Summary Details

Query:	Re: Syntax and Semantics of
Author:	Graeme Forbes
Submitter Email:	click here to access email
Linguistic LingField(s):	Syntax
Summary:	Thanks to the many people who responded to my query about why you can say (1) but can't say (2): (1) I saw John leave. (2) I photographed John leave. Other sensory verbs like "smelled", "heard", "sense", pattern with "saw" (maybe you-know-who could smell Monica arrive in the outer office, because of her perfume), while the likes of "taped", "filmed" etc. pattern with "photograph". Only 1 person disputed the data (I'm assured that (2) is ok in Australia). The explanations I liked most were from Brian Ulicny and Michael Swan. Ulicny points out that on Hale/Keyser theories of incorporation, "photograph" derives from "took a photograph of" and carries its syntax, and you can't have "photograph of John leave". Swan points out, in effect, that (1) implies John left, while you can photograph John leaving even if he then gets stopped and doesn't leave, so the difference between an event-in-progress and a culminated event may be relevant. Graeme Forbes

LL Issue:	9.227
Date Posted:	14-Feb-1998
Original Query:	Read original query
Back

Sums main page

New from Cambridge University Press!