Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

5. GOALS AND OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS TO COME 19
Chapter 2 provides a cross-linguistic overview of perception verbs
(PVs) and of the complements they take (PVCs). First, the lexicalization
patterns of PVs and their meaning extensions are discussed. The
scope of investigation is limited to a special class of PVs: see, hear, and
feel, all of which semantically extend into the cognitive domain. Second,
the variety of complementtypes that can be embedded by PVs is
described. Special emphasis is given to the question which complement
types combine with PVs denoting physical sense perception and which
complement types combine with PVs expressing cognition.
Chapter 3 explores in detail the PVC system in English. The structural
and semantic characterization of English PVCs serves as the basis
of comparison for the description of PVCs in Akatek in chapter 5. In
addition, I consider non-PV matrix predicates for the PVC types under
investigation. The description of PVC types in English and the correlation
of those PVC types with the semantic types is embedded in the
framework of a typology of complementation suggested by Noonan
(1985).
Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the basic grammatical characteristics
of Akatek and provides a traditional typological characterization
of Akatek, showing that it is a fairly typical Mayan language.
The foundation laid in this chapter complements the criteria laid out
for the description of perception verb complements in chapter 3. Together,
they serve as the basis for the investigation of Akatek PVCs in
chapter 5. The typological description of Akatek in this chapter opens
up the possibilitytointegrate the results regarding PVCs into a holistic
framework aiming at developing patterns of connected properties, e.g.
the possible relationship of basic word order and grammatical relations
typology with PVCs, which is undertaken in chapter 5.
Chapter 5 contains the central part of the study, in which the hypotheses
I, II, III, and IV are investigated regarding Akatek PVCs. As
a prerequisite to the investigation of PVCs, the lexicalization pattern
of PVs in Akatek is presented. Akatek PVCs are described following
the structural and semantic characterization of English PVCs in chapter
3. In addition, non-PV matrix predicates for the PVC types are
investigated and compared to non-PV matrix predicates of the corresponding
English PVC types. The characterization of the PVC types
in Akatek allows to correlate the PVC types with two semantic types:
events and propositions. In addition, the PVC system established
for Akatek is compared to the English PVC system and the typology of
complementation suggested by Noonan (1985). Based on the results
of chapters 3 and 5, I propose a preliminary implicational hierarchy of
PVCs as well as two more hypotheses: