Notes on computational linguistics.pdf - UCLA Department of ...

Stabler - Lx 185/209 2003
10.3.3 AP-selecting raising verbs
A similar pattern of semantic relations occurs in constructions like this:
Titus seems happy
In this example, Titus is not the ‘agent’ of seeming, but rather the ‘experiencer’ of the happiness, so again it is
natural to assume that Titus is the subject of happy, raising to the main clause for case. We can assume that
adjective phrase structure is similar to verb phrase structure, with the possibility of subjects and complements,
to get constructions like this:
T
t
C
C
CP
C’
DP(0)
D’
D
Titus
v
TP
seem
v
T
t
T
-s
T’
vP
v’
DP
t(0)
A
aP
happy
a
a’
a
AP
A’
A
t
([],[],Titus seem -s happy):C
[]::=>T C (Titus,[],seem -s happy):T
([],[],seem -s happy):+k T,([],Titus,[]):-k
-s::v==> +k T ([],seem,happy):v,([],Titus,[]):-k
seem::=a v ([],happy,[]):a,([],Titus,[]):-k
([],happy,[]):=D a
[]::=>A =D a happy::A
We obtain this derivation with these lexical items:
ɛ::=>A =D a. black::A white::A
happy::A unhappy::A
seem::=a v
The verb be needs a similar lexical entry
be::=a v
to allow for structures like this:
T
t
C
C
CP
C’
DP(0)
D’
D
Titus
v
be
TP
v
T
t
T
-s
T’
vP
v’
DP
t(0)
A
aP
happy
a
a’
a
AP
A’
A
t
([],[],Titus be -s happy):C
[]::=>T C (Titus,[],be -s happy):T
([],[],be -s happy):+k T,([],Titus,[]):-k
-s::v==> +k T ([],be,happy):v,([],Titus,[]):-k
be::=a v ([],happy,[]):a,([],Titus,[]):-k
([],happy,[]):=D a
Semantically, the picture corresponds to the derivation as desired:
raising from ap
theme
Titus seem −s happy
experiencer
213
[]::=>A =D a happy::A
Titus::D -k
Titus::D -k