2019.2.4

 LINGUISTICA PRAGENSIA 2019 (29) 2

Presentational capacity of English transitive verbs: On some semantic and FSP aspects of SEIZE

Martin Adam

 

 FULL TEXT  

 ABSTRACT (en)

Even though a number of verbs, owing to their syntactic-semantic characteristics, tend to operate primarily in Presentation or Quality Scales respectively, most verbs generally appear to be capable of acting within both the scales. In authentic communication, the sentence perspective is determined by various criteria: apart from the relative “weightiness” of the postverbal modification, it is especially the context-independence of the subject along with the presentational capacity of the verb that plays a crucial role. This paper sets out to explore the syntactic and semantic qualities of the transitive verb seize. Making use of two large corpora, the proposed case study tries to delimit under what conditions seize tends to operate in one of the two dynamic semantic scales. Model sentences are contrasted in terms of their presentational/qualitative features with special regard to the phenomenon of subject — verb semantic affinity.

 KEYWORDS (en)

FSP, presentation, quality, verb, transitive

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059635.2019.2.4

 REFERENCE

Adam, M. (2011) ‘A bee buzzed across their path’: Semantic affinity as a formative force in Presentation Scale sentences. Ostrava Journal of English Philology 3/1, 19–32.

Adam, M. (2013) Presentation Sentences (Syntax, Semantics and FSP). Brno: Masaryk University.

Adam, M. (2014) Prezentační versus kvalifikační škála: interpretace hraničních případů v FSP analýze narativního textu. [The Presentation vs Quality Scale: interpretation of borderline cases on an FSP analysis of a narrative text.] Časopis pro moderní filologii 96/2, 180–195.

Adam, M. (2016) A case study in verbs operating in the presentation and/or quality scale respectively: buzz and seize. In: Crhová, M. and M. Weiss (eds) Silesian Studies in English 2015. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of English and American Studies, 7–18. Opava: Silesian University in Opava.

Brůhová, G. and M. Malá (2017) On english locative subjects. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica 1, 19–38.

Chamonikolasová, J., M. Adam, I. Headlandová Kalischová, M. Drápela, and L. Stehlíková (2015) Creating a system of annotation for FSP. Linguistica Pragensia 2015/1: 9–18.

Chamonikolasová, J. (2010) Communicative perspectives in the theory of FSP. Linguistica Pragensia, 2010/2, 86–93.

Chamonikolasová, J. and M. Adam (2005) The presentation scale in the theory of functional sentence perspective. In: Čermák, J., A. Klégr, M. Malá, and P. Šaldová (eds) Patterns. A Festschrift for Libuše Dušková, 59–69. Prague: Charles University.

British National Corpus. Designing and creating the BNC. Retrieved on 6 March 2018 from http:// www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/creating.xml

Drápela, M. (2012) On the suggestive semantic clue in functional sentence perspective. Écho des études romanes 8/1, 43–49. České Budějovice: University of South Bohemia.

Dušková, L. (1999) Basic distribution of communicative dynamism vs. nonlinear indication of functional sentence perspective. Travaux du Cercle Lingistique de Prague 3, 249–262.

Dušková, L. (2008) Vztahy mezi sémantikou a aktuálním členěním z pohledu anglistických členů Pražského lingvistického kroužku. [The relations between semantics and functional sentence perspective as seen by Anglicist members of the Prague Linguistic Circle]. Slovo a slovesnost 69/1–2, 67–77.

Dušková, L. (2015) From Syntax to Text: the Janus face of Functional Sentence Perspective. Prague: Karolinum Press.

Dušková, L. et al. (1988) Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny [Grammar of Present-day English on the background of Czech]. Praha: Karolinum.

Firbas, J. (1975) On ‘existence/appearance on the scene’ in functional sentence perspective. Prague Studies in English 16, 45–70.

Firbas, J. (1992) Functional Sentence Perspective in Written and Spoken Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Firbas, J. (1995) On the thematic and the rhematic layers of a text. In: Wårwick, B., S.-K. Tanskanen, R. Hiltunen (eds) Organization in Discourse: Proceedings from the Turku Conference, Anglicana Turkuensia 14, 59–72. Turku: University of Turku.

Firbas, J. (1999) On dynamic semantic homogeneity in functional sentence perspective. In: Carls, U. and P. Lucko (eds) Form, Function and Variation in English: Studies in Honour of Klaus Hansen, 305–317. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.

InterCorp. Projekt paralelních korpusů FF UK. Retrieved on 22 February 2018 from http:// ucnk.korpus.cz/intercorp/

Levin, B. (1993) English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Rohrauer, L. (2015) Presentation Sentences in Fiction and Academic Prose: A Syntactico- Semantic, FSP and Textual View. Unpublished PhD. Thesis. Prague: Faculty of Arts.

Sketch Engine. Retrieved on 15 July 2017 from https://ske.fi.muni.cz/

Svoboda, A. (2005) Firbasian semantic scales and comparative studies. In: Čermák, J., A. Klégr, M. Malá, and P. Šaldová (eds) Patterns. A Festschrift for Libuše Dušková, 217–229. Prague: Charles University.

Svoboda, A. (2006) Firbasovy sémantické škály a komunikační strategie. [Firbasian semantic scales and communicative strategies]. In: Hubáček, J. et al. (eds) Pocta Evě Mrhačové, 215–227. Ostrava: University of Ostrava.

Úvod > 2019.2.4