The metonymy of logical metonymy

Transcription

1 The metonymy of logical metonymy analyzing real language data

2 What is logical metonymy? Mary began the book Mary began reading (/writing) Mary finished the book Mary finished reading (/writing) John enjoyed the sandwich John enjoyed eating [the sandwich]

3 Defining logical metonymy (I) Pustejovsky 1991: 425 ( Pustejovsky 1989: xxii) Roughly, logical metonymy occurs when a logical argument (i.e. subpart) of a semantic type that is selected by some function denotes the semantic type itself. Godard & Jayéz 1993: 168 a phrase of type o (object) is coerced to a phrase of type e (event) under the influence of the predicate

4 Defining logical metonymy (II) Pustejovsky 1991:425, 1995:54 Although superficial similar to cases of general metonymy (cf. Lakoff and Johnson 1982, Nunberg 1978), there is an interesting systematicity to such shifts that we will try to characterize below as logical metonymy. Nunberg 1996: 116 (=1995) The availability of transfer for common nouns, adjectives, and the rest is what underlies the pattern of lexical alternation that go by the names of regular polysemy, systematic polysemy, logical metonymy, and the like.

5 What is logical metonymy? (III) Verspoor 1997: This phenomenon involves the use of a noun phrase to suggest an event associated with that noun phrase it is metonymy (e.g. Nunberg 1978) in the sense that one phrase is used for another (the noun phrase in place of the full eventive verb phrase) and, under the analysis I will adopt, logical in that it is triggered by type requirements which a verb places onto its arguments (in the examples above, the verb requires an eventive complement).

6 VP-NP or object-event shifts? 2003:1 logical metonymy, that is, constructions in which the argument of a word in syntax appears to be different from that argument in logical form (cf. also Egg 2003:163) Lapata/Lascarides 2003: enjoy a lecture enjoy attending it enjoy giving it enjoy a marriage enjoy going to it enjoy participating in it

7 VP-NP?? metonymy primarily relates to meaning (form differences are by-effects) if l.m. is a VP-NP shift it cannot be a missing event that induces the shift beyond English: In other languages (Dutch and German) a gerund VP is an NP!!!

8 Logical metonymy: object instead of event event required by matrix verb object and event metonymically related metonymical pattern (Ruiz de Mendoza/Pérez 2001): OBJECT FOR ACTION WHERE THE OBJECT IS INVOLVED IN - Mary began the book - Mary finished the book - Mary enjoyed the book (maybe also event-event?)

9 Pustejovsky 1991 & 1995 Metonymical interpretation on the basis of a semantic representation of the noun: qualia structure book(x) CONST = {text, paper,...} FORMAL = physobj(x) TELIC = read(p,y,x) AGENTIVE = write(t,w,x) sandwich(x) CONST = {bread,...} FORMAL = physobj(x) TELIC = eat(p,y,x) AGENTIVE = artefact(x) The noun coerces into an event The coercion is constrained (underlying event structure)

10 Advantages of such a generative lexicon explains where interpretation / metonymical link comes from incorporates encyclopedic knowledge into the lexicon is thus also compatible with more cognitive linguistic accounts it can be used to explain other phenomena the meaning of the matrix verb remains stable

11 Linguistic evidence against coercion (Godard & Jayez 1993) relativization: anaphora: coordination: Jan begon aan een boek dat erg dik was *Jan begon aan een boek dat twee uur duurde John began his book at ten and put it away at eleven */?John began his book at ten and didn t stop it till 11 Il a commencé et finalement mangé le saumon Er aß und genoss den Lachs Hij heeft het beeld voltooid en vond het prachtig

12 Qualia structure vs. Context & Convention The role of context (Lascarides/Copestake 1998) Mary begins the book (Mary = a goat) I enjoyed the book you gave me (of marzipan) The role of convention (Verspoor 1997) differences between finish, begin (on) & enjoy more agentive than telic roles for finish & begin only +/- 20 nouns which are used metonymic

13 Problems, problems, problems is logical metonymy actually an instance of metonymy? and if so, how does the involved metonymy work? which verbs do allow such constructions? do all these verbs work in a similar way? HOW ABOUT REAL LANGUAGE?????

14 Need for more data 1. almost all research on English (Godard/Jayez 1993, Pustejovsky/Boullion 1996, Horacek 1996) 2. real data hardly ever taken into account only 3 corpus studies: Briscoe et al 1990 Verspoor 1997 Lapata & Lascarides 2003

15 In sum, what needs to be done: more precise analysis of involved metonymy analyzing similarities/differences between verbs analyzing similarities/differences between languages (Dutch, German) taking real language data into account (!)

16 English verbs attempt begin choose complete continue endure enjoy expect fear finish master miss postpone prefer resist regret savor start survive try want Copestake/Briscoe 1996, McElree et al 2001, McElree et al 2006, Lapata/Lascarides 2003, Pustejovksy 1995, Ruiz de Mendoza/Perez 2001

17 Dutch and German data: translation of the English verbs more synonyms related verbs around 50 verbs for each language non-eventive direct objects (Google) analyzing corpus examples dictionaries: metonymy on event/object complements

18 XL differences: English-Dutch-German Gerund = an eventive noun he enjoyed reading = er genoss das Lesen Direct Object vs. Prepositional complement begin : Dutch: beginnen + DO/aan/met German: anfangen + DO/mit, beginnen + DO/mit enjoy : Dutch: genieten van German: genießen + DO

19 PPcomplements for begin 1. Mary began (on) the book 2. Marie begon (aan) het boek 3. Maria hat (mit dem/) das Buch angefangen (cf. Horacek 1996:123) 1. Mary began with the book, and then 2. Marie begon met het boek, en daarna [cf. e.g. third meaning of begin in Cobuild online & Honselaar 1980:148]

20 The difference between DO/on-aan Verspoor 1997:191 I propose that this structure [i.e. begin on-x] indicates only that something is being done with the NP object, leaving a more specific interpretation to be established using contextual information. Honselaar 1980:153 In tegenstelling tot gebeuren-aanduidende woorden die tot nu toe behandeld zijn [...] biedt een representatie d.m.v. AAN X de mogelijkheid om allerlei substantiva en pronomina te gebruiken;

21 begin : optional/obligatory PPc.? 1. Mary began (on) the book 2. Marie begon (aan) het boek 3. Maria hat (mit dem/) das Buch angefangen (cf. Horacek 1996:123) 1. Mary began (on) the soup. 2. Marie begon aan de soep. 3. Maria hat mit der Suppe angefangen.

22 Similar difference without PP 1. Mary finished the book. 2. Marie beëindigde het boek. 3. Maria hat das Buch beendet. (Cf. Horacek 1996:122) 1. Mary finished the beer. 2. *Marie beëindigde het biertje. 3. *Maria hat das Bier beendet. (cf. Horacek 1996:110)

23 Explanation: particle verbs? finish a beer bier opdrinken Bier austrinken finish a cigarette sigaret oproken Zigarette aufrauchen BUT: finish a book boek beëindigen/uitlezen Buch beenden/auslesen hierarchy: books/food/drinks/cigarettes?

24 Equivalents of to finish Dutch: beëindigen eindigen met voltooien afmaken German: beenden/beendigen vollenden fertig stellen afmaken/fertig stellen: can only be combined with to make ready concrete objects! How about voltooien/vollenden?

25 Continuum reflected in corpus data all kinds of events combined with beëindigen/beenden (sometimes concrete objects instead) some events combined with voltooien/vollenden (e.g. building but not writing) only very specific events combined with afmaken/fertig stellen (by default concrete thing)

26 English verb classes I. eventive verbs / phase verbs II. III. begin, complete, continue, finish, postpone, start evaluative verbs / emotive verbs choose, endure, enjoy, expect, fear, prefer, regret, savour, want in-between / rest category (information on both) attempt, master, miss, resist, survive, try

27 Do all verbs work the same? John began a/the beer John wants a/the beer John chose a/the beer John enjoyed a/the beer drinking to drink to drink drinking? to have? to have John enjoyed the taste of the beer John began a/the book John chose a/the book John wants a/the book John enjoyed a/the book reading to read to read reading? to have? to have

28 Interpretation based on qualia structure? same shift for all direct objects: ik wil een biertje / een auto / een mooi huis (= having) and even similar for event shifts ik wens een auto / een fijn leven unclear or several activities die Sonne genießen; ihre Traumwohnung vollenden not by telic/agentive role qualia structure Terroristen bekämpfen, van je kleinkinderen genieten

29 Data conclusions non-homogeneous group of verbs the specificity of the inferred activity varies some verbs need one activity for all nouns nonmetonymical construction can be impossible qualia structure cannot very well explain the data the relevance of the logical shift is arguable

30 An alternative cognitive linguistic proposal what is metonymy? how does the involved metonymy in (each of the) examples of logical metonymy work? having a close look at the verb semantics

31 Defining conceptual metonymy Metonymy is a cognitive process in which one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another conceptual entity, the target, within the domain (Kövecses/Radden 1998:39) mental access / conceptual mapping real world relationship = within one domain highlighting parts of a conceptual structure (Croft 1993) metonymy = highlighting a part of a conceptual structure

32 Metonymical polysemy SCHOOL institution people lessons building cf. Moerdijk 1989

33 Metonymical polysemy SCHOOL institution lessons people building The school has run out of money The whole school has a day off The school is on fire I will meet you after school cf. Moerdijk 1989 Certain semantic traits of a concept are highlighted

34 Metonymical polysemy SCHOOL institution lessons people building The school has run out of money The whole school has a day off The school is on fire I will meet you after school cf. Moerdijk 1989 Certain semantic traits of a concept are highlighted

35 Metonymical polysemy SCHOOL institution lessons people building The school has run out of money The whole school has a day off The school is on fire I will meet you after school cf. Moerdijk 1989 Certain semantic traits of a concept are highlighted

36 Metonymical polysemy SCHOOL institution lessons people building The school has run out of money The whole school has a day off The school is on fire I will meet you after school cf. Moerdijk 1989 Certain semantic traits of a concept are highlighted

37 Examples of classical metonymies I am reading Shakespeare READ AUTHOR -writes books BOOK -written by author The ham sandwich is waiting for its check restaurant context ORDER -for a client CLIENT -orders food

38 The metonymy of logical metonymy metonymy = highlighting parts of a conceptual structure (one conceptual entity gives access to another) How does this highlighting phenomenon work in case of logical metonymy? How do we know how semantic/conceptual structures look like? Frame Semantics (

39 ( Mary began reading

40 A representation for logical metonymy: MAIN STRUCTURE 1 lexical unit Core Element (CE)1 CE2 (agent) (activity) possible outcome STR. 2 lexical unit CE1 CE2

41 A representation for logical metonymy: highlighting parts of (embedded) struct. MAIN ACTIVITY_START STRUCTURE 1 lexical begin unit Core Element (CE)1 CE2 (agent) (activity) STR. 2 ACTIVITY possible begin reading/to outcome read (2) begin reading the book (2+2.2) begin the book (2.1) lexical read unit CE1 CE2 (reader = agent1) (text) book

42 English verb class I I. eventive verbs / phase verbs FRAMES: begin, complete, continue, finish, postpone, start Activity_Start(begin, start) Activity_Ongoing structure (continue) Activity_Stop / Activity_finish (finish, complete) Change_Event_time structure (postpone)

43 English verb class III III. in-between / rest category (information on both) FRAMES Surviving (survive) attempt, master, miss, resist, survive, try Core Elements: survivor & dangerous situation Attempt (attempt, try) Core Elements: agent & goal (= what the Agent attempts to achieve )

44 I have survived the airplane

45 A representation for surviving the plane MAIN STRUCTURE 1 lexical unit survive SURVIVING Core Element (CE)1 CE2 (agent) (dangerous situation) STR. 2 lexical unit RIDE_VEHICLE [flying] CE1 CE2 airplane

46 English verb class II II. evaluative verbs / emotive verbs choose, endure, enjoy, expect, fear, prefer, regret, savour, want FRAMES Desiring (desire) Preference (prefer) Choosing (choose) Expectation (expect) Experiencer_Subj (enjoy, fear, regret, savour)

47 John enjoyed eating / the sandwich

48 A representation for: to enjoy a sandwich MAIN STR. 1 lexical unit EXPERIENCER_SUBJ enjoy Element 1 Element 2 (experiencer) (experience) STR. 2 EXPERIENCE possible enjoy eating outcome / to eat enjoy eating the sandw. enjoy the sandwich eat Element 1 Element2 (ingestor/exp.) (ingestibles) sandwich

49 Logical metonymy An analysis of highlighted element of embedded frame: explains the involved metonymy has no problems with event-event shifts (events can also be highlighted elements) restricts the metonymy only Core Elements can be highlighted there must be highlighting involved (afmaken, fertigstellen) can deal with the continuum of cases specificity CE2: not just any event is needed

50 Other Logical metonymies Van Dale Groot Woordenboek 14: objectsverwisseling: 1 (taalkunde) bepaalde vorm van metonymie: verwisseling van het oorspronkelijke object bij een werkwoord door een ander object (dat, naar de betekenis, lokaal, causaal of temporeel met het oorspronkelijke is verbonden), bv. een gesprek onderbreken > iemand onderbreken = highlighting of the 1st Core Element!

51 Solution for: AGENT-ACTIVITY He interrupted her/her talk MAIN STR. lexical unit Core Element 1 Core E. 2 (agent) (event) possible interrupt outcome a/the talk interrupt his/her talk interrupt him/her INTERRUPT_EVENT interrupt EMBEDDED STR. lexical unit EVENT Element 1 (agent) talk he/she

52 Solution for difficult, vague cases MAIN STR. lexical unit EXPERIENCER_SUBJ enjoy Element 1 Element 2 (experiencer) (experienced content) STRUCT. 2 EXPERIENCE possible enjoy the sun outcome Element 1 Element2 (agent/exp.) (exposed content) sun

53 Solution for specific contexts Mary (my goat) began the book MAIN ACTIVITY_START STRUCTURE 1 lexical begin unit Core Element (CE)1 (agent) Mary (the goat) CE2 (activity) CE1 (reader = agent1) EMB. ACTIVITY STR. 2 lexical nibbling read unit CE2 (text) book

54 PPcomplement is important Some of these verbs are intransitive (always PP) doorgaan met, treuren om, hopen op, ophouden met, genieten van weitermachen mit, trauern um/über, hoffen auf, aufhören mit, bangen um Some verbs use PPcomplements in some cases beginnen (aan), starten (met), verlangen (naar) anfangen (mit), starten (mit), verlangen (nach)

55 Conclusions Logical metonymy = metonymically used constituents interpreted as some event highlighting Core Elements within (combined/embedded) Frame, explains: non-homogeneous group of verbs AGENT-ACTIVITY shifts blocking defaults because of context tool to describe XLdifferences PPcomplements often mark logical metonymies (not only DOs)