Chapter 13 - Voice and valence

Question 1

Valence in linguistics is

Answer 1

always a number from one to three. It can be thought of as a semantic notion, a grammatical notion, or a combination of the two

Question 2

What are valence-adjusting constructions

Answer 2

morphosyntactic constructions that affect the semantic and/or the grammatical valence of a clause

Question 3

What is semantic value (in relation to valence)

Answer 3

the number of participants in the discourse world scene conventionally evoked by a verb

Question 4

Grammatical (or syntactic) valence refers to

Answer 4

the number of arguments present in any given clause

Question 5

What do valence-decreasing constructions do

Answer 5

take a scene that requires two participants and presents it in a frame in which only one participant is in perspective (2 -> 1), or it presents a scene with three participants in a frame with only two in perspective (3 -> 2)

Question 6

What do valence-increasing constructions do

Answer 6

take a scene that has one or two participants, and present it in a frame in which two or three are in perspective

Question 7

Types of valence-decreasing constructions

Answer 7

Those that “combine” controlling and affected participants
into a single participant:
REFLEXIVES
RECIPROCALS
MIDDLES

Those that downplay a controlling participant:
PASSIVES
IMPERSONALS

Those that downplay an affected participant:
OBJECT OMISSION
OBJECT DEMOTION
OBJECT INCORPORATION

Question 8

Types of valence-increasing constructions

Answer 8

Those that add a controlling participant:
CAUSATIVES

Those that upgrade a peripheral participant:
DATIVE SHIFT

Question 9

Reflexive construction

Answer 9

presents a two-participant scene in which both participants are the same entity, e.g. She saw herself

Question 10

What is a lexical reflexive tied to

Answer 10

the lexical meaning of a particular verb. For example, the verbs dress, shave, and a few others, when used intransitively imply that the AGENT and PATIENT are the same entity

Question 11

Analytic reflexives

Answer 11

may also be referred to as syntactic or periphrastic reflexives. Analytic reflexives are expressed by the reflexive pronouns myself, youself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, and itself in an Object or Oblique role

Question 12

Reciprocal constructions

Answer 12

prototypical reciprocal has a plural Subject, and indicates that the two or more Subject participants interact symmetrically, e.g., both are AGENT and PATIENT, both are EXPERIENCER and THEME, etc

Question 13

Lexical reciprocals

Answer 13

verbs for which reciprocity is a built-in component of their meaning. Some lexically reciprocal verbs in English are kiss, meet, and shake hands with

Question 14

A middle construction is

Answer 14

one that expresses a semantically transitive situation in terms of a process undergone by a PATIENT, rather than an action carried out by a distinct AGENT

Question 15

Personal passives

Answer 15

constructions for which some specific AGENT is strongly implied, but either is not expressed, or is expressed in an Oblique role. Personal passives in English are all analytic. In English passives, an auxiliary (be or get) plus the past participle of the active verb must be used

Question 16

Impersonal passives

Answer 16

deperspectivise an AGENT-like participant. However, in impersonals, the downplayed AGENT is not a specific individual. It is usually a non-identifiable, unknown and/or vague entity. Impersonal passives can be formed from semantically intransitive as well as transitive verbs

Question 17

Causative constructions

Answer 17

prototypical examples express a simple event or situation with the addition of a causer, i.e., an AGENT that is external to the situation itself

Question 18

Lexical causatives

Answer 18

(Strong) suppletion (completely distinct verbs)
Weak suppletion (some idiosyncratic difference between verbs)
Isomorphism (no difference between non-causative and causative verb)

Question 19

Analytic causatives

Answer 19

in most cases analytic causatives consist of a matrix verb expressing the notion of CAUSE whose Complement refers to the caused event

Question 20

Dative shift

Answer 20

Trivalent situations usually involve an AGENT, a THEME (an item that moves, physically or metaphorically, from one place to another), and a RECIPIENT. The construction in which the RECIPIENT does not take a preposition is sometimes termed the dative shift construction