The English rob/steal alternation and its German

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft
AG 12: Workshop on Argument Alternations
15 March 2013
Ryan Dux
University of Texas at Austin
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Funded by: Fulbright Kommission
[email protected]
THE ENGLISH ROB/STEAL ALTERNATION
AND ITS GERMAN EQUIVALENTS
Special thanks to: Alexander Ziem, Hans C. Boas, Rainer Osswald, Detmer Wulf
1
OVERVIEW
1) English rob/steal alternation
2) German syntactic patterns for Stealing verbs
2.1 Applicative
2.2 Ditransitive
2.3 Recipient Passive
3) Partial Productivity
4) Summary / Conclusion
2
STEALING AND ROBBING
•
Theft: Situations in which a PERPETRATOR takes
GOODS (illegally) from a SOURCE or VICTIM
(FrameNet; Ruppenhofer et al. 2010)
•
Robbery: Situations in which a PERPETRATOR
wrongs a VICTIM by taking GOODS
•
•
•
•
(FrameNet; Ruppenhofer et al. 2010)
Source = inanimate (e.g. table)
Victim = animate (e.g. person)
What about ‘semi-animate’ sources such as stores and
banks?
3
1. ENGLISH ROB/STEAL ALTERNATION
•
Steal variant
–
–
–
•
PERPETRATOR steals GOODS from SOURCE/VICTIM
(1)The thief stole a purse from the lady.
(2) John swiped the wallet from the table.
Few semantic restrictions
–
–
GOODS can be abstract or concrete
No difference between animate SOURCE and
inanimate VICTIM
4
ENGLISH ROB/STEAL ALTERNATION
•
Rob variant
–
–
–
–
•
•
PERPETRATOR robs VICTIM/*SOURCE (of GOODS)
(3) The thief robbed the lady (of a fortune/?dollar).
(4) John robbed the bank.
(5) *John robbed the table.
Only animate or semi-animate VICTIM as D.O.
GOODS in of PP are often abstract and high in
value
5
ENGLISH ROB/STEAL ALTERNATION

Semantic Analysis (Goldberg 1995: 45f.)
 Subject
& Dir. Object = prominent argument slots
 Prominent slots are filled by participant roleswhich
are profiled by the verb
 Difference between rob and steal results from
different profiled arguments

Lexical Entries
 Steal:
< thief goods source >
 Rob: < thief goods victim >
6
ENGLISH ROB/STEAL ALTERNATION

Possessional Deprivation Verb Classes (Levin
1993: 128-129)
Steal: “These verbs primarily describe the removal of something from
someone’s possession; […]”
abduct, cadge, capture, confiscate, cop, emancipate, embezzle, exorcise, extort, extract,
filch, flog, grab, impound, kidnap, liberate, lift, nab, pilfer, pinch, pirate, plagiarize, purloin,
recover, redeem, reclaim, regain, repossess, rescue, retrieve, rustle, seize, smuggle,
snatch, sneak, sponge, steal, swipe, take, thieve, wangle, weasel, winkle, withdraw, wrest
Cheat: “[…] these verbs […] typically describe depriving
someone/something of an inalienable possession (in the broad sense).”
absolve, acquit, balk, bereave, bilk, bleed, break (of a habit), burgle, cheat, cleanse, con,
cull, cure, defraud, denude, deplete, depopulate, deprive, despoil, disabuse, disarm,
disencumber, dispossess, divest, drain, ease, exonerate, fleece, free, gull, milk, mulct,
pardon, plunder, purge, purify, ransack, relieve, render, rid, rifle, rob, sap, strip, swindle,
unburden, void, ween
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2. IDENTIFYING GERMAN EQUIVALENTS

Difficulties in Contrastive Alternation Research



Different syntactic ‘tools’ for argument realization
Similar constructions may have different semantics
Similar alternations apply to different classes of verbs


(Frense & Bennett 1996)
Contrastive CxG (Boas 2010)
1) Identify verbs associated with same frame elements (sem
roles)
 stehlen, rauben, klauen, mopsen, entwenden,…
2) Observe range of syntactic patterns with these verbs
3) Identify patterns where SOURCE/VICTIM role is in a
prominent position
8
GERMAN STEAL VARIANT


PERPETRATOR stiehlt GOODS von SOURCE/VICTIM
NOM
ACC
vonPP
(6) Der Dieb stiehlt die Tasche von der Frau.
(7) Jan klaut den Geldbeutel vom Tisch.
Nearly identical to English steal variant
 Few semantic restrictions (Source/Victim,
Goods type)

9
2.1 GERMAN PATTERN I: APPLICATIVE
•
•
PERPETRATOR bestiehlt VICTIM/*SOURCE (GOODS)
NOM
ACC
(GEN)
(8) Er bestiehlt die Frau (ihrer Ehre/?ihrer Tasche).
(9) Der Dieb bestiehlt den Laden.
(10) *Der Dieb bestiehlt den Tisch.
•
Similar to English rob variant
–
–
Animate or semi-animate VICTIM as acc. object
GOODS are normally abstract and high in value
10
STEAL VERBS
GER. APPLICATIVE VS. ENG. ROB VARIANT
•
•
English alternation is triggered lexically, by choice of
verb (rob vs. steal)
German ‘alternation’ is triggered/flagged by beprefix on verb (both rob and steal verbs)
–
(11) Er hat mich {beraubt/bestohlen/beklaut}.
•
Does German have two distinct verb classes for rob
and steal?
•
Pragmatic Constraint: German genitive case is
infrequent in spoken language, especially as
argument marker  GOODS seldom expressed in
this pattern in spoken language
11
SEMANTICS OF GERMAN APPLICATIVE

Conflicting Views
Agent moves Theme to Location, Location is “covered”
with Theme, Location undergoes ‘holistic’ change
(Michaelis & Ruppenhofer 2001)
 Extended (iterated) action towards a Location;
sustained application of mass substance often leads to
“coverage” due to world properties (Dewell 2004)


Coverage analysis more appropriate for steal verbs
no prolonged or iterated action
 “coverage” and “affected” semantics extendable to
Theft scenario

12
GENERAL PROPERTIES:
GER. APPLICATIVE VS. ENGLISH ROB VARIANT

German Applicative Pattern
 associated
with be- prefix
 wide range of verb classes (beladen, besprechen,
bestreichen)
 No clear correspondence between prefixed and
non-prefixed verbs  independent construction

English rob variant
 associated
with lexical items, not verbal prefix
 restricted to predicates with “remove” semantics
13
2.2 GERMAN PATTERN II:
DITRANSITIVE/DATIVE VICTIM
•
•
PERPETRATOR stiehlt VICTIM/*SOURCE GOODS
NOM
DAT
ACC
(12) Der Dieb stiehlt der Frau die Tasche.
(13) Der Mann raubte ihr die Ehre.
(14) ??Er klaute dem Laden die Waren
(15) *Der Dieb raubte der Bank 1000 Euro.
•
•
•
Only marginally acceptable with ‘semi-animate’ sources
No concreteness constraint on GOODS
No pragmatic constraint on dative case, so acceptable in
colloquial language
14
STEAL VERBS IN DITRANSITIVE
GERMAN VS. ENGLISH
Syntax: English has no dative case marking
 Semantics: English ‘dative’ object receives
Recipient interpretation, not Victim

(16) He stole her a ring.  He stole it {for/*from} her.
(17) Er stahl ihr den Ring  He stole it {from/?for} her.

Recipient interpretation possible in German, but
only given proper context (?)
(18) Kannst du mir einen Kuli klauen.
 Can you steal a pen {for/?from} me?
15
GENERAL PROPERTIES:
GERMAN VS. ENGLISH DITRANSITIVE
•
•
Both involve notion of (intended) gain
possession
Various extensions of possession notion
–
–
•
Future possession (promise, versprechen)
Deny possession (deny, verweigern)
German Ditransitive extends to “Lose
Possession” with Steal verbs, but English does
not (it maintains “Gain Possession” reading)
16
2.3 GERMAN PATTERN III: RECIPIENT PASSIVE
•
•
VICTIM bekommt GOODS (von PERP) gestohlen.
NOM
ACC
(vonPP)
(19) Die Frau bekommt ihre Tasche gestohlen.
(20) ??Die Bank bekommt viel Geld gestohlen.
(21) Sie haben ihre EC-Karte verloren oder gestohlen
bekommen? (COSMAS)
•
•
Very marginal, and only in some regional dialects (Lenz
fc.)
Strong animacy restriction – only animate Victims may
appear as subject
17
COMPARISON OF GERMAN EQUIVALENTS OF
THE ENGLISH ROB VARIANT
Pattern
PERP
VICTIM
GOODS
Allow semianimate
Victim
Formality
Applicative
NOM
AKK
Ø / GEN
(abstract,
high value)
yes
Normal, High
with Goods
Ditransitive
NOM
DAT
AKK
some
Normal
Recipient
Passive
Ø / von PP
NOM
AKK
no
Very low
18
3. PARTIAL PRODUCTIVITY
Alternation variants do not always occur with
same range of verbs as with basic variant
 Not all German verbs which appear in steal
variant also occur in applicative and ditransitive

(22) Er hat mich {bestohlen/beklaut/
??bemaust/ *(be)stibitzt}.

Implications for alternation-based verb
classification
19
ALTERNATION-BASED CLASSES OF ENGLISH
THEFT VERBS
steal
rob
swipe
mug
pilfer
embezzle
Red = steal variant
Brown = rob variant (no Goods)
Green = rob variant (with Goods)
20
ALTERNATION-BASED CLASSES OF GERMAN
THEFT VERBS
stehlen
mopsen
klauen
veruntreuen
rauben
stibitzen
entwenden
mausen
Black = Transitive + PP (steal variant)
Brown = Ditransitive
Red = Applicative be- pattern with no Goods
Green = Applicative be- pattern with Goods
21
4. SUMMARY
English rob variant has two (or three) equivalents
in German
 Rob variants exhibit semantic/pragmatic
restrictions not found with steal variants

Animacy of Source/Victim
 Value of Goods
 Concreteness of Goods
 Case


Rob variants not available to same range of verbs
as steal variants
22
CONCLUDING QUESTIONS
To what extent do alternation variants exhibit
different semantic and pragmatic properties?
 With what does the German steal variant
alternate?

 Applicative?

Ditransitive? Recip. Passive? All 3?
What does partial productivity of variants imply
for verb classification?
23
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-Boas, Hans C. 2010. “Comparing constructions across languages.” In: H.C. Boas (ed.),
Contrastive Studies in Construction Grammar. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins, 1-20.
-Dewell, Robert. 2004. “The semantics of be- verb constructions and the German
locative alternation.” Leuvense Bijdragen 93, 15-59.
-Fillmore, Charles. 1982. “Frame Semantics.” Linguistics in the Morning Calm. Seoul,
South Korea: Hanshin Publishing Co. 111-137.
-Frense, Juta, and Paul Bennett. 1996. “Verb Alternations and Semantic Classes in
English and German.” Language Sciences 18 (1): 305–317.
- Goldberg, Adele. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument
Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Lenz, Alexandra N. Forthcoming. “Three competing auxiliaries of a non-canonical
passive – On the German GET passive and its auxiliaries.” In: Alexiadou, Artemis
and Florian Schäfer (eds.), Selected papers of the "Jahrestagung der Deutschen
Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft -Sektion "noncanonical passives““.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
-Iwata, Seizi. 2008. Locative Alternation. A lexical-constructional approach
[Constructional Approaches to Language Series, 6]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
-Levin, Beth. 1993. English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
-Michaelis, Laura A. & Josef Ruppenhofer. 2001. Beyond Alternations: A Constructional
Account of the Applicative Pattern in German.Stanford: CSLI Publications.
- Ruppenhofer, J., M. Ellsworth, M. R. L. Petruck, C. Johnson, and J. Scheffczyk. 2010.
FrameNet II: Extended Theory and Practice. Technical Report, International
Computer Science Institute, Berkeley. [http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu]
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RANDOM CORPUS EXAMPLES
COSMAS
Der Juwelierladen, den er <B>berauben</> wollte, war bereits von einem
Zusammen mit seinem jüngeren Bruder versuchte er, auch in Uersfeld eine Bank zu
<B>berauben</> - allerdings scheiterte der Versuch. (RHZ99/FEB.07022 Rhein-Zeitung,
10.02.1999; Haft für Dauner Duo)
Doch auch wenn Bauers "Egotripper" aufgrund des einen oder anderen müden Kalauers nicht
immer zündet, versteht es der Kabarettist
Sie haben ihre EC-Karte verloren oder gestohlen bekommen?
GOOGLE
Thaimasseurin, die erst 3 Tage im Laden war, klaute dem Laden ein paar tausend Euros und flog
mit der jüngeren Frau zum Honeymoon.
-http://einedeutschestimme.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/weihnachtsmaerchen.pdf
Also baute ich alles ab, klaute dem Laden noch 2 Meter Boxenkabel, um alles auf Mammut
festzuzurren, da radelt Mayo an.
-haruspecks.wordpress.com/page/12/
25