Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:25:45.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognate Objects as Thematic Objects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Diane Massam
Diane Massam*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper examines cognate object (CO) constructions such as those in (1).

    1. a. Dorothea smiled a smile.

    2. b. Dorothea smiled a wicked smile.

    3. c. Dorothea has smiled all her smiles.

The central question which is raised by such constructions regards the status of the CO with respect to both its syntax and its semantics. That this question is not a new one, nor one confined to theoretical linguistics is seen in Harper’s English Grammar where we read: “Some authorities . . . contend that cognate verbs — verbs which are followed by objects that repeat their meaning — are intransitive. However the verbs in such expressions as He slept a peaceful sleep and He lived a useful life are by the majority of grammarians regarded as transitive verbs” (Opdycke 1941:106).

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 161 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aviles, Alejandro, Hale, Ken and Salamanca, Danilo 1987 Insubordinate Complements in Miskito. Ms.Google Scholar
Bach, Emmon 1979 Control in Montague Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 10:515–532.Google Scholar
Belletti, Adriana 1988 The Case of Unaccusatives. Linguistic Inquiry 19:1–34.Google Scholar
Berman, Arlene 1974 Adjectives and Adjective Complement Constructions in English. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University. (Report NSF-29 to The National Science Foundation).Google Scholar
Carlson, Laurie 1977 A Unified Analysis of the English Bare Plural. Linguistics and Philosophy 1:413–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrier, Jill, and Randall, Janet 1989 From Conceptual Structure to Syntax. Ms.Google Scholar
Carter, Richard 1988 On Linking: Papers by Carter, Richard. Levin, Beth and Tenny, Carol, eds. Lexicon Project Working Papers 25, Center for Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam 1981 Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam 1986 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Condoravdi, Cleo 1990 The Middle: Where Semantics and Morphology Meet. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 11. MIT. [To appear.]Google Scholar
Cowper, Elizabeth 1989 Thematic Underspecification: The Case of Have . Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 10, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Davidson, Donald 1967 Truth and Meaning. Pp. 17–36 in Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Davidson, Donald, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Davidson, Donald 1984 Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Doron, Edit 1988 The Semantics of Predicate Nominals. Linguistics 26:281–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowty, David 1979 Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Declerck, Renaat 1986 Two Notes on the Theory of Defmiteness. Journal of Linguistics 22:25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimshaw, Jane, and Mester, Armin 1988 Light Verbs and Theta Marking. Linguistic Inquiry 19:205–233.Google Scholar
Guerssel, Mohamed, Hale, Ken, Laughren, Mary, Levin, Beth, and Eagle, Josie White 1985 A Cross-Linguistic Study of Transitivity Alternations. Pp. 48–63 in Papers from the Parasession on Causatives and Agentivity, CLS 21, Part 2. Eilfort, William, Kroeber, Paul, and Peterson, Karen, eds. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Haïk, Isabelle 1985 The Syntax of Operators. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Hale, Ken, and Keyser, S. Jay 1987 Explaining and Constraining the English Middle. Ms.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert A. Jr. 1973 The Transferred Epithet in P.G. Wodehouse. Linguistic Inquiry 4:92–94.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, James 1987 Indefiniteness and Predication. Pp. 43–70 in The Representation of (In)definiteness. Reuland, Eric and Meulen, Alice ter, eds. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, James 1988 Elucidations of Meaning. Lexicon Project Working Papers 19, Center for Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Hutchison, John 1989 Predicate Emphasis and Copying in Haitian. Paper given at the MIT Niger-Congo Workshop on Serial Constructions and Transitivity Alternations.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray 1972 Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray 1983 Semantics and Cognition. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray 1988 Babe Ruth Homered His Way into the Hearts of America. Ms.Google Scholar
Jones, Michael Allen 1988 Cognate Objects and the Case Filter. Journal of Linguistics 24:89–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearns, Kate 1988 Light Verbs in English. Ms.Google Scholar
Kearns, Kate 1990 Predicate Nominals in Complex Predicates. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 11. [To appear.]Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika 1988 Stage-Level and Individual-Level Predicates. Ms.Google Scholar
Larson, Richard 1985 Bare NP Adverbs. Linguistic Inquiry 16:595–621.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, Claire 1989 Event, Aspect and Predicate Cleft Interpretation: The Case of Haitian Creole. Lexicon Project Working Papers 29. Center for Cognitive Science, MIT.Google Scholar
Levin, Beth, and Rapoport, Tova 1988 Lexical Subordination. Pp. 275–289 in Papers from the 24th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, CLS 24, Part 1. MacLeod, Lynn, Larson, Gary and Brentari, Diane, eds. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Lumsden, John, and Lefebvre, Claire 1989 The Parameters of Predicate Cleft. Lexicon Project Working Papers 29. Center for Cognitive Science, MIT.Google Scholar
Marantz, Alec 1988 Reply to Jackendoff: Arguing One’s Way to a Less Radical Conclusion. Ms.Google Scholar
Massam, Diane 1988 Middles, Tough and Recipe Context Constructions in English. Pp. 315–332 in NELS 18. Blevins, James and Carter, Juli, eds. Graduate Students Linguistics Union, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Massam, Diane 1989 Null Objects and Non-Thematic Subjects in Middles and Tough Constructions. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 10. University of Toronto.Google Scholar
McCawley, James D. 1988a Adverbial NPs: Bare or Clad in See-Through Garb? Language 64:583–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCawley, James D. 1988b The Syntactic Phenomena of English, 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McConnell-Ginet, Sally 1982 Adverbs and Logical Form. Language 58:144–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moltmann, Frederika 1990 Nominal and Clausal Event Predicates. In Papers from the 25th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society. [To appear.]Google Scholar
Opdycke, John 1941 Harper’s English Grammar. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Postal, Paul, and Pullum, Geoffrey 1988 Expletive Noun Phrases in Subcategorized Positions. Linguistic Inquiry 19:635–670.Google Scholar
Pustejovsky, James 1988 Event Semantic Structure. Ms. [An earlier version appears in Lexicon Project Working Papers 24. Center for Cognitive Science, MIT.]Google Scholar
Rapoport, Tova 1987 Copular, Nominal, and Small Clauses: A Study of Israeli Hebrew. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Tova 1989 Secondary Predication and the Lexical Representation of Verbs. Machine Translation 4.4 [to appear].Google Scholar
Rappaport, Malka, and Levin, Beth 1986 What to do with Theta Roles. Lexicon Project Working Papers 11. Center for Cognitive Science, MIT.Google Scholar
Reuland, Eric, and Meulen, Alice ter, eds. 1987 The Representation of (In)definiteness. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi 1988 On Referential Indices. Ms.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Susan 1983 The Syntactic Forms of Predication. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Schein, Barry 1982 Small Clauses and Predication. Ms. MIT.Google Scholar
Talmy, Leonard 1975 Semantics and Syntax of Motion. Pp. 181–238 in Syntax and Semantics 4. Kimball, John P., ed. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tenny, Carol 1987 Grammaticalizing Aspect and Affectedness. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Tenny, Carol 1989 The Aspectual Interface Hypothesis. Lexicon Project Working Papers 31. Center for Cognitive Science, MIT.Google Scholar
Travis, Lisa 1988 The Syntax of Adverbs. McGill University Working Papers: Proceedings of the IVth Workshop on Comparative Germanic Syntax. McGill University.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna 1982 Why Can You have a drink When You Can’t have an eat? Language 58:753–799.Google Scholar
Williams, Edwin 1980 Predication. Linguistic Inquiry 11:203–238.Google Scholar
Zubizarreta, Maria-Luisa 1987 Levels of Representation in the Lexicon and in Syntax. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar