7. The English Caused-Motion Construction

Presenter: 林岱瑩

7.1 Introduction

7.1 IntroductionBasic construction:

[SUBJ [V OBJ OBL]]

(V: a nonstative verb; OBL: a directional phrase)

(1) They laughed the poor guy out of the room.

(2) Frank sneezed the tissue off the table.

(3) Mary urged Bill into the house.

X CAUSES Y to MOVE Z

7.2 The Existence of the Construction

7.2 The Existence of the ConstructionFillmore(1971), Talmy(1976), Randall(1983):

Many verbs are not causative verbs independently of the construction.

(8) Joe kicked the wall.

(10) Joe kicked the dog into the bathroom

(He caused the dog to move into the bathroom.)

Aske(1989):

Many verbs do not necessarily code motion independently of the construction.

(12) a. Frank squeezed the ball.

( The ball necessarily moves.)

b. Frank squeezed the ball through the crack.

( The ball necessarily moves.)

Green(1973), Randall(1983), Hoekstra(1988):

Many transitive verbs which can occur in this construction do not bear the same semantic relation to their direct object as they do in simple transitive sentences.

(13) b. Sam cleaned the soap out of her eyes.

(14) b. Sam cleaned the soap.

Verbs can sometimes appear in this construction that do not independently license direct object complements at all.

(15) The audience laughed the poor guy off the stage.

(16) Frank sneezed the napkin off the table.

(1) They laughed the poor guy out of the room.

(2) Frank sneezed the tissue off the table.

(3) Mary urged Bill into the house.

(4) Sue let the water out of the bathtub.

(5) Sam helped him into the car.

(6) They sprayed the paint onto the wall.

Are the meanings compositionally derived?

Interpretation problem, production problem

Makkai(1972): ‘idioms of encoding’ and ‘idioms of decoding’

Decoding idioms: idioms which a listener would be unable to interpret without having learned them separately;

Eg. fly by night, by and large

Encoding idioms: idioms whose meaning may be inferable; however, without having heard the idiom, a speaker would never know the conventional expression

Eg. serial killer, sofa bed

Neither kind is predictable from general pragmatic principles

Gawron(1985, 1986): the caused-motion expressions consist of two predicates– a verb and a preposition– and that both of these retain their normal meanings

Co-predication: the verb and the preposition act as co-predicators, sharing one argument and combining semantically in pragmatically inferable ways

John broke the hammer against the vase.

Break(John, the-hammer); Against(the-hammer, the-vase)

Pustejovksy(1991): transitive process verbs + PP/AP (state)

Process + state transition/accomplishment

(a caused motion, change of state)

PROBLEM:

The caused-motion expressions involve predicates which cannot occur transitivity at all.

(20) Fred sneezed the napkin off the table.

Hoekstra:

an intransitive process verb + a small clause stative predicate

(20) Fred sneezed the napkin off the table.

Rappaport Hovav and Levin (1991)

(22) She drank him under the table.

Major problem:

Many prepositions which appear in the construction favor a locative interpretation.

(23) Fred stuffed the papers in the envelope.

(25) Sam shoved him outside the room.

Ambiguous? Either locative or directional?

Prepositions such as inside, in, outside, and within do not intuitively code motion on either use.

(26) a. Into the room he ran, quick as lightning. only locative interpretation

b. *Inside the room he ran, quick as lightning. (on the directional reading that he ran into the room)

c. *Within the room he ran, quick as lightning. (on the directional reading)

We attribute the caused-motion interpretation to a construction which combines the verb and directional preposition yielding a particular, conventionalized interpretation.

How does a locative PP receive a directional interpretation?

COERSION: the construction is able to coerce the locative term into a directional reading

1. only licensed by particular constructions in the language

2. a relationship between the inherent meaning of the lexical items and the coerced interpretation

3. Endpoint focus: the location encoded by the locative phrase is interpreted to be the endpoint of a path to that location

I kicked the ball into the room.

I kicked the ball into the room.

TRANSITIVE VERB

kicked I into the room the ball

INTRANSITIVE VERB

(29) The bottle floated into the cave.

floated the bottle into the cave

7.3 The Various Interpretations

7.3 The Various InterpretationsA. X CAUSES Y to MOVE Z

(30) Frank pushed it into the box.

(31) Frank kicked the dog into the bathroom.

B. The conditions of satisfaction associated with the act denoted by the predicate entail: X CAUSES Y to MOVE Z.

force-dynamic verbs that encode a communicative act

(34) Sam ordered him out of the house.

(35) Sam asked him into the room.

Motion is entailed by the ‘conditions of satisfaction’ associated with the actions denoted by the particular predicates.

C. X ENABLES Y to MOVE Z

Force-dynamic verbs that encode the removal of a barrier

(40) Sam allowed Bob out of the room.

(41) Sam let Bill into the room.

D. X PREVENTS Y from MOVING Comp(Z)

The force-dynamic schema of imposition of a barrier, causing the patient to stay in a location despite its inherent tendency to move

(43) Harry locked Joe into the room.

(44) He kept her at arm’s length.

E. X HELPS Y to MOVE Z

Ongoing assistance to move in a certain direction

(46) Sam helped him into the car.

(47) Sam assisted her out of the room.

(48) Sam guided him through the terrain.

7.4 Semantic Constraints

7.4.1 A Constraint on the Causer Argument The cause argument can be an agent or a natural force.

(57) Chris pushed the piano up the stairs.

(58) The wind blew the ship off the course.

But it cannot be an instrument.

(60) a. *The hammer broke the vase into pieces.

b. *The hammer broke the vase onto the floor.

c. (The hammer broke the vase.)

7.4.2 Constraints on Direction Causation No Mediating Cognitive Decision

(62) a. Sam coaxed Bob into the room.

b. *Sam encouraged Bob into the room.

(64) Sam encouraged Bob to go into the room.

the entity denoted by the DO makes a cognitive decision

(68) Sam frightened/coaxed/lured the mouse out of its hiding place.

(69) ?# Sam encouraged/convinced/persuaded the mouse to move out of its hiding place.

(72) a. *He asked heri into the room willinglyi.

b. He asked heri to go into the room willinglyi.

Generalization I:

No cognitive decision can mediate between the causing event and the entailed motion.

The Implication of Actual Motion

Two subclasses that do not strictly entail actual motion:

(74) Sam asked him into the room.

(77) Sam allowed him into the room.

(79) *Sam begged Joe into the room.

(80) *Sam pleased Joe into the room.

The theme’s ultimate direction must be presumed to be the one determined by the subject; no contrary tendency can be implied.

Generalization II:

If motion is not strictly entailed, it must be presumed as a ceteris paribus implication.

Conventionalized Scenarios

Activities which are conventionally accomplished in a particular way may be expressed as simple causatives, even when the causation is indirect insofar as there is in actuality an intermediate cause.

(84) The invalid owner ran his favorite horse (in the race).

(86) She painted her house. (when in fact the painters did the painting)

Simple clauses can be used to imply conventionalized causation.

Conventionalized scenarios can be cognitively ‘packaged’ that their internalized structure is ignored.

Generalize III:

Conventionalized scenarios can be cognitively packaged as a single event even if an intervening cause exists.

The Effect of Motion

(97) a. Pat shot Sam. the impacted entity

b. Pat shot the bullet. the trajectory

When a path argument is present, the DO can only be interpreted as trajectory; it cannot be viewed simultaneously as trajectory and impacted entity.

(98) *Pat shot Sam across the room.

(unacceptable on the interpretation that Pat shot Sam and the bullet forced him across the room)

If the action denoted by the verb implies an effect other than motion, then a path of motion cannot be specified.

Change-of-State Verbs

(99) The butcher sliced the salami onto the wax paper.

(100) Joey clumped his potatoes into the middle of his plate.

Imply some predictable incidental motion

(103) a. *Sam unintentionally broke the eggs onto the floor. unintended

b. Sam carefully broke the eggs into the bowl. intended

Generalization IV:

If the activity causing the change of state (or effect), when performed in the conventional way, effects some incidental motion and, moreover, is performed with the intention of causing the motion, then the path of motion may be specified.

(105) *She filled water into the tub.

(106) *She covered the blanket onto Mary.

The change of state must cause incidental motion as a result, not that incidental motion is involved as a means of causing the change of state.

The Path of Motion

(107) a. *He nudged the ball down the incline. (unless there are repetitive nudges)

The cause force does not in itself determine the path of motion.

(108) He shoved the cart down the incline.

The causal force does determine the path of motion.

Generalization V:

the path of motion must be completely determined by the causal force

7.5 The Load/ Spread Alternation

(116) a. Pat sprayed paint onto the statue. caused-motion

b. Pat sprayed the statue with paint.

holistic effect, a change of state, causative construction

Pinker(1989): Five narrowly defined classes of verbs

(1) Slather-class: simultaneous forceful contact and motion of a mass against a surface: slather, smear, brush, dab…

(2) Heap-class: vertical arrangement on a horizontal surface: heap, pile, stack…

(3) Spray-class: force is imparted to a mass, causing ballistic motion in a specified spatial distribution along a trajectory: spray, spatter, splash, splater…

(4) Cram-class: mass is forced into a container against the limits of its capacity: cram, pack, crowd, jam…

(5) Load-class: a mass of a size, shape, or type defined by the intended use of a container, is put into the container, enabling it to accomplish its function: load, pack, stock…

(118) a. Sam slathered shaving cream onto his face.

b. Sam slathered his face with shaving cream.

slather <slatherer, thick-mass, target>

cause theme goal-path

(change of location)

(120) a. Pat heaped mash potatoes onto her plate.

b. Pat heaped her plate with mash potatoes.

heap <heaper, location, heaped-goods>

(122) a. Pat crammed the pennies into the jar.

b. Pat crammed the jar with the pennies.

cram <crammer, location, crammed-goods>

(124) a. She loaded the wagon with the hay.

b. She loaded the hay onto the wagon.

(126) Sam loaded the truck.

load <loader, container, [loaded-theme]>

(127) a. Chris splashed the water onto the floor.

b. Chris splashed the floor with water.

splash <splasher, target, liquid>

(129) The skunk sprayed the car.

spray <sprayer, target, [liquid]>

ConclusionThe directly caused motion needs to be recognized as an English construction.

The meaning and the form are not generally predictable.

The basic sense of the construction extended in various ways, and allows a variety of systematically related interpretations.

Specific semantic constraints

Load/spray alternation