SEMANTICS AND

PRGMATICS: Ahnas Attazqy

M. Akhzal
SEMANTICS ROLES
SEMANTICS ROLES
Sentence and proposition

Semantic roles:
1. Valency zero
2. Valency one
3. Valency two

Some changes in valency

SENTENCE AND PROPOSITION
SENTENCE is a traditional way of defining ‘something that expresses a
complete thought, and sentences are more knowable than thought.

for example :
a) We walk in the park.
b) our walk in the park > We enjoyed our walk in the park.
c) for us to walk in the park > It’s not too late for us to walk in the park.
PROPOSITION is something abstract but meaningful. It can be expressed in different
sentences and in parts of sentences, perhaps with differences of focus but always with the
same basic meaning.

Example:
A simple statement like We walk in the park expresses a single proposition, something
presented as a fact and therefore subject to verification; generally speaking, one can find out
if the proposition is true or false. We don’t walk in the park is the negation of this proposition,
and Do we walk in the park? is a question about it.

A proposition can be expressed in different sentences.

a) Helen put on a sweater.
b) Helen put a sweater on.
SEMANTIC
ROLES
Arguments :
The various NPs that occur with a verb.
Tom broke the window.

Tom and the window are arguments of

broke.
VALENCY. WHAT IS A
VALENCY?
Valency is a number of arguments that a predicate has.
Arguments is a varying number of referring expression (Usually Noun Phrase).

1. Valency zero
2. Valency one
3. Valency two
VALENCY ZERO
This valency takes no arguments
Example : It is snowing
The sentence above has the verb snow, and the subject is it, but it doesn’t name anything. The sentence has
a subject because English requires a subject, but this subject does not correspond to anything in the
underlying proposition. We say that snow is a zero-argument verb.

Verb snow is a weather verb. Weather verbs like rain, snow, sleet, thunder, but it does not refer to anything.

 It is raining
 It is thundering
VALENCY ONE
Takes one arguments.
Example : My brothers snores.
That sentence has the verb snore and a subject my brother. A lot of verbs are
like snore: they have a subject but no object. They are intransitive verbs.

Actor – action Affected – event

 The dog sleeping - A volcano erupted.
 Akhzal crying - The cake fell
 The earth rotates - Grandfather died.
 VALENCY TWO
Takes two arguments.
Example: Chris is making an omelet
The samples above, the verb takes a subject and an object. A statement with make must contain a mention of who
makes and what is made, and likewise with need and use.

Agent-action-affected. Actor-action-place Affecting-effect-affected Affected-affect-effecting

- The cat killed a rat - Jennie crossed the street - The decission suprised us all - I’m affraid of that dog
- The cat dug a hole - Fiona entered the room- you’re distrubing everybody - Angle was angry with
Algemon
VALENCY TWO
Theme-link-associate
The predicate merely acts as a link between one argument, a theme, and another argument, its
associate.
 Sheila is like her mother.
 Canada is north of the united states.
 The meeting is after class.
 Julie is Carol’s daugther.
 SOME CHANGES IN VALENCY
We need to take account not only of how many arguments a verb may have but also how many it must have.

for example : Agnes wrote her mother a letter, it is possible to omit her mother or a letter or both of
them and say just Agnes wrote a letter, or Agnes wrote (to) her mother or Agnes wrote. > (The
sentence is less informative when it has fewer arguments, but it is still a legitimate sentence and the
meaning of write does not change).

Another example :
 We ate lunch (in the kitchen).
 We ate (in the kitchen).
 Maureen bathed the baby (in the tub).
 Maureen bathed (in the tub).