Semantics

SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS I 161
predicate because the trajectory of the agent in the verb action is such that
the agent is moving from one place to the place where the speaker is. That
is, SOMEONE comes to the place where the speaker is located. Therefore
the target position as such does not necessarily need to be mentioned. As
a result, PLACE is not an argument of the verb.
If we say He´s coming [Ch] = [Come, he] the argument structure has
one argument only and if we say He´s coming here we are having a one
place predicate too, even if the adjunct here is highly relevant. This is
because the verb COME lexicalizes the position of the speaker in relation
with the target position of the agent.
On the other hand GO is a two place predicate because it lexicalizes both
the agent and the agent´s target position. The lexicalization of agent´s target
location is part of the meaning of the verb and therefore it must be mentioned.
That is, SOMEONE goes SOMEWHERE. The SOMEWHERE is an essential
part of the meaning of the verb GO whereas it´s not essential in the verb
COME where the location of the speaker is part of the meaning of the verb.
Arguments in the argument structure can take different semantic roles
and in certain languages such as English the order of constituents very
frequently marks a semantic role as well. That is, the semantic role of a
constituent forces a certain syntactic patterning. Hence the importance of
word order in English. We will study the relation between the semantics of
a sentence and the type of roles of participants in the following lesson.
7.2.1. Lexical decomposition
Lexical decomposition is another concept we have also dealt with in
previous chapters. The reason for mentioning it again now is that, if we
consider the sentence from the point of view of syntagmatic relations, we
also need to take into account the semantic features of the components
of the argument structure as a way of forcing the semantic compatibility
between the lexical components of both, the predicate and the arguments
that underlie the meaning of a sentence.
7.3. SENTENCES AND SITUATIONS: AUTHORS AND THEORIES
Situation type is a label for the typology of situations encoded in the
semantics of a language. In the previous section, we learned how there
are certain basic aspectual features that can be used to characterize
situations or events (in Cruse’s terms) or states of affairs‘ in other linguists’
terms. These dimensions or parameters or basic aspectual features usually
include the following: static / non static, telic / atelic, punctual / durative.