Symmetric predicates and the semantics of reciprocal alternations

The Semantics of Gradable Predicates

Semantics and Pragmatics of Argument Alternations

After setting out the challenges posed by argument alternations for linguistic theory, this paper reviews the development of accounts of argument alternations over the last fifty years, documenting a shift from accounts that are primarily syntactic in nature to accounts with semantic and pragmatic components. The remainder of the paper consists of case studies of the developing understanding of...

Diathesis alternations and NP semantics * Barbara

In this paper we examine the relationships among diathesis alternations, the semantics of verbs, and the referential status of NPs. Some diathesis shifts are argued to involve changes in the semantic type of NP arguments, including possible alternations between ‘referential’ NPs and ‘property-type’ NPs. We explore applications of this approach to alternations of Genitive and Accusative, both wi...

Psychological Predicates and the Syntax-semantics Interface

The hypothesis of the autonomy of syntax makes special demands on one of the central issues in linguistic theory: the specification of correspondences between a lexical conceptual and syntactic structure. One strategy is to distinguish several layers of lexical representation and allow only one of them to be "visible" to syntactic and morphological processes (cf. Pinker 1989, Grimshaw 1990). A ...

On the Semantics of Existence Predicates

The most common philosophical view about the notion of existence is that it is a second-order property or existential quantification. A less common view is that existence is a (first-order) property of 'existent' as opposed to 'nonexistent' (past or merely intentional) objects. An even less common view is that existence divides into different 'modes of being' for different sorts of entities. In...