Abstract
This book is mainly concerned with the relation between language and cognition. It shows that many phenomena usually analyzed as grammatical can be described in a more simple and convenient way by postulating direct connection between syntactic complements and cognitive relations present in the schema evoked by the verb. This leads to the examination, and proposed solution, of some important theoretical and practical problems of the description of the lexicogrammatical structure of languages, and in particular of verb valency. The book focuses on thematic relations, a topic which has been the object of much discussion, and some confusion, in the recent literature. It proposes that assignment of thematic relations to sentence complements can in many cases be achieved by default, that is, by direct reference to variables present in the schema evoked by the main verb of the sentence. With this, many current uncertainties and confusions concerning the definition and delimitation of semantic roles are solved in a linguistically simple, empirically well-founded, and economical way.
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Notes
- 1.
The estimate excludes technical, obsolete, and regional items.
- 2.
One point to consider is whether, and to which limit, this position puts into question the competence/performance dichotomy. At present I suspect that the dichotomy does hold, pending perhaps some reformulation. But, honestly, I do not feel competent to go into the problem in depth.
- 3.
Of course, this is relevant for the delimitation of other semantic roles as well; I mention the Patient as an important example, which is discussed in this book.
- 4.
The same idea is already found in Castelfranchi and Parisi (1980: 82–84).
- 5.
Details and further examples in Perini et al. (1996).
- 6.
Framenet gives “a Figure is located relative to a Ground location,” which says essentially the same.
References
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Perini, M. A. (2015). Describing verb valencies: Practical and theoretical issues. Cham: Springer.
Perini, Mário A., Lúcia, F., Regina, B., Sigrid, F. (1996). O Sintagma nominal em português: Estrutura, significado e função. [The NP in Portuguese: structure, meaning, and function] Revista de Estudos da Linguagem (special number). Belo Horizonte: UFMG. Available at <periodicos.letras.ufmg.br / index.php / relin / issue / view / 409>.
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Perini, M.A. (2019). Results and Conclusions. In: Thematic Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28538-8_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28538-8_15
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