Semantic Structures Current Studies in Linguistics Samuel Jay Keyser, general editor 1. A Reader on the Sanskrit Grammarians, J. F. Staal, editor 2. Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar, Ray Jackendoff 3. The Structure of the Japanese Language, Susumu Kuno 4. Speech Sounds and Features, Gunnar Fant 5. On Raising: One Rule of English Grammar and Its Theoretical Implications, Paul M. Postal 6. French Syntax: The Transformational Cycle, Richard S. Kayne 7. Pdnini as a Variationist, Paul Kiparsky, edited by S. D. Joshi 8. Semantics and Cognition, Ray Jackendoff 9. Modularity in Syntax: A Study of Japanese and English, Ann Kathleen Farmer 10. Phonology and Syntax: The Relation between Sound and Structure, Elisabeth O. Selkirk 11. The Grammatical Basis of Linguistic Performance: Language Use and Acquisition. Robert C. Berwick and Amy S. Weinberg 12. Introduction to the Theory of Grammar, Henk van Riemsdijk and Edwin Williams 13. Word and Sentence Prosody in Serbocroation, Use Lehiste and Pavle lvic 14. The Representation of (In)definiteness, Eric Reuland and Alice ter Meulen, editors 15. An Essay on Stress, Morris Halle and Jean-Roger Vergnaud 16. Language and Problems of Knowledge: The Managua Lectures, Noam Chomsky 17. A Course in GB Syntax: Lectures on Binding and Empty Categories, Howard Lasnik and Juan Uriagereka 18. Semantic Structures, Ray Jackendoff Semantic Structures Ray Jackendoff The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England I QQ Second printing, 1991 © 1990 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Palatino by Asco Trade Typesetting Ltd., Hong Kong, and printed and bound by The Halliday Lithograph in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jackendoff, Ray S. Semantic structures / Ray Jackendoff. p. cm.—(Current studies in linguistics; 18) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-262-10043-6 1. Semantics. 2. Generative grammar. 3. Grammar, Comparative and general —Syntax. I. Title. II. Series: Current studies in linguistics series; 18. P325.5.G45J3 1990 40T.43—dc20 89-78192 CIP For Noam, on whose shoulders it has been a privilege to stand Contents Series Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 PART I BASIC MACHINERY Chapter 1 Overview of Conceptual Semantics 7 1.1 E-Concepts and I-Concepts 7 1.2 First Principles of I-Conceptual Knowledge 8 1.3 Three Models for the Description of Meaning 11 1.4 Organization of the Grammar 16 1.5 Intuitions about Lexical Relations 19 1.6 X-Bar Semantics 22 1.7 Where Traditional Features Fail 32 1.8 Appendix: Lexical Composition versus Meaning Postulates Chapter 2 Argument Structure and Thematic Roles 43 2.1 Basic Function-Argument Structures 43 2.2 The Status of Thematic Roles 46 2.3 Argument Fusion and Selectional Restrictions 50 2.4 Restrictive Modification 55 Chapter 3 Multiple Thematic Roles for a Single NP 59 3.1 The Status of the 0-Criterion 59 3.2 Argument Binding 61 3.3 On So-Called Syntactic Binding 64 3.4 Appendix: Thematic Conditions on Control 68 viii Contents Chapter 4 Unifying Lexical Entries 71 4.1 Optional Outer Functions 72 4.2 Multiple Argument Structures 76 4.3 Remarks 81 PART II MOSTLY ON THE PROBLEM OF MEANING Chapter 5 Some Further Conceptual Functions 87 5.1 Introduction to Part II 87 5.2 Verbs of Manner of Motion and Configuration 88 5.3 Inchoative 91 5.4 Kinds of Conceptual Clause Modification 95 Chapter 6 Some Featural Elaborations of Spatial Functions 101 6.1 Distributive Location 101 6.2 Verbs of Touching 106 6.3 Verbs of Attachment 112 6.4 Verbs of Material Composition 116 6.5 Conclusion(s) 122 Chapter 7 The Action Tier and the Analysis of Causation 125 7.1 The Roles Actor and Patient; the Action Tier 125 7.2 Varieties of Causation 130 7.3 Varieties of Dyadic Interaction; the Role Beneficiary 133 7.4 Temporal Relations between the Cause and the Effect 138 7.5 Extensions of Force-Dynamics to Logical Verbs and Psych-Verbs 139 7.6 The Role Instrument; Unifying the Uses of Hit 142 7.7 Argument Binding in Force-Dynamic Verbs 145 7.8 Appendix: Lexical versus Periphrastic Causatives 150 PART III MOSTLY ON THE PROBLEM OF CORRESPONDENCE Chapter 8 Adjuncts That Express an Incorporated Argument 155 8.1 Introduction to Part III 155 8.2 Fill and Cover 159