Case grammar
The case grammar is a theory of grammatical analysis by the American linguist Charles J. Fillmore in 1968 as part of the transformational grammar by Chomsky has been developed. In this theory, sentences are conceived as a combination of a verb and one or more deep casus (i.e. semantic roles , case roles ), such as agent , instrumental, or experiencer . In contrast to the surface case ( dative , accusative etc.). The exact relationship between the surface case such as nominative, accusative etc. and the deep case, also semantic roles, theta role , such as agent, patient, etc., is very complex.
Based on classical grammar, Fillmore called the deep case deep case , and later case roles . However, they are fundamentally different from the grammatical cases, so that later the term semantic roles became more consistent in terms of sentence semantics . The list of semantic roles is very extensive. Certain semantic roles are more important in one language than in another.
A semantic role is generally not tied to a specific grammatical case, nor are they lexical properties of words. Rather, the semantic roles in the sentence content are only constituted when they have been combined with a certain predicate within a statement frame.
Now certain semantic roles are tied to certain predicate classes. For example, action predicates ( action verbs) only contain agents, patients, benefactive, contraagens, comitive and instrument. In the case of the action and process predicates ( process verb ), on the other hand, substitute, affected object, efficient object, additive and privative.
Fillmore (1971) compiled lists of predication types from the particularly frequent combinations of predicate classes and reference point roles; he called them case frames .
According to Fillmore, each verb selects a certain number of deep cases that form the case frame. Such a case frame describes important aspects of the semantic valence of verbs, adjectives and nouns . Case frames are subject to certain restrictions; so z. B. a deep case only occur once per sentence. Some cases are mandatory, others are optional. Mandatory cases may not be deleted, as otherwise ungrammatical sentences arise. In this sense z. B. * Peter gave the ball ungrammatically.
A basic hypothesis of case grammar is that grammatical functions such as subject or object are selected depending on the deep case. Fillmore (1968) establishes the following hierarchy for a universal rule for the selection of the subject:
Agent <instrumental <objective
This means: If the case frame of a verb contains an agent, this is implemented as the subject of an active sentence; otherwise, the deep case that follows the agent in the hierarchy (i.e. the instrumental) is in the subject position.
John (A) opened the door (O).
The key (I) opened the door (O).
In the first sentence, the case frame contains an agent who becomes the subject. In the second sentence, the case frame does not contain an agent, but rather an instrumental as the next element in the hierarchy that becomes the subject.
The number of deep cases or semantic roles varies depending on the research approach. In 1968 Fillmore named six semantic roles (Agentive, Instrumental, Dative, Factitive, Locative, Objective), but expanded and changed this list and in 1971 differentiated the following nine roles:
- Agent ( Peter repairs his car.)
- Experiencer ( Maria wonders about her father.)
- Instrument (I opened the door with the key .)
- Object (The government has erected a monument .)
- Source (The béarnaise sauce comes from France .)
- Goal (The children go to the beach .)
- Location ( The Seine flows under the Mirabeau Bridge . Apollinaire )
- Time (What will be tomorrow , avoid asking. Horace )
- Path (We were driving along the Neckar on the main road .)
How the individual semantic roles are expressed syntactically depends on the verb used: For example, the experiencer is expressed as a subject with the verb “wonder” (see above), with the verb “astonish” as a direct object (the behavior of her father astonishes Maria ) . There are also differences between individual languages in the syntactic implementation of the semantic roles; In the sentence Mir is cold , the experiencer appears as an indirect object, in the English equivalent I am cold, on the other hand, as a subject.
The influence of case grammar on contemporary linguistics was significant; numerous linguistic theories take up the semantic roles in one form or another, for example theta theory as a sub -theory of Noam Chomsky's theory of direction and attachment . The case grammar also provided suggestions for the development of frame-based representations in AI research.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Fillmore further developed his original theory on so-called frame semantics .
See also
literature
- Fillmore, Charles J. (1968): The Case for Case. In: Bach & Harms (ed.): Universals in Linguistic Theory . New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1-88.
- Fillmore, Charles J. (1971): Some problems for Case Grammar. In: RJ O'Brien (Ed.): 22nd Annual Round Table. Linguistics: Developments of the sixties - viewpoints of the seventies , Volume 24 of the Monograph Series on Language and Linguistics , Georgetown University Press, Washington DC, 35-56.
- Glück, Helmut (Hrsg.) (2000): Metzler Lexikon Sprache . Stuttgart / Weimar: Verlag JB Metzler.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerhard Helbig: Problems of the valence and case theory. Vol. 51 of Concepts in Linguistics and Literature Studies Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-1109-3832-4 , pp. 22-25
- ^ Wilhelm Köller: Perspectivity and Language: on the structure of objectification forms in images, in thinking and in language. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-1101-8104-5 , p. 394
- ^ Gerhard Helbig: Development of Linguistics since 1970. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2013, ISBN 3-3228-6538-X , p. 124
- ↑ Peter von Polenz: German sentence semantics. 3rd edition, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020366-0 , p. 169