Semantics

58 BASIC SEMANTICS
grammaticalized. By constrast, the Spanish difference between “ten/tenga”
is not grammaticalized in English.
Both lexicalization and grammaticalization are different processes of
linguistic codification. For example, naming a certain new flavour among
experienced cooks involves lexicalization; that is coining a new term to
codify a new experience. Codifying grammatical features means labelling
morphological aspects when describing, for example, a process of
verbalization of nouns when referring to actions after certain instruments.
This is the case of the –ing ending to describe activities (trek > treking).
2.5.2. Argument structure
There are a number of concepts which are methodologically important.
Among them we have the basic difference between arguments and
predicates.
The concept of predicate structure or argument structure, also called
theta grid by some authors, is a basic concept studied in logic, but
absolutely essential in the understanding of semantics.
All elements in the world around us can be ontologically understood
as either entities or relations. In most languages entities are codified as
nouns. A predicate is a relation that links one or more entities. Thus a
verb or an adjective can be understood as a predicate linking a number
of entities. These entities can also be considered just as “places” or “slots”
in relation with a function and, following a logical notation, are called
arguments of such a function. For example,
They shared a secret
is a sentence whose argument structure is
fx(a,b)
That is, the function (share) has two arguments (they, secret). Another
way of putting it is to say that share is a two place predicate.
While an argument designates some entity or group of entities, a
predicate attributes some property or relation to the entities denoted by
the arguments if there is more than one.
Another term for what is “inside” each slot is thematic roles which will
be studied in lesson 8. This concept is different from the “argument” in
the argument structure in the sense that these thematic roles, also called
semantic cases (agent, patient, object, etc), are linguistically realized