The Semantic Formula of a Macro-event:Three-event-model
Based on the five types of macro-events,Talmy(2000a,2000b)proposed his most influential two-way typology,that is,the verb-framed languages and the satellite-framed languages.He did not generalize the event-event relations in the macro-event at a higher abstract conceptual level.Based on a detailed analysis of the event relations within the macro-event,inspired by the process philosophy of Whitehead(2011,2012)as well as by the event theory of the quantum theorist Carlo Rovelli(2019),the author proposed a three-event-model as follows:(event 1+)event 2+event 3,in which,event 1 is usually implied and regularly implicitly encoded;event 2 expresses the manner or cause;event 3 represents the final state,which is the semantic core.Based on this model,the semantic formula of the macro-event is proposed as follows:A single clause that explicitly encodes both event 2 and event 3 represents a macro-event,i.e.S=(E1)E2E3.The bold face"E3"represents the core of the macro-event,termed as core event.This formula is significant in that it extends the formal scope of the Talmyan macro-event from the verb plus directional constructions to the whole family of verb complement construction in Chinese.It also naturally covers the adjective as complement construction,which is not usually included in the western theories.As a complex conceptual structure,this model represents a generalization at a higher level than the macro-event,and furthermore it covers a wider scope in constructions.Most importantly,it might have universal value.The article proceeds to apply the model to explain the five types of the Talmyan macro-event,including the motion event,the event of state change,the event of temporal contouring,the event of action correlation,and the event of realization.The validity of the model is also qualitatively tested using the resultative family proposed by Goldberg and Jackendoff(2005),which includes the following four categories:causative property resultative,noncausative property resultative,noncausative path resultative,and causative path resultative.These four types can be represented as E2 CAUSE[(E1)BECOME E3],[(E1)BECOME E3]THROUGH E2,[(E1)BECOME E3]THROUGH E2,E2 CAUSE[(E1)BECOME E3]respectively in the present model.
three-event-modelmacro-eventsimple eventcomplex eventsemantic formula
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
