Structuring the Argument: Multidisciplinary research on verb argument structure

214 Pages·2014·2.13 MB·English

by  Asaf Bachrach

Structuring the Argument
Language Faculty and Beyond
Internal and External Variation in Linguistics
Language Faculty and Beyond (LFAB) focuses on research that contributes to a deeper
understanding of the properties of languages as a result of the Language Faculty and
its interface with other domains of the mind/brain. While the series will pay particular
attention to the traditional tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy, the
series will also address issues such as the level of linguistic design, through new lines
of inquiry often referred to as ‘physiological linguistics’ or ‘biolinguistics’. LFAB aims
to publish studies from the point of view of internal and external factors which bear on
the nature of micro- and macro-variation as, for example, understood in the minimalist
approach to language.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
http://benjamins.com/catalog/lfab
Editors
Kleanthes K. Grohmann Pierre Pica
University of Cyprus CNRS, Paris
Advisory Board
Paola Benincà Anders Holmberg
University of Padova, Italy University of Newcastle, UK
Cedric Boeckx Lyle Jenkins
ICREA/University of Barcelona, Spain Biolinguistics Institute, Cambridge, USA
Guglielmo Cinque Richard K. Larson
University of Venice, Italy Stony Brook University, USA
Noam Chomsky Andrew Ira Nevins
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London, UK
Cambridge, USA Alain Rouveret
Stephen Crain University of Paris VII, France
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia Esther Torrego
Marcel den Dikken University of Massachusetts, Boston USA
CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA Anna Papafragou
Naama Friedmann University of Delaware, Newark, USA
Tel Aviv University, Israel Akira Watanabe
University of Tokyo, Japan
Volume 10
Structuring the Argument. Multidisciplinary research on verb argument structure
Edited by Asaf Bachrach, Isabelle Roy and Linnaea Stockall
Structuring the Argument
Multidisciplinary research
on verb argument structure
Edited by
Asaf Bachrach
Isabelle Roy
UMR 7023 Structures Formelles du Langage, Université Paris 8 - CNRS
Linnaea Stockall
Queen Mary, University of London
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Structuring the Argument : Multidisciplinary research on verb argument structure / Edited
by Asaf Bachrach, Isabelle Roy and Linnaea Stockall.
p. cm. (Language Faculty and Beyond, issn 1877-6531 ; v. 10)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Grammar, Comparative and general--Verb phrase. 2. Grammar, Comparative and
general--Augmentatives. 3. Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.
I. Bachrach, Asaf, editor of compilation.
P291.S697 2014
415--dc23 2014008330
isbn 978 90 272 0827 9 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7010 8 (Eb)
© 2014 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Argumenting the structure 1
Asaf Bachrach, Isabelle Roy and Linnaea Stockall
Part I. The general issue: Verb argument structure
Can we dance without doing a dance? Two opposite views
on the integration of roots in the syntactic structure of the vP 23
Víctor Acedo-Matellán
Determining argument structure in sign languages 45
Carlo Geraci and Josep Quer
The processing and representation of light verb constructions 61
Eva Wittenberg, Ray Jackendoff, Gina Kuperberg,
Martin Paczynski, Jesse Snedeker and Heike Wiese
Part II. Non-canonical argument structure realization
Luigi piace a Laura? Electrophysiological evidence for thematic
reanalysis with Italian dative object experiencer verbs 83
Alexander Dröge, Laura Maffongelli and Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
Causative nominalizations: Implications for the structure of psych verbs 119
Artemis Alexiadou and Gianina Iordăchioaia
Part III. Neurobiological models
Neurocognitive mechanisms of verb argument structure processing 141
Cynthia K. Thompson and Aya Meltzer-Asscher
vi Structuring the Argument
Argument structure: Between linguistics and neuroimaging 169
Einat Shetreet
Argument structure: Creating a productive space for theory
and experimentation 185
Gillian Ramchand
Language index 201
Subject index 203
Acknowledgments
We thank the UMR 7023 Structures Formelles du Langage, CNRS / Université
Paris 8, and in particular Sophie Wauquier, Maya Hickman and Léa Nash, for their
support and help in bringing about the Workshop “Structuring the argument:
A multidisciplinary workshop on the mental representation of verbal argument
structure”, held in Paris, in October 2011. We also thank the workshop present-
ers, participants, commentators (Gillian Ramchand, Hamida Demirdache, John
Beavers, Sarah VanWagenen, Víctor Acedo-Matellán) and invited speakers (Alec
Marantz, Cynthia Thompson, Jesse Snedeker, John Beavers, Josep Quer) for lively
and inspiring discussions and presentations.
Financial support for the workshop was provided by UMR 7023 SFL, Isabelle
Roy’s CNRS Chaire d’Excellence and the project “Structure Argumentale et Struc-
ture Aspectuelle” (Fédération Typologie et Universaux du Langage).
We thank Pierre Pica and Kleanthes Grohmann, and the John Benjamins ed-
itors, for their initiative and continuous support for this volume. We would also
like to thank our many reviewers for their useful comments and feedback on the
manuscripts and of course the authors for their engagement and patience with
the process.
This volume is dedicated to our beloved friend and colleague Sarah Van Wagenen.

Introduction
Argumenting the structure
Asaf Bachrach, Isabelle Roy and Linnaea Stockall
This collection is the result of a workshop “Structuring the Argument/Structurer
l’argument” held in Paris in September, 2011. This workshop developed from an
interest in identifying and exploring practical, tangible points of intersection be-
tween theoretical linguists, psycholinguists and neurolinguists working on prob-
lems related to verb argument structure.
Argument structure is, of course, a well studied, foundational topic (indeed
there have been a number of other edited volumes and monographs on verb argu-
ment structure just in the past 5–6 years, including Bowerman and Brown 2008;
Roberge and Cuervo 2012; Duguine, Huidobro and Madariaga 2010; Everaert,
Marijana and Siloni 2012; Hoekstra, Sybesma, Barbiers, Den Dikken, Postma
and Vanden Wyngaerd 2008; Pylkkänen 2008; Ramchand 2008; Randall 2010;
Suihkonen, Comrie and Solovyev 2012). The argument structure of verbs has
long been a central issue in linguistic research of all varieties and continues to
be a vexed, and very central, area of research across a wide range of theoretical
and empirical approaches, as attested by the collection of papers in this volume.
However, in contrast to the richness of intra-disciplinary research and discussion,
the inter-disciplinary perspective and dialogue remains largely underexplored.
The goal of this book is to address that gap. We begin (and end) with many
of the most basic questions that are at the heart of this rich body of work, but our
primary aim is to juxtapose research on specific issues, and highlight the ways
in which different methodologies (ranging from the most ‘conventional’ tools of
careful, cross-linguistic analysis to the increasingly sophisticated tools of cogni-
tive neuroscience) are used to address similar questions. By doing so we showcase
the potential for innovative cross-disciplinary research. The structure of the book
echoes the structure of the workshop, and is organised around three core themes.
The first set of papers in this volume tackles questions about the basic building
blocks of verbal representations and modes of construction of the verb-argument
complex. The second set of papers are concerned with non-canonical argument