Database Reference
In-Depth Information
The lexical proplet representing
read
has the category
(n-s3' a' v)
. It matches
the RegEx pattern
(n-s3' .* v)
, which represents the non-third-person singular
present tense (i.e., unmarked) form of the English verb. The Kleene star * gen-
eralizes over varying oblique valency positions.
12
Because the surface of this
form may be used systematically
13
as the infinitive, it would violate the prin-
ciple of Surface Compositionality (SCG'84, FoCL'99, NLC'06)
14
to postulate
separate lexical analyses for (i) the unmarked finite verb form of English and
(ii) the English infinitive. The same holds for German, though it uses another
finite verb form, namely the first and third person plural present tense form,
e.g.,
lesen
, for the infinitive. The infinitive in Latin, in contrast, has a separate
surface, e.g.,
amare
, which does not equal any finite form.
Consider the content resulting from the hear mode derivation 8.4.1:
8.4.2 C
ONTENT REPRESENTATION OF AN INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTION
⎡
⎣
⎤
⎦
⎡
⎣
⎤
⎦
⎡
⎣
⎤
⎦
⎡
⎣
⎤
⎦
noun: John
cat: nm
sem: sg
fnc: try
prn: 32
verb: try
cat: decl
arg: John read
mdr:
prn: 32
verb: read
cat: inf
fnc: try
arg: John book
prn: 32
noun: book
cat: snp
sem: indef sg
fnc: read
prn: 32
The proplet
John
has
try
as its
fnc
value, while
try
has
John
as its first
arg
value; using schema (1) in 7.3.3, the bidirectional relation between
John
and
try
is characterized as subject
verb. The proplet
read
has
book
as its second
arg
value, while
book
has
read
as its
fnc
value; using schema (2) in 7.3.3, the
bidirectional relation between
read
and
book
is characterized as object
/
verb.
The bidirectional relation between
try
and
read
remains. One direction is
coded by the value
read
in the second position of the
arg
attribute of
try
.This
is opaque insofar as
read
is verbal rather than nominal because it also serves
as the core value of a verb proplet.
The other direction is coded by the
fnc
attribute of
read
with the value
try
.
This is opaque insofar as a verb proplet like
read
normally (i.e., in a transparent
\
12
The equivalent DBS notation is
(n-s3' X v)
. While early NEWCAT'86 implementations of LA-
grammar used RegEx for matching ordered category values, the pattern matching for proplets requires
a more differentiated method based on restricted variables.
13
The single exception is the auxiliary
be
with its non-third-person singular present tense forms
am
and
are
. This exception is handled by introducing the variable INF (for infinitive) with the following
restriction: INF
{(n-s3' .* v), (be-inf)}
. Thereby
be-inf
is the
cat
value of
be
and
(n-s3' .* v)
covers
all other infinitives of English.
More specifically, the RegEx pattern
(n-s3' .* v)
matches the relevant forms of one-, two-, and
three-place main verbs as well as those of
have
and
do
, i.e.,
(n-s3' v), (n-s3' a' v), (n-s3' d' a' v),
(n-s3' hv' v),
and
(n-s3' do' v
), respectively. In contrast, the forms
am
of category
(ns1' be' v)
and
are
of category
(n-s13' be' v)
as defined in NLC'06, 13.1.8, are not matched. Instead, the
cat
value
of
be
is defined as
be-inf
and added to the restriction of the variable INF.
14
Huddleston and Pullum (2002) postulate two lexical entries for the form in question, called “primary
plain” and “secondary plain,” and use the latter for the imperative, the subjunctive, and the infinitive.
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