer1 1. Introduction Within the field of syntactic typology, which seeks to describe and classify the range of grammatical phenomena extant in the world’s languages, one of the most important problems is whether or not a given language is ergative.
    [Show full text]
  • Thematic Roles in Somali: a Principles and Parameters Approach
    Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 6 No. 5; October 2015 Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Thematic Roles in Somali: A Principles and Parameters Approach Ahmad M. Saidat (Corresponding author) Department of English Language, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University P.O. BOX, 20 Ma'an 71111, Jordan E-mail: [email protected] Mamdouh A. Alenazy Department of English Language, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University P.O. BOX, 20 Ma'an 71111, Jordan E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.5p.104 Received: 04/05/2015 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.5p.104 Accepted: 20/07/2015 Abstract This study describes the thematic roles of Somali; a language that manifests unorthodox grammatical structures due to the use of the focus particle. A mapping of some language features related to the semantic-syntactic interface is carried out. The effect of the meaning of the lexical items is tested to whether it affects the syntactic structures of the sentences. It was found that the word order of Somali is determined by pragmatic and sociolinguistics factors. The focus particle of Somali plays a key-role in the Surface structure of the sentences. However; the thematic roles of the language appear not to be influenced by the grammatical manifestation of the language at the surface structure. Rather, they are determined at the deep structure level. Somali, being a pro-drop language, shows that predicates require obligatory external arguments while internal arguments are determined by the verb class and kind.
    [Show full text]
  • Basque As a Nominative-Accusative Language
    BASQUE AS A NOMINATIVE-ACCUSATIVE LANGUAGE Rebecca Tollan University of Toronto This paper considers how ergative alignment in Basque differs from that found in other ergative languages and how this system may be derived. In other ergative languages (E.g. Bandjalang, Warlpiri), all intransitive verbs have absolutive case subjects, regardless of any theta-related distinctions between agent and theme. In Basque, however, absolutive case appears only on subjects of unaccusative verbs. Unergative verbs pattern with transitive verbs in the sense that their sole (agent) argument is assigned ergative case. Previous analyses of ergativity (e.g. Chomsky 1991, Legate 2002) have related case marking to distinctions between transitive and intransitive verbs. Such analyses are not consistent with Basque data, however, given that the ergative-absolutive split in this language relates to verb agentivity rather than transitivity. I suggest that Basque can be analysed as a structural nominative-accusative language in which apparent ergative-absolutive patterning arises due to a particular property of non-agentive v (namely, the presence of Case). 1. Introduction One of the properties which set Basque apart from its neighbouring Indo- European languages is its Ergative-Absolutive case marking system. The main contrast between Ergative-Absolutive and Nominative-Accusative languages lies in subject-object patterning: in ergative languages (e.g. Basque, Inuktitut, Warlpiri) intransitive subjects pattern with transitive objects (generally speaking), whilst in accusative languages (E.g. English, French) transitive and intransitive subjects pattern together. This is summarized in Figure 1. Figure 1: Ergative and Accusative alignment and case marking patterns a. Nominative-accusative Transitive subject = Nominative Intransitive subject Object = Accusative I would like to thank Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Alana Johns, the University of Toronto Syntax and Semantics Research group and the audiences of MOTH 2013 and CLA 2013 for helpful feedback and discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Page Photo
    International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ISSN 2200-3592 (Print), ISSN 2200-3452 (Online) Vol. 4 No. 4; July 2015 Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Establishing the Thematic Structure and Investigating the most Prominent Theta Roles Used in Sindhi Language Zahid Ali Veesar (Corresponding author) Faculty of Linguistics, University of Malaya, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Kais Amir Kadhim Faculty of Linguistics, University of Malaya, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Sridevi Sriniwass Faculty of Linguistics, University of Malaya, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Received: 07-12- 2014 Accepted: 21-02- 2015 Advance Access Published: February 2015 Published: 01-07- 2015 doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.4p.216 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.4p.216 Abstract This study focuses on the thematic structure of the Sindhi verbs to find theta roles in the Sindhi language. The study tries to answer the research questions; “What are the thematic structures of Sindhi verbs?” and “What are the prominent theta roles in the Sindhi language?” It examines the argument/thematic structure of Sindhi verbs and also finds the theta roles assigned by the Sindhi verbs to their arguments along with the most prominent theta roles used in the Sindhi language. The data come from the two interviews taken from two young native Sindhi speakers, which consist of 2 hours conversation having 1,669 sentences in natural spoken version of the Sindhi language. Towards the end, it has been found that the Sindhi language has certain theta roles which are assigned by the verbs to their arguments in sentences.
    [Show full text]
  • “A Comparison of 'Thematic Role' Theories”
    “A comparison of ‘thematic role’ theories” Magister-Hausarbeit im Fach “Deutsche Sprache” dem Fachbereich Germanistik und Kunstwissenschaften der Philipps-Universität Marburg vorgelegt von Simon Kasper aus Alsfeld Marburg 2008 Contents List of figures 5 List of tables 6 List of abbreviations 7 Acknowledgements 9 1. Introduction: motive, goals, structure 10 2. Some history, general questions, and phenomena 15 2.1 Prerequisites for the “linking problem”: a brief historical sketch of 15 form-meaning correspondence theories 2.2 Thematic roles and their status in the theories 22 3. Challenging phenomena and related questions concerning 37 thematic roles 3.1 Split intransitivity 37 3.2 Passive/passivization 44 3.3 Locative alternation 47 3.4 Alternations with double object constructions 52 3.5 Psychological verbs 55 4. Thematic role theories 61 4.1 Discrete role solutions 61 4.1.1 Aspects, Principles & Parameters, Minimalism 62 4.1.2 Case Grammar 74 4.1.3 Relational Grammar 76 4.1.4 Cognitive Grammar 78 4.1.5 Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar 81 4.1.6 Lexical-Functional Grammar 82 4.2 Thematic role hierarchy solutions 85 4.2.1 Jackendoff (1972 and subsequent) 85 4.2.2 Construction Grammar 90 4.2.3 Lexical-Functional Grammar/Lexical Mapping Theory 93 4.2.4 Principles & Parameters, Minimalism 96 4.2.5 Optimality Theory 101 4.3 Generalized thematic role solutions 102 4.3.1 Role and Reference Grammar and related theories 103 4.3.1.1 Role and Reference Grammar 103 4.3.1.2 Kibrik (1997) 108 4.3.2 Dowty & successors 109 4.3.2.1 Dowty (1989, 1991) 109 4.3.2.2 Baker (1996, 1997) 113 4.3.2.3 Ackerman/Moore (1998, 2001) 114 4.3.3 Primus (1999 and subsequent) 116 4.4 Feature decomposition as solution 121 4.4.1 Wunderlich (2000 and subsequent) 121 4.5 Grand summary 124 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Structural Case in Finnish
    Structural Case in Finnish Paul Kiparsky Stanford University 1 Introduction 1.1 Morphological case and abstract case The fundamental fact that any theory of case must address is that morphological form and syntactic function do not stand in a one-to-one correspondence, yet are systematically related.1 Theories of case differ in whether they define case categories at a single structural level of representation, or at two or more levels of representation. For theories of the first type, the mismatches raise a dilemma when morphological form and syntactic function diverge. Which one should the classification be based on? Generally, such single-level approaches determine the case inventory on the basis of morphology using paradigmatic contrast as the basic criterion, and propose rules or constraints that map the resulting cases to grammatical relations. Multi-level case theories deal with the mismatch between morphological form and syntactic function by distinguishing morphological case on the basis of form and abstract case on the basis of function. Approaches that distinguish between abstract case and morphological case in this way typically envisage an interface called “spellout” that determines the relationship between them. In practice, this outlook has served to legitimize a neglect of inflectional morphol- ogy. The neglect is understandable, for syntacticians’ interest in morphological case is naturally less as a system in its own right than as a diagnostic for ab- stract case and grammatical relations. But it is not entirely benign: compare the abundance of explicit proposals about how abstract cases are assigned with the minimal attention paid to how they are morphologically realized.
    [Show full text]
  • A Construction Grammar Approach * Yoon-Suk Chung
    Tough construction in English: a Construction Grammar approach * Yoon-Suk Chung B.A. (Seoul National University) 1985 M.A. (Seoul National University) 1988 M.A. (University of California, Berkeley) 1992 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Committee in charge: Professor Paul Kay, Chair Professor Charles J. Fillmore Professor Yoko Hasegawa Spring 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Tough construction in English: a Construction Grammar approach Copyright 2001 by Yoon-Suk Chung Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Abstract Tough construction in English: a Construction Grammar approach by Yoon-Suk Chung Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Professor Paul Kay, Chair This study proposes a new analysis of the Tough construction (TC) in the English language. This analysis is couched within the non-modular, non- derivational, unification and inheritance-based framework of Construction Grammar (CG). There are five major theoretical issues around which the study of the TC has revolved: (1) the identification of the TC in generative syntax as a species of either extraction or control; (2) the characterization of the tough predicate as either a raising or a control predicate; (3) the analysis of the/or-phrase as either a PP or a complementizer + lower subject; and the classification of the tough infinitival phrase as (4) a VP, an IP, or a CP, and as (5) either a complement or an adjunct.
    [Show full text]
  • Word Order in German-English Mixed Discourse*
    Word order in German-English mixed discourse* EVA EPPLER Abstract Intrasententially code-switched data pose an interesting problem for syntactic research as two grammars interact in one utterance. Constituent-based models have been shown to have difficulties accounting for mixing between SVO and SOV languages like English and German. In an analysis of code-switched and monolingual subordinate clauses, I show that code-mixing patterns can be studied productively in terms of a dependency analysis which recognises words but not phrases. That is, each word in a switched dependency satisfies the constraints imposed on it by its own language. Quantitative methodologies, in addition to the dependency analysis, are essential because some of the influences of code- switching are probabilistic rather than absolute. 1 Introduction If German-English bilinguals want to code-switch subordinate clauses, they need to resolve the problem of English being SVO and German finite verbs depending on lexical complementizers generally being placed in clause-final position1. How this word order contrast is resolved is relevant to the question underlying all grammatical code- switching research, i.e. whether there are syntactic constraints on code-mixing. The first section will discuss the theoretical background to this controversy, followed by a description of the corpus and the theoretical assumptions this particular study is based on. The third section states the relevant word order rules for finite verbs in German and English, and the main sections present the data and the structural analyses. The analyses will highlight the importance of a quantitative analysis, and will show that * I would like to thank Dick Hudson, Mark Sebba and Jeanine Treffers-Daller for their comments, Randall Jones for his data and David for making me laugh.
    [Show full text]
  • Word Order Variation and Gapping in German
    Word Order Variation and Gapping in German Senior Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Undergraduate Program in Language and Linguistics Lotus Goldberg, Advisor In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts by Tamar Forman-Gejrot May 2016 Copyright by Tamar Forman-Gejrot ABSTRACT This thesis brings German data to bear on the question of what types of parallelism in linear order and syntactic structure are needed between the antecedent and target conjuncts of Gapping sentences, looking at a range of possible word order variations in each of the conjuncts. As a language with pervasive use of Scrambling, Topicalization, and verb-second ordering – which, in turn, is a significant factor responsible for its relatively free word order – German allows the investigation of a range of alternative word orders and syntactic positions in the antecedent and remaindered material of Gapping, and so is an ideal language in which to investigate these issues. I will present a set of empirical syntactic generalizations at work in the data, including most notably a requirement that an argument that is scrambled in the antecedent conjunct must be the counterpart of an overt remnant in the target conjunct, as well as a number of limitations for the possible positions of a remnant whose antecedent counterpart is topicalized. However, it appears to be the case that such syntactic restrictions may be overridden by linear parallelism traits such as matching linear order between the arguments of the antecedent and target conjuncts or a canonical ordering of target conjunct remnants.
    [Show full text]
  • Apparent Subject-Object Inversion in Chinese*
    Apparent subject-object inversion in Chinese* ONE-SOON HER Abstract This article is concerned with the problem of argument-function mismatch observed in the (apparent) subject-object inversion in Chinese consumption verbs, e.g., chi ‘eat’ and he ‘drink’, and accommodation verbs, e.g., zhu ‘live’ and shui ‘sleep’. These verbs seem to allow the linking of 3agent- SUBJ theme-OBJ4 as well as 3agent-OBJ theme-SUBJ4, but only when the agent is also the semantic role denoting the measure or extent of the action. The account o¤ered is formulated within LFG’s lexical mapping theory. Under the simplest and also the strictest interpretation of the argument-function mapping principle (or the y-criterion), a composite role such as ag-ext receives syntactic assignment via one composing role only; the second composing role must be suppressed. Apparent subject-object inver- sion occurs when in the competition between the two composing roles, ag- ext, the agent loses out and is suppressed. This account also facilitates a nat- ural explanation of markedness among the competing syntactic structures. 1. Introduction: the linking problem Despite the view of autonomous syntax which characterizes syntactic theories within the tradition of generative grammar (Newmeyer 1991), various mechanisms and principles have been proposed by generative grammarians to account for the general correspondences between seman- tic roles and syntactic arguments, for example agents to subjects and patients to objects.1 Such correspondences are known as ‘‘linking’’, ‘‘mapping’’, and also ‘‘argument realization’’. Unsatisfied with the earlier rule-based stipulations,2 more principled constraints were proposed to ac- count for the linking between lexical semantics and syntax.
    [Show full text]