Why *Sarah cannot glow the light bulb? Accounting for the constructional behavior of light and sound emission verbs

This article provides an in-depth lexical-constructional account of two English verbal classes, namely light and sound emission, with special emphasis on the causative-inchoative alternation, the resultative and the intransitive motion constructions. To shed light on the kinds of constructional realization for these verb classes, I will follow and build on previous taxonomic work by Levin (1993) and Faber and Mairal (1999), which will be complemented by the analytical and explanatory tools developed by the Lexical Constructional Model (Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal, 2007, 2008; Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza, 2008, 2009). Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995) show that internally caused verbs can only participate in the inchoative construction (cf. The stars twinkled in the black sky, Blood gurgled in his throat) whereas externally caused verbs can occur in the causative configuration (cf. He winked the light, She jangled her car keys). Nevertheless, a serious problem for the internal cause generalization stems from the fact that intransitive light emission verbs can also express a light produced by an entity whose surface is in contact with a natural light source (cf. The jewel sparkled in the sun)

Agent, causer and instrument PPs in Greek : implications for verbal structure

In this paper we investigate the distribution of PPs related to external arguments (agent, causer, instrument, causing event) in Greek. We argue that their distribution supports an analysis, according to which agentive/instrument and causer PPs are licensed by distinct functional heads, respectively. We argue against a conceivable alternative analysis, which links agentivity and causation to the prepositions themselves. We furthermore identify a particular type of Voice head in Greek anticausative realised by non-active Voice morphology

The Japanese Compound Verb ~ kakeru (~ かける): It's Meaning and Formation

This study examines "~kakeru (～かける) Compound Verbs in Japanese Sentences." This study describes the structure and meaning of the compound verb kakeru in Japanese sentences. The data used by the researcher come from diverse sources, including books, dictionaries, and sentences written by the researchers themselves. It utilizes library resources to collect the necessary data. Then, the form and meaning of the compound verb kakeru are determined using the distributional method and the basic direct element technique. Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded that the meaning describes the activity's initiation and its state. In addition to being attached to activity verbs and punctual verbs, the form of the compound verb kakeru can also be attached to stative verbs. In sentences containing the compound verb kakeru, that state just before an activity begins and activities that have been ongoing for some time

Polisemija glagola koji označavaju koncept SJEDENJA u engleskom, hrvatskom i njemačkom jeziku

This paper presents the findings of a corpus-based research of the posture verb SIT in English, Croatian and German. In line with the central tenets of cognitive linguistics we argue that figurative meanings of this verb are motivated by bodily experience and grounded in image schemas such as CONTAINMENT and GOOD-FIT and as such follow roughly the same paths of meaning extension in the languages under scrutiny. The results of our analysis also imply that differences noted among English, Croatian and German can partly be attributed to different levels of saliency of particular image schemas in the three languages (e.g. figurative extensions based on the image schema CONTAINMENT are much more prominent in English and German than in Croatian). We also maintain that the divergent paths of the meaning extension of verbs expressing the concept SIT in English, Croatian and German can be put down to idiosyncratic features of these languages which are by analogy extended from one construction or pattern of use to another. Such processes explain why it is possible for English sit, unlike Croatian sjediti and German sitzen, to behave as a transitive verb (e.g. in sentences: sit the child on a chair, sit meat on a plate).Ovaj rad predstavlja rezultate korpusnog istraživanja glagola koji označavaju koncept SJEDENJA u engleskom, hrvatskom i njemačkom jeziku. U skladu sa središnjim postavkama kognitivne lingvistike, krećemo od pretpostavke da je značenje utemeljeno u tjelesnom iskustvu te predodžbenim shemama poput one SPREMNIKA ili BLISKOG PRIANJANJA LIKA UNUTAR SPREMNIKA, pa stoga možemo očekivati da će se značenjska proširenja analiziranih glagola kretati otprilike istim smjerovima. Rezultati naše analize navode nas na zaključak da se razlike u prenesenim značenjima glagola sit, sjediti i sitzen mogu dijelom pripisati različitoj istaknutosti određene sheme u pojedinom jeziku (npr. shema SPREMNIKA istaknutija je u engleskom nego u hrvatskom i njemačkom). Također smatramo da do razlika u proširenim značenjima glagola sit, sjediti i sitzen može doći uslijed idiosinkratičnih osobina tih jezika koje se iz jednog uporabnog obrasca analogijom prenose u druge. Takvi procesi objašnjavaju kako je moguće da se engleski sit ponaša kao prijelazan glagol, za razliku od hrvatskog sjediti ili njemačkog sitzen (npr. u rečenicama: sit the child on a chair, sit meat on a plate)

Epistemological Foundations for Neuroeconomics

Neuroeconomics is an emerging field crossing neuroscientific data, the use of brain-imaging tools, experimental and behavioral economics, and an attempt at a better understanding of the cognitive assumptions that underlie theoretical predictive economic models. In this paper the authors try two things: 1) To assess the epistemological biases that affect Neuroeconomics as it is currently done. A number of significant experiments are discussed in that perspective. 2) To imagine an original way - apart from what is already being done - to run experiments in brain-imaging that are relevant to the discussion of rationality assumptions at the core of economic theory.Neuroeconomics, Rationality Assumptions, Abduction