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Case Assigner Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

3. Getting into the nitty-gritty of argument structure II

0Hi, another excercise I am working on. By the way... do you think that these are too difficult to be part of this forum. I just recogniced that no one answered my last ones. Maybe I should stop spamming your forum with questions like that. I just hoped that someone is interested in linguistics and wants to chat with me about these questions. They are sometimes very hard to understand and it might be easier to solve them together. Any ideas for solutions to these sentences...... just let me know 05002br
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00Discuss the argument structure in the following sets of sentences:02br
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00Short explanation to my answers:02br
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00The important verb is written in bold letters, the selected arguments are underlined.02br
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00(i) –> co-indexation02br
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00a) 01u00I02u00 01b00told02b00 01u00John02u00 01u00that he 01b00should buy02b00 the bicycle02u00.02br
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00“told” selects “I”, John and “that he should buy the bicycle” 02br
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00“should buy” selects “he” and “the bicycle” 02br
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01u00I02u00 01b00told02b00 01u00John02u00 01b01u00to buy02u02b01u00 the bicycle02u00.02br
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00Nearly the same applies to “told” as in the sentence above.02br
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00A different situation is with the verb “to buy”. “The bicycle is still internal argument, but now the external argument is an empty category.02br
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00I told John(i) 01u00ec(i)02u00 01b00to buy02b00 01u00the bicycle02u00.02br
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00This empty category ec is controlled by John, it is a non-overt argument.02br
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00b) 01u00I02u00 01b00expect02b00 01u00that John 01b00will return02b02u00.02br
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00“Expect” takes “I” and “that John will return” as arguments.02br
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00“will return” takes “John” as external agentive argument02br
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01u00I02u00 01b00expect02b00 01u00John02u00 01b01u00to return02u02b00.02br
00Here, “expect” takes “I” as external agentive argument, “John” internal one and “to return” “to return” takes an empty category as its argument that is controlled by John02br
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00I expect John(i) ec(i) 01b00to return02b02br
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00c) 01u00I02u00 01b00want02b00 01u00my coffee02u00 01b01u00to be02u02b01u00 piping hot02u00.02br
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00“Want” takes “I” (agent), “my coffee” and “to be pipng hot” 02br
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00Again, an empty category occurs here – “to be” selects as arguments the empty category controlled by “my coffee” and “piping hot” as theme.02br
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00I want my coffee(i) ec(i) 01b00to be02b00 piping hot.02br
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01u00I02u00 01b00want02b00 01u00my coffee piping hot02u00.02br
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00This one is a case that is quite unclear to me. I decided that “want” takes “I” and “my coffee piping hot” as theme. Furthermore I believe that “piping hot” is an example for being an argument of a NP. “Piping hot” therefore is an argument of my coffee, as in:02br
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00Rembrandt´s 01b00picture02b00 of Sakia02br
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00 1 202br
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00d) 01u00I02u00 01b00consider02b00 01u00that it 01b00is02b00 rather surprising02u00 01u00that Mary 01b00has left02b02u00.02br
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00“consider” – external: “I” ,internal: “that it is rather surprising” and “that Mary has left”02br
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00 “is” – internal: “it”, external: “rather surprising” and “that Mary has left.02br
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00 I am not sure about “it” here. I think it is an example for an expletive it that is 02br
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00in construction with the clause. “It”, as far as I understood the book, cannot02br
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00be questioned and is therefore not referential.02br
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00“has left” – external: “Mary”02br
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01u00I02u00 01b00consider02b00 01u00it to be rather surprising02u00 01u00that Mary 01b00has left02b02u00.02br
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00“consider” external: “I” , internal: “to be rather surprising” and “that Mary has left” à maybe the inernal one is one argument, but somehow I feel that these must be two arguments.02br
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00“has left” external: “Mary”02br
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01u00I02u00 01b00consider02b00 01u00it rather surprising that Mary 01b00has left02b02u00.02br
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00“consider” selects “I” as external argument and the whole phrase02br
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00“it rather surprising that Mary has left” as its internal argument.02br
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00 “has left” takes “Mary” as its external argument 010id1
  
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