Complement Selection

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Complement Selection

• Rajat Kumar Mohanty
• Center for Indian Language Technology
• IIT Bombay

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Outline

• C(ategorial) Selection
• S(emantic) Selection
• L(exical) Selection
• Complement Selection and UNL Relations

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Categorial Selection (C-selection)

• Certain heads impose particular demands on the
  category of the XP they combine with.
• The verb know can take NPs, indicatives Ss, and
  interrogative Ss.
• John knows NP the time.
• John knows S that the world is full of noises.
• John knows S what the time is.

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Categorial Selection

• The verb ask can take NPs and interrogative Ss,
  but not indicative Ss.
• John asked me NP the time.
• John asked me S that the world was full of
  noises.
• John asked me S what the time was.

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Categorial Selection

• The verb wonder can only take interrogative Ss,
  not NPs or indicative Ss.
• Paul wonders NP the time.
• Paul wonders S that the world is full of
  noises.
• Paul wonders S what the time is.

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Semantic Selection (S-selection)

• S-selection seems particularly helpful in cases
  where an argument of a particular sort is needed,
  but its category is not fixed.
• The verb put selects for a location
• Bill put the book on the table.
• Bill put the book under the table.
• Bill put the book there.
• Bill put the book.

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Lexical Selection (L-selection)

• Sometimes particular heads select for particular
  lexical items, not just particular categories.
• verbs
• depend, rely on
• The community depends on the shipping industry
  for its survival.
• hope for
• We are hoping for good weather on Sunday.
• toy with
• I did briefly toy with the idea of living in
  States.

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Lexical Selection

• nouns
• love - for, of
• a mothers love for her children
• love of your country
• desire - for, of
• a strong desire for power
• adjectives
• similar to, in
• My teaching style is similar to that of most
  other teachers.
• The two houses are similar in size.
• different - from
• consistent with
• proud, ashamed - of

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Lexical Selection

• L-selection is also found with clausal
  complements.
• She liked the concert.
• She liked hearing the concert.
• She liked to hear the concert
• She enjoyed the concert.
• She enjoyed hearing the concert.
• She enjoyed to hear the concert

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Lexical Selection

• He succeeded in convincing her.
• He succeeded to convince her.
• He managed in convincing her.
• He managed to convince her.

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Discussion

• Does the complement-adjunct distinction make any
  difference in deciding the UNL relation?
• A student of high moral principles
• Arguments with John are often pointless
• Arguments with few premises are often pointless
• a student of Physics with long hair
• Does the complement selection makes any
  difference in deciding the UNL relation?
• Bill put the book on the table
• Bill put the book under the table
• Bill put the book there

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Discussion

• John knows NP the time.
• John knows S that the world is full of noises.
• John knows S what the time is.
• his disillusionment with life
• It is difficult for John.
• your reply to my letter
• She only replied with a smile.
• The terrorists replied to the governments
  statement with more violence.

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Sources and Suggested Readings

• Introduction to Government and Binding Theory,
  2nd edn., Liliane Haegeman, Blackwell, 1994.
• Syntactic Structures Revisited, Howard Lasnik,
  MIT Press, 2000.
• Bhatt, R. 2003. Introduction to Syntax.
• Principles and Parameters, Peter Culicover,
  Oxford, 1997.

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THANK YOU