Argument reversal

1
Argument reversal and inferential relations
2
Argument reversal 1 Inversion (1) They have
a great big tank in the kitchen, and in the tank
are sitting all of these pots. Jeff Smith,
Frugal Gourmet, 6/17/89
3
Like preposing, inversion requires a salient OP
unless its preposed constituent is locative (2)
The Chief of Police has developed a viral
infection and may need to take an extended sick
leave. In even worse condition is the mayor, who
has been out for the past several days with a
raging fever.
4
Since the preposed PP is non-locative, an OP is
required (3) The Chief of Police has developed
a viral infection and may need to take an
extended sick leave. In a complete rage is the
mayor, who will have to cover for his absence.
5
Locative inversion requires no OP (4) There are
three ways to look at East State Street Village,
a low-income apartment complex in Camden. None of
them are pretty views. To the west of the 23
brightly colored buildings flows the Cooper
River, a fetid waterway considered one of the
most polluted in New Jersey. Philadelphia
Inquirer, 5/7/84
6
What about the discourse-status and hearer-status
of the constituents of an inversion?
7
Two types of noncanonical-word-order
construction in English

• a single noncanonically positioned constituent
• two noncanonically positioned constituents

8
Inversions contain two noncanonically positioned
constituents (1) They have a great big tank in
the kitchen, and in the tank are sitting all of
these pots. CWO All of these pots are sitting
in the tank. cf. Preposing In the tank all of
these pots are sitting.
9

• Birner Ward 1998
• Preposing moves familiar information to the front
  of the sentence.
• Postposing moves unfamiliar information to the
  end of the sentence.
• When a single constituent is affected, the
  constraint is absolute when two arguments are
  reversed, its their relative information status
  that determines the ordering.

10
Table1.
11
1. a. They have a great big tank in the
kitchen, and in the tank are sitting all of these
pots. b. They have all of these pots in
the kitchen, and in a great big tank are sitting
all of the pots.
12

• Discourse-status or hearer-status?
• How do we know its a relative constraint?

13

• Corpus study
• 1778 tokens of inversion
• 1290 with sufficient prior context to determine
  information status
• 714 tokens if inferrables are excluded (well
  talk about them in a few minutes)

14
Table 2.
Initial
H-old/D-old H-old/D-new H-new/D-new
Final
H-oldD-old
H-oldD-new
H-newD-new
15
The only two cells that are not instantiated are
those in which Discourse-New information precedes
Discourse-Old information.
16
In contrast, H-new information followed by H-old
information is felicitous (5) Reopened after a
summer siesta is the SMC Club, only it's not the
SMC Club anymore. With renovations and an
expansion of the old Videotech concept came a new
name the Kennel Club. Au Courant,
10/4/83 (6) I had lunch at Marshall Field's
yesterday, and you wouldn't believe who was
there. Behind a cluster of microphones was
Hillary Clinton, holding another press
conference.
17
This becomes even clearer when you look only at
discourse-status
Table 3.
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
D-old D-new
18
The vast majority of the tokens contain
discourse-old information followed by
discourse-old information (7) What's Hot, a
magazine published by General Foods for children
aged 4 to 14, is sent to households that are
known to be responsive to ad promotions. The
message from the sponsor is subtle, with brand
names worked into activities such as games and
quizzes. Accompanying the magazine are cents-off
coupons. Consumer Reports, 6/89
19
Putting discourse-new information before
discourse-old information results in
infelicity A Hey, Bill, wheres the coffee
grinder? Our guests will probably want some
cappuccino after dinner. B On the kitchen
counter is the coffee grinder.
20
Notice that you also get D-old/D-old and
D-new/D-new tokens. BUT in the case of
D-old/D-old tokens, the more recently mentioned
(i.e., more familiar) information appears first.
21
(8) Yes, this is no ordinary general election.
Evans is a Democrat Daley is a Democrat.
Different Democrats have different points of view
about the city of Chicago and its politics,'
Jackson noted. The war between forces within
the party continues, and within our coalition.'
Standing in the middle of it all is Jesse
Jackson. Chicago Tribune, 3/6/89
22
(9) a. Each of the characters is the
centerpiece of a book, doll and clothing
collection. The story of each character is told
in a series of six slim books, each 12.95
hardcover and 5.95 in paperback, and in
bookstores and libraries across the country.
More than 1 million copies have been sold and in
late 1989 a series of activity kits was
introduced for retail sale. Complementing the
relatively affordable books are the dolls, one
for each fictional heroine and each with a
comparably pricey historically accurate wardrobe
and accessories Chicago Tribune, 1/4/90
23
(9) b. Each of the characters is the
centerpiece of a book, doll and clothing
collection. The story of each character is told
in a series of six slim books, each 12.95
hardcover and 5.95 in paperback, and in
bookstores and libraries across the country....
Complementing the relatively affordable dolls
are the books, one for each fictional heroine...
24
Thus, inversion an argument-reversing
construction imposes a relative, rather than an
absolute, requirement on the information status
of its constituents The preposed constituent
may not represent information that is newer
within the discourse than that represented by the
postposed constituent.
25

• Recall Birner Ward 1998
• Preposing moves familiar information to the front
  of the sentence.
• Postposing moves unfamiliar information to the
  end of the sentence.
• When a single constituent is affected, the
  constraint is absolute when two arguments are
  reversed, its their relative information status
  that determines the ordering.

26
What about other argument-reversing constructions
in English?
27
Passives with by-phrases The ball was hit by
Sally. ? an argument-reversing construction CWO
Sally hit the ball. cf. Passives without
by-phrases The ball was hit. ? no argument
reversal
28
Passives with by-phrases are subject to the same
constraint as inversion The initial element
must represent information that is at least as
familiar within the discourse as that represented
by the final element.
29
Which is to say, the subject NP must represent
information that is at least as familiar within
the discourse as that represented by the NP
within the by-phrase.
30
(10) a. The mayor's present term of office
expires Jan. 1. He will be succeeded by Ivan
Allen Jr.... Brown Corpus b. Ivan Allen Jr.
will take office Jan. 1. The mayor will be
succeeded by him.
31
Again, its discourse-status, rather than
hearer-status, which is relevant (11) A
formula to supply players for the new Minneapolis
Vikings and the problem of increasing the 1961
schedule to fourteen games will be discussed by
National Football League owners at a meeting at
the Hotel Warwick today. Brown Corpus,
discourse-initial
32
The discourse-status results for passives
(excluding inferrables)
Table 4.
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
D-old D-new
33
Inversion and passivization share a pragmatic
constraint The initial constituent must not
represent information that is less familiar
within the discourse than that represented by the
final constituent.
34

• Syntactically, the two constructions are in
  complementary distribution
• Passivization applies to transitives, while
  inversion does not
• Inversion occurs with intransitives and copular
  clauses, which do not passivize

35
Passivization and inversion represent distinct
mechanisms for performing a single
information-packaging function in different
syntactic environments.
36
Inferential relations in discourse The question
at hand What about those inferrables?
37
So far weve dealt with information that is
either clearly discourse-old or clearly
discourse-new, but along with Prince 1992, weve
left unresolved the issue of information that is
inferrable.
38
Inferrable information That information which
has not been explicitly evoked from the prior
discourse but which can be inferred from
previously evoked information.
39
In inversion and passivization, inferrable
information has the same distribution as
discourse-old information.
40
(12) a. She got married recently, and at the
wedding was the mother, the stepmother and
Debbie. conversation, 6/29/89 b. Booked into
the lounge at the Fremont Hotel, Wayne and Larry
did six shows a night, six nights a week for five
years. It was an education that has lasted up to
this day. In the audience were hecklers
and brawlers. Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/16/83
41
(13) a. After being closed for seven months, the
Garden of the Gods Club will have its gala summer
opening Saturday, June 3. Music for dancing will
be furnished by Allen Uhles and his orchestra,
who will play each Saturday during June. Brown
Corpus
42
b. California Democrats this weekend will take
the wraps off a 1962 model statewide campaign
vehicle which they have been quietly assembling
in a thousand district headquarters, party
clubrooms and workers' backyards. They seem
darned proud of it. And they're confident that
the GOP, currently assailed by dissensions within
the ranks, will be impressed by the purring power
beneath the hood of this grassroots-fueled
machine. Brown Corpus
43
Inversion inferrables and d-old
Table 5.
Initial
Evoked Inferrable
Final
Evoked Inferrable
44
Inversion Collapsing D-old and inferrable
Table 6.
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
D-old D-new
45
Passivization Collapsing D-old and inferrable
Table 7.
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
D-old D-new
46
Recall Prince 1992
47
Does the status of inferrables as discourse-old
entail that they are also hearer-old?
48
No they can be postposed in existentials, hence
are hearer-new (14) a. There werent the
funds necessary for the project. Abbott 1992,
ex. 31a
49
b. The audience did not think much of the new
pastor, and what the new pastor thought of the
audience he did not dare at the time to say.
During the next weeks he looked over the
situation. First of all there was the parsonage,
an utterly impossible place for civilized people
to live in, originally poorly conceived,
apparently not repaired for years, with no
plumbing or sewage, with rat-holes and
rot.Brown Corpus
50
c. If the farm is rented, the rent must be paid.
If it is owned, taxes must be paid, and if the
place is not free of mortgage, there will be
interest and payments on the principal to take
care of.Brown Corpus
51
In a study of 149 existentials taken from the
Brown A Reportage Subcorpus, a trained coder
judged that in 38, or 25.5, of the tokens the
postverbal NP represented inferrable information.
52
They can also be preposed in the same
context (15) a. The deadline was looming, and
they had found significant support, but the funds
necessary for the project they hadnt yet found.
53
b. The audience did not think much of the new
pastor, and what the new pastor thought of the
audience he did not dare at the time to say.
During the next weeks he looked over the
situation. The parsonage he could tolerate, but
the church itself was in terrible disrepair. c.
If the farm is rented, the rent must be paid. If
it is owned or mortgaged, the owner pays the
taxes. Interest and payments on the principal
the owner may find harder to pay.
54
To summarize In preposing, inversion, and
passivization, inferrable information has the
distribution of discourse-old information. But
in existentials, it has the distribution of
hearer-new information.
55
This suggests inferrable information is treated
as discourse-old but hearer-new. But this is the
category Prince argues is non-occurring.
56
Re-defining discourse-old The class of
discourse-old information is information that is
linked to information in the prior discourse
either by identity or by inference.
57
But notice that identity itself is an inferential
relation Establishing identity requires an
inference. (16) a. I told the guy at the door
to watch out, but the idiot wouldnt
listen.Evans 1981, ex. 6 b. With a degree in
Physical Education, Terri Lewis could be coaching
a high school volleyball team. Instead, this
ranch wife and mother has spent the last three
years riding and roping with three other
women....Cowgirl Up!, Americas Horse, 2005
58
Lets refine our definition The class of
discourse-old information is defined as
information that is inferentially linked to
information in the prior discourse. The
inferential relation may or may not be one of
identity.
59
Inferrables are discourse-old (linked to prior
discourse) but hearer-new (not previously known
to hearer)
60
Potential inferential relations Part/whole Ty
pe/subtype Temporal precedence
Possession Entity/attribute Spatial
proximity
61
Table 8.
62

• Two problems
• This obscures the fact that evoked is a subset
  of inferrable (via an identity inference)
• There are non-identity inferences that
  nonetheless result in hearer-old information

63
(17) a. In one of the drawers there was a bundle
of old letters, a dozen or more, tied together
with a bit of rotten string. They were addressed
Thomas Willingdon, Jr. Esq. at the Cordova
Theological Seminary, in an emotional, flowery
handwriting ornamented with Spencerian curlicues
which began in a neat correct flourish and ended
in a splatter of ink. Across the face of the top
letter was written in The Old Mans handwriting,
not to be forgotten.L. Bromfield, The Farm,
Grosset Dunlap, USA, 1933, p. 262
64
b. The house was particularly spacious. Set well
back from the road, it was almost surrounded by
wide lawns on which, each side of the house, grew
a huge palm tree. Beyond the right-hand palm
could be seen a clothes line.A.W. Upfield, The
Widows of Broome, 1950 Charles Scribners Sons
reprint, New York, 1985, pp. 110-111 c. She got
married recently and at the wedding was the
mother, the stepmother and Debbie.12a
65
Contrast with Haviland and Clarks classic
example of a bridging inference (18) Mary took
the picnic supplies out of the trunk. The beer
was warm.Haviland and Clark 1974 ? No
necessary inference from picnic supplies to beer
66
Elaborating inference vs. bridging
inference The distinction is not based on the
type of information inferred but rather what
motivates the inference. If the inference is
drawn in order to establish coherence between the
present piece of text and the preceding text,
then it is a bridging inference. If an inference
is not needed for coherence, but is simply drawn
to embellish the textual information, then it is
an elaborative inference. (Keenan et al.
1990378-9)
67
Elaborating inferrable got married ? the
wedding Bridging inferrable picnic supplies ?
the beer
68
This distinction is similar, but not identical,
to the distinction between forward and
backward looking inferences. Identity
inferences (as in the guy at the door ? the
idiot) involve a backward inference that involves
a hearer-old entity and hence dont fall into the
same category as bridging inferences.
69
Being hearer-old, elaborating inferrables cannot
appear postverbally in existentials
(19) a. In one of the drawers there was a bundle
of old letters, a dozen or more, tied together
with a bit of rotten string. They were addressed
Thomas Willingdon, Jr. Esq. at the Cordova
Theological Seminary, in an emotional, flowery
handwriting ornamented with Spencerian curlicues
which began in a neat correct flourish and ended
in a splatter of ink. There was the face of the
top letter easily visible.
70
b. The house was particularly spacious. Set well
back from the road, it was almost surrounded by
wide lawns on which, each side of the house, grew
a huge palm tree. Behind a clothes line there
was the right-hand palm.c. She got married
recently and there was the wedding in her
hometown.
71
Table 9 (Final!).
72
Triggering Inferences
For a bridging inferrable, which is hearer-new,
how does the hearer know to look for the
inferential relation (rather than taking the
entity to be brand-new)?
73
The bridging inferrable may serve to trigger the
inference, via either its form (e.g. a definite)
or its positioning (noncanonical word order).
74
Use of a definite to trigger the
inference (20) Mary took the picnic supplies
out of the trunk. The beer was warm.(18)
75
Use of noncanonical word order to trigger the
inference
(21) Last night I went out to buy the picnic
supplies. a. I decided to get beer
first. b. Beer I decided to get first. c. I
decided to get the beer first. d. The beer I
decided to get first. ? Only (a) is ambiguous as
to whether the beer is part of the picnic
supplies.