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Prototypical Meaning Vs. Semantic Constraints in the Analysis of English Possessive Genitives

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Prototypical Meaning Vs. Semantic Constraints in the Analysis of English Possessive Genitives PROTOTYPICAL MEANING VS. SEMANTIC CONSTRAINTS IN THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH POSSESSIVE GENITIVES NAOKO HAYASE Osaka University This paper deals with the meanings of English possessive genitives based on a prototype-theoretic approach combined with a semantic con- straint implemented here in the form of a schema. Prototype theory can account for the subtle, gradient differences in accessibility among the various readings of the possessive genitive construction, while a schema is better suited to capturing a variety of marked contrasts in acceptability among possessive data. The schema proves to be powerful in account- ing for cases which interact with contextualization. This suggests that the correct analysis of the meanings of possessive genitives becomes possible in terms of the combination of both the prototype-theoretic analysis and the schema-based approach.* 0. Introduction In this paper we use the general framework of cognitive grammar to propose a two-part analysis of the semantics of the English possessive genitive construction. One part is based on the notion of prototype categories. In recent works of cognitively-based semantics (e. g., Lan- gacker (1987), Lakoff (1987), Taylor (1989a)), it has been demon- strated that most words are inherently indeterminate in meaning and cannot be defined in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions for membership in the categories that they designate. This amounts to saying that semantic categorization is not a matter of 'yes or no' but * This is a paper based on and developed out of my presentation at the 64th Conference of the English Literature Society of Japan, held at Seinan Gakuin Uni- versity, May 23-24, 1992. I am very grateful to many members for enlightening comments and discussion. I would like to thank Seisaku Kawakami, Yukio Oba for their constant encouragement and valuable suggestions during the writing of this paper. I also thank Michael T. Wescoat, and two anonymous EL reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this work. Thanks are also due to M. T. Wescoat for invaluable, patient discussion and extensive sty- listic suggestions. Remaining inadequacies are of course my own. English Linguistics 10 (1993) 133-159 -133- (C)1993 by the English LinguisticSociety of Japan 134 ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, VOLUME 10 (1993) one of 'more or less' and that the meaning of a word lies in a semantic prototype to which individual members may correspond in varying de- grees. A prototype category is an agglomeration of individuals or rela- tions that more or less resemble some prototype. It is convenient to conceive of a prototype category as a layered object of a kind that might be depicted by a set of concentric circles. At its very center lies the prototype, and in the layer immediately around the prototype are situated the members of the category that most closely resemble the prototype. As one moves outward, each successive layer contains members that resemble the prototype a little bit less than those mem- bers that reside in the previous layer. For any given level of the layered structure of a prototype category it is theoretically possible to provide an abstract description of all the members of the category that lie at that level or else at some level closer to the core, where the pro- totype resides. Such a description is called a schema, and it essentially picks out all the individuals or relations that resemble the prototype to a given degree. Schemata may be used to implement semantic con- straints and will provide the basis of the second part of our analysis. Various cognitive grammarians, e. g., Taylor (1989b), Durieux (1990), and Nikiforidou (1991), have expressed the view that the semantics of English possessive genitives can be adequately accounted for in terms of prototype categories. However, the principal claim of this paper is that the proper explanation of the meaning of the possessive genitive construction must be stated not only in terms of prototype categories but also with reference to schemata. The empirical prediction is that there is a threshold among degrees of resemblance to the prototype which must be met or surpassed in order for a given interpretation to be acceptable. Thus we predict two trends in empirical acceptability. On the one hand, we expect a smooth, gradient effect whereby some readings are relatively more accessible than others, and on the other hand we anticipate punctual drop-offs in acceptability if certain criteria to be defined below are not satisfied. Our goal in section 1 will be to demonstrate the utility of modeling the meaning of the possessive genitive construction through a prototype category. The members of this category will be relations that hold be- tween a possessor and a possessee, e. g., the 'ownership' relation or, perhaps less obviously, the 'parenthood' relation, etc. We shall moti- vate the approach by isolating the most generally accessible relation ex- pressible with the possessive genitive construction and positing it as the THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH POSSESSIVE GENITIVES 135 prototype; we will then demonstrate that other relations conveyed by the construction form a descending hierarchy of accessible readings, in a manner consistent with the prototype-category model. As one progresses away from the prototype possessive relation, one eventually comes to a level in the prototype category where the mem- ber relations resemble the prototype so little that they cannot be con- sidered as felicitous readings for the possessive genitive construction. Therefore our task in section 2 will be to provide a schema that char- acterizes those members of the prototype category that resemble the prototype closely enough to be possible possessive-genitive readings. In section 3 we will examine a variety of infelicitous possessive forms to show that the relations between possessor and possessee do not adhere to the schema and therefore are not sufficiently close to the prototype relation to be acceptable. In section 4 we will examine classes of cases where context sharply affects the acceptability of possessive genitive forms. We can account for this context-sensitivity in the present model by demonstrating that contextual variations may cause a relation to satisfy the schema for pos- sessive genitives on one occasion, even though the same relation would not be admitted by the schema in a more usual, neutral context. These observations support the use of schema-based semantic con- straints, since an approach that employed only prototype categories would be hard pressed to account for the same data. 1. Possessive Genitives and Various Relations They Describe In the present section, we will look at meaning relations expressible with possessive genitives and observe that they are more circumscribed than they are thought to be. In fact the relations between possessor and possessee seem to form a hierarchy wherein some readings are more readily accessible than others. This scalar effect is conducive to the prototype-category model. We will begin with a brief overview of the data. 1.1. Overview First of all, the possessive genitives we will deal with here serve to identify the head nouns that follow them:1 1 This paper is not concerned with descriptive or compound genitives, which have 136 ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, VOLUME 10 (1993) (1) a. the funnel of the ship-the ship's funnel b. the funnel of a ship-a ship's funnel c. a funnel of the ship (Quirk et al. (1985: 1276)) (1a) and (1b) have felicitous possessive genitive counterparts, while (1c) does not. This indicates that a possessive genitive has a reading where it has some definite reference, even though the possessive itself may be definite or indefinite.2 Possessive genitives are most typically thought to express the relation of ownership, but many other relations are possible: (2) a. John's book b. John's father c. John's heart d. the book's owner e. the house's entrance f. last year's decision g. San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge Kinship, whole-part, temporal and spatial relations are also expressed with the same construction. The relations depicted by the possessive construction are varied enough to make several linguists (e. g., Kemp- son (1977: 125)) claim that the meaning of the possessive genitive is in- determinate or even vague, and that any attempt to explain its semantic properties will be fruitless. In contrast, we shall argue that the relations which possessive con- structions can describe are in fact limited to a certain group. Whereas the 'semantic indeterminacy hypothesis' would entail the incorrect pre- diction that any application of a possessive genitive will do as long as the possessive identifies its head noun, the empirical data lead to an en- tirely different conclusion. (3) a. # the knife's fork b. # the hat's boy c. # the father's John d. # the collar's dog These examples indicate that the relation between possessive genitives and head nouns is more circumscribed. been distinguished from possessive genitives syntactically and semantically. Posses- sive genitives have the syntactic structure [[NP's] N] ([[the child's] book]) and al- ways have definite reference, while descriptiveor compound genitivesdo not, and furthermore have the structure [N's N] ([a [children'sbook]]). 2 See Woisetschlaeger(1983: 147-149) for a relevant discussionon the matter of definitenessin NPs with genitiveNP determiners. He presents severalexamples to show that nouns with genitiveshave only a single reading, namely, the definite one, and that they are not ambiguousbetween definite and indefinitereadings. THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH POSSESSIVE GENITIVES 137 1.2. POSSESSION as a Prototype Category Next we shall demonstrate that the various meanings of the posses- sive genitive construction can be best accounted for in terms of a prototype category. Let us call this the prototype category of POS- SESSION. Toward that end, our first task will be to determine the prototype around which the category will be formed.
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