Event Structure Templates #
Verbs decompose into templates (structural meaning that determines argument realization) filled by roots (idiosyncratic content). Templates compose via CAUSE; which sub-predicate determines argument realization yields different syntactic frames.
The four templates here are [RHL98]'s; the
enriched two-predicate event structure for the wiping-verbs class
([RHL24]) is paper-anchored at
Studies/RappaportHovavLevin2024.lean.
Bridges #
Template.toAspectualProfile→AspectualProfile(aspect)HasResultState→ bieventive sub-event boundary ([Kre12]; [Dow79]; structural-scope alternative: [vS96], [Bec05])cause_implies_resultState→ CAUSE entails result stateintransitiveVariant→ causative/inchoative alternation ([Kre12]; [RHL98])
Event structure templates #
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.instDecidableEqTemplate x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Template properties #
Does the template involve CAUSE? At the template level this coincides
with having an external causer position: only .accomplishment decomposes
as [[x ACT] CAUSE [BECOME [y STATE]]] per [RHL98].
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.accomplishment.HasCause = True
- x✝.HasCause = False
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
The external-causer position is present iff the template has CAUSE in its decomposition.
Equations
Instances For
How many grammatically relevant predicates?
Equations
Instances For
Predicted aspectual profile for each template.
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.state.toAspectualProfile = Features.stateProfile
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.activity.toAspectualProfile = Features.activityProfile
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.achievement.toAspectualProfile = Features.achievementProfile
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.accomplishment.toAspectualProfile = Features.accomplishmentProfile
Instances For
Predicted Vendler class for each template (derived from profile).
Equations
Instances For
Bieventive structure diagnostics #
Templates with complex internal structure — multiple sub-events connected by CAUSE or embedding BECOME — license scopal ambiguities that mono-eventive templates do not.
At the template level, three diagnostics from [dowty-1979] reduce
to two structural properties already defined above:
1. ***again*/*re-* ambiguity** tracks `HasResultState`: templates
embedding [BECOME [STATE]] allow restitutive readings where a
scopal modifier targets just the result sub-event. The
structural-scope rival ([von-stechow-1996], [beck-2005])
derives restitutive readings from adverbial attachment levels
rather than lexical entailment; the lexical-decomposition account
encoded here is one of two live analyses.
2. **Negation over CAUSE** ([koontz-garboden-2009]) tracks
`HasCause`: negation can scope narrowly over CAUSE, denying
the causal link while maintaining the result.
3. **"By itself" licensing** ([koontz-garboden-2009]) also tracks
`HasCause`: "without outside help" requires CAUSE in the meaning.
[krejci-2012]'s insight is that some verbs assigned simpler templates
(eat, wash, dress, learn) nonetheless pass all three diagnostics — evidence
that they have bieventive, causative event structures in their simple forms.
This verb-level property is captured in `RootTypology` and `ArgDerivation`,
not at the template level here.
Does the template embed a result state under BECOME? Templates with [BECOME [STATE]] have a sub-event boundary that scopal modifiers (again, re-, almost) can target independently.
Equations
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
CAUSE implies a result state (accomplishment embeds BECOME).
From root signature to template ([BKG20] §1.3) #
Template is a function of the root's collocational kind signature, not a
parallel theory: .cause → accomplishment, .result → achievement, .manner →
activity, else state. The HasCause/HasResultState diagnostics then reduce to
signature membership (ofKinds_hasCause_iff/hasResultState_iff), so the
denotational result entailment and cause_implies_resultState are one fact seen
through the signature.
The event-structure template determined by a root's (closed) kind signature.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
HasCause reduces to carrying the cause kind.
For a well-formed (collocationally closed) signature, HasResultState
reduces to carrying the result kind — via cause ⟹ result.
A root's event-structure template, read off its collocational closure.
Equations
Instances For
A root entails a result state (template-level) iff it carries result —
the [BKG20] result entailment, bridged to the
EventStructure template diagnostic.
Causative/Inchoative Alternation #
The accomplishment template [[x ACT] CAUSE [BECOME [y STATE]]]
has an intransitive variant. On the **deletion** analysis
([krejci-2012]; [rappaport-hovav-levin-1998]), this is
the achievement [BECOME [x STATE]], obtained by stripping the
external cause — yielding a monoeventive representation.
On the competing **reflexivization** analysis ([koontz-garboden-2009];
[chierchia-2004]), anticausativization does NOT delete CAUSE.
Instead, the reflexive clitic (*se*, *sich*) identifies the EFFECTOR
with the THEME: the derived inchoative retains the full causative
structure [∃v[CAUSE(v,e) ∧ EFFECTOR(v,x) ∧ BECOME(e,s) ∧ THEME(s,x)]].
This preserves the Monotonicity Hypothesis and explains the
cross-linguistic tendency for anticausative morphology to coincide
with reflexive morphology (Haspelmath's typological work on the
causative-anticausative alternation; see [alexiadou-schaefer-2015]
for the modern cross-linguistic picture). -- UNVERIFIED: original
text cited "Haspelmath 1990: 9/13 languages" — Haspelmath 1990 is on
passives; the typology of C/I alternation is in Haspelmath 1993,
figure unverified.
`Template.intransitiveVariant` below implements the deletion view at the
template level. The reflexivization analysis is formalized in
`KoontzGarboden2009`.
The intransitive variant of a template on the deletion analysis, stripping the external cause. Only accomplishments have an alternation partner.
NOTE: this implements one specific analysis. On the reflexivization analysis ([KG09]), the intransitive variant retains CAUSE with reflexivized arguments.
Equations
Instances For
The intransitive variant retains the result state (BECOME STATE survives stripping of ACT CAUSE).
The intransitive variant loses CAUSE (on the deletion analysis).
[KG09] disputes this on Monotonicity-Hypothesis
grounds; see Studies/KoontzGarboden2009.lean.
Only accomplishments have an intransitive variant (only templates with CAUSE can undergo the alternation).
Argument realization from templates #
Predicted subject entailment profile for each template. The state
default is the sentient state-holder (S+IE, the admire-type value); this
conflates two Dowty-honest state profiles — sentience-entailed psych states
vs. bare desire states (IE alone, [Dow91] (29e)) — which the class map
separates as psychState vs desire in LevinClassProfiles.lean (not
importable here: it sits downstream of this file).
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.state.subjectProfile = { sentience := true, independentExistence := true }
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.activity.subjectProfile = ArgumentStructure.EntailmentProfile.activitySubjectProfile
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.achievement.subjectProfile = ArgumentStructure.EntailmentProfile.achievementSubjectProfile
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.Template.accomplishment.subjectProfile = ArgumentStructure.EntailmentProfile.accomplishmentSubjectProfile
Instances For
Predicted object entailment profile (if any). The accomplishment default carries no IT; per-verb IT additions live at the Fragment level.
Equations
Instances For
Accomplishment subject is a full agent (5 P-Agent entailments).
Levin classes map to event structure templates via meaning components ([RHL98]; [RHL10]):
| Meaning component pattern | Template | Example class |
|---|---|---|
| CoS + causation | accomplishment | break (45.1), destroy (44) |
| CoS, no causation | achievement | appear (48.1), calve (28) |
| No CoS, no motion | state | exist (47.1), admire (31.2) |
| Otherwise | activity | hit (18.1), run (51.3) |
The wiping-verbs class (10.4) gets the activity template via the
decision tree, with its motion-and-sustained-contact substructure
formalized at `Studies/RappaportHovavLevin2024.lean`.
The fundamental binary distinction in event types: whether a predicate encodes a process (PROC only) or a state change (involves CHANGE).
This crosscuts Vendler's four-way classification: degree achievements are Vendler activities or accomplishments depending on scale boundedness but are event-structurally state-change predicates ([Boh04] on degree achievements within the Yukatek transitivity system).
[Boh04] argues this is the primary semantic distinction governing verb classification in Yukatek Maya — more fundamental than Vendler classes for predicting argument linking and transitivization.
Instances For
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.instDecidableEqEventType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Derive event type from template. Activities are processes; states, achievements, and accomplishments involve state change.
Equations
Instances For
Whether a process is internally caused — the event is instigated by a participant — or externally caused — occurring "spontaneously" without an instigator.
This is a per-verb property of the ROOT, not of the template. Two activity verbs can differ: sing (internal) vs roll (external).
[LRH95] on the internal/external causation distinction in Unaccusativity; [Boh04] on internal/external causation in Yukatek argument linking.
[KG09]: externally caused COS verbs have CAUSE+EFFECTOR in their LSR and license por sí solo 'by itself'. Internally caused COS verbs (empeorar, hervir, crecer) lack CAUSE in their LSR and reject por sí solo.
- internal : InternalExternalCause
- external : InternalExternalCause
Instances For
Equations
- Semantics.Lexical.EventStructure.instDecidableEqInternalExternalCause x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Externally caused COS verbs have CAUSE in their LSR; internally caused COS verbs do not ([KG09]; [LRH95]). Per [KG09], this licenses por sí solo / by itself modification on externally caused inchoatives and rejects it on internally caused ones.
This determines whether derived inchoatives (on the reflexivization analysis) retain a CAUSE operator.
Equations
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Predicted event structure template from meaning components.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Predicted template for a Levin class.
Equations
Instances For
Verification: canonical quadruple #
Break → accomplishment (CoS + causation → [ACT CAUSE BECOME]).
Hit → activity (contact + motion, no CoS → [ACT]).
Touch → activity (contact only, no CoS).
Cut → accomplishment (CoS + causation).
Change-of-state classes → accomplishment #
All §45 CoS classes map to accomplishment.
Motion classes → activity #
Motion verbs are activities (no CoS, have motion).
Stative classes → state #
Perception/psych statives map to state template.
Achievement classes #
Appear (CoS without causation) → achievement.
Calve (CoS without causation) → achievement.
Wiping verbs (Levin 10.4) #
Wipe class → accomplishment (changeOfState + causation per
its MeaningComponents). The two-predicate (motion + sustained contact)
substructure is at Studies/RappaportHovavLevin2024.lean.
Template → aspectual class consistency #
Accomplishment classes (break, cut) are predicted telic.
Activity classes (hit, run) are predicted atelic.
State classes (exist, admire) are predicted stative.
Bridge: Event Structure ↔ Diathesis Alternation #
predictedTemplate and predictedAlternation are two predictions computed from the
same MeaningComponents feature vector. This section proves their agreement and shows
that MeaningComponents.fuse simultaneously derives both template shift and new
alternation predictions from a single componentwise OR operation.
The central theorem — ci_alternation_iff_template_alternates — says the
causative/inchoative alternation is exactly the syntactic reflex of having an
accomplishment event template (which has an intransitive variant), modulo
instrumentSpec. This connects [Lev93]'s diathesis alternation diagnostics
to [RHL98]'s event structure decomposition.
The causative/inchoative alternation is available iff the verb's event template has an intransitive variant (i.e., is an accomplishment), given no instrumentSpec.
Both conditions reduce to changeOfState ∧ causation, making the alternation
prediction and the event structure prediction two views of a single semantic fact.
instrumentSpec breaks the template↔alternation correspondence: cut verbs have accomplishment template (they cause state change) but cannot undergo causative/inchoative alternation (instrument specification requires an agent).
This is why ci_alternation_iff_template_alternates requires
instrumentSpec = false — the hypothesis is necessary, not just sufficient.
Fusion with CoS + causation yields accomplishment template regardless of the verb's original template. The resultative construction adds [CAUSE [BECOME [STATE]]], upgrading any verb to accomplishment.
One fusion, three consequences: accomplishment template, causative/inchoative alternation, and intransitive variant — all from a single componentwise OR.
Fusion-induced Vendler class shift: fusion with CoS + causation yields accomplishment Vendler class (telic, bounded).
Fusion with CoS + causation yields result state, enabling again/re- restitutive readings on the lexical-decomposition account ([Dow79]; cf. structural-scope rival [vS96], [Bec05]).
Fusion with CoS + causation yields CAUSE structure, enabling negation-over-CAUSE readings and by itself modification ([KG09]).