La tesi è divisa in tre parti: la prima parte offre un panorama delle principali teorie della valenza sviluppate in Francia e in Italia, con particolare attenzione allo statuto sintattico dei complementi preposizionali (argomenti o aggiuntivi); la seconda parte presenta lo studio contrastivo di 103 verbi francesi tratti dal "Dictionnaire de la Complémentation Verbale" di Salkoff-Valli (in preparazione); la terza parte presenta lo studio contrastivo di due gruppi preposizionali francesi di particolare interesse traduttivo: "de N" con valore di causa e "contre N". / This Thesis is divided into three parts : the first one gives an overview of the main valency theories, which have been developed in France and Italy, particularly paying attention to the problem of prepositional complements ambiguity (objects or modifiers of the verb) ; second part proposes a contrastive study of 103 French verbs, taken from Dictionnaire de la Complémentation verbale of Salkoff-Valli (in progress); third part proposes a contrastive study of two French prepositional phrases "de N" indicating a cause, and "contre N", object or specific modifier of the verb , very interesting topic under the point of view of the translation into Italian.

Text in Afrikaans, abstracts in Afrikaans and English / This is a study of the broad scope of cognition verbs in Afrikaans. Firstly, the nonmetaphorical cognition verbs [e.g. ken (= know), weet (= know), dink (= think), verstaan (= understand)] are discussed and then the metaphorical cognition verbs which are subcategorized in metaphorical verbs of vision [kyk (= look), sien (= see)] and metaphorical manipulation verbs [vorm (= form), gryp (= grab), voel (= feel), vat (= take) etc.]. The study is embedded in the cognitive linguistic stance of embodiment which inter alia implies that our neurological functioning is based on feeling (which includes our sense of touch), and that the way our bodies are structured also determines the way we express our thoughts. This extensive descriptive study of Afrikaans cognition verbs, metaphorical and nonmetaphorical, indicates that visual lexemes in Afrikaans express subtle abstract thought, while manipulation lexemes express less subtle, yet still abstract result-driven thought. Synthesis is an important factor in this study because the non-metaphorical cognition verbs as well as the metaphorical cognition verbs are linked to the basic cognitive principle of embodiment. Also, the two metaphorical verb types can by seen in synthesis when the stage frame ( = vision) and the workshop frame ( = manipulation) are merged. The synthesis of the stage frame and the workshop frame eventually provides us with another perspective, namely that vision and manipulation (which includes touch and feeling) are in a state of interacting nurturing symbiosis. / In hierdie studie word die breë kader van Afrikaanse kognisiewerkwoorde ondersoek. Eers kom die nie-metaforiese kognisiewerkwoorde (ken, weet, dink, verstaan) onder die vergrootglas, en daarna die metaforiese kognisiewerkwoorde wat gesubkategoriseer word in visueel-metaforiese werkwoorde (kyk, sien ens.) en manipulatief-metaforiese werkwoorde (vorm, gryp, voel, vat ens.). Hierdie studie is ingebed binne die kognitieflinguistiese uitgangspunt van beliggaamdheid wat onder andere behels dat ons neurologiese funksionering sterk gevoelsgefundeerd (o.m. op tassintuiglike vlak) is, maar ook dat ons liggaamlike gestruktureerdheid 'n rol speel by die uitdrukking van denke. Die uitvoerige deskriptiewe studie van Afrikaanse kognisiewerkwoorde, metafories en nie-metafories, dui aan dat visuele lekseme in Afrikaans vir fyn abstrakte denke gebruik word, terwyl manipulasielekseme vir minder fyn, maar steeds abstrakte resultaatgedrewe denke gebruik word. Sintesevorming speel 'n belangrike rol in hierdie studie in dié sin dat die nie-metaforiese kognisiewerkwoorde sowel as die metaforiese kognisiewerkwoorde tot die basiese kognitiewe uitgangspunt van beliggaamdheid teruggevoer kan word. Ook wat die twee metaforiese werkwoordtipes betref, kan daar 'n sintese gevorm word indien die verhoograam (= visie) sáám met die werkswinkelraam (= manipulasie) beskou word. Die samevoeging van die verhoograam met die werkswinkelraam bied uiteindelik nog 'n perspektief, naamlik dat visie en manipulasie (waarby tassintuiglike gevoel ingesluit is) simbioties en voedend op mekaar inwerk. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil (Linguistics)

Text in Afrikaans / Twee sentrale probleme word hier ondersoek, naamlik die daarstelling van 'n teoreties adekwate model om leksikale valensie te verreken en die problematiek rondom die beskrywing van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde. Die vertrekpunt is dat 'n teorie van UG lesikale valensie slegs ten dele verreken. So 'n teorie is gemoeid met die vorm van 'n konstruksie wat op LF-vlak leesbaar is. Gevolglik beskryf 'n teorie van UG valensie net in universele sintakties-kategoriale terme. In hierdie studie word die semantiese en pragmatiese komponente van 'n valensieteorie derhalwe uitgebou sodat daar 'n duideliker begrip verkry kan word van die wisselwerking tussen alle veranderlikes van valensie op 'n taalspesifieke LF-vlak. 'n Valensieteorie word op eklektiese wyse saamgestel uit verskeie ander teoriee. Die apparaat om die sintaktiese komponent van 'n valensieteorie te beskryf, word aan TGGmodelle ontleen. Die semantiese komponent van die teorie word aangevul vanuit die Konseptuele Semantiek en die pragmatiese komponent daarvan vanui t kogni ti ewe grammatikamodelle. Die interaksie tussen hierdie komponente word verreken deur teoriee van leksikalisasie, korrespondensiereels en die passing tussen konstruksies en leksikale items. Die ontleding van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde spesif iseer die omvattender anali tiese apparaat wat nodig is vir die verrekening van valensie verby die punt waarvoor 'n teorie van UG voorsiening maak. Dit blyk uit hierdie analise dat die valensie van die kategorie in 'n aantal valensieraambeskrywings vir die aparte subklasse saamgevat kan word. 'n Duidelike beeld van die universele en taalspesifiekidiosinkratiese aspekte van hierdie kategorie kan in terme van hierdie valensierame aangetoon word. 'n Verdere hipotese (die onakkusatiwiteithipotese) is dat die sintaktiese verspreiding van werkwoorde ui t hulle semantiek voorspel kan word. Hierdie hipotese word getoets aan die empiriese data van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde. Hierdie bewegingswerkwoorde word in groepe geklassifiseer na gelang van ooreenstemmende semanties-pragmatiese kenmerke. Daar word getoon dat bewegingswerkwoorde met dieself de semantiespragmatiese kenmerke dieselfde valensierame het. Valensierame is daarom op sistematiese wyse uit semanties-pragmatiese kenmerke afleibaar. Sekere fasette van valensierame word egter ook bepaal deur konvensies soos profilering, en deur bereelde interaksie met 'n basiese konstruksie se argumentstruktuur. / This thesis focuses on the development of a theoretically adequate model to account for lexical valence and to provide the detail for such a model by means of an analysis of Afrikaans verbs of motion. The thesis is a response to a theory of UG which inadequately accounts for lexical valence. A theory of UG is concerned with the universal syntactic form of a construction that is legible on LF level. It therefore describes valence in universal syntactic-categorial terms only. This thesis develops the semantic and pragmatic components of a theory of valence in order that a clearer understanding may be gained of the interaction between all the variables of valence on a language specific LF level. A theory of valence is construed eclectically from several other theories. TGG models provide the methods used to describe the syntactic component of a theory of valence. Conceptual Semantics contributes to the development of the semantic component, and models of cognitive grammar to the pragmatic component. The interaction between these components is explained by theories of lexicalisation, rules of correspondence and the fusion of constructions and lexical items. The analysis of Afrikaans verbs of motion provides the comprehensive set of analytical devices required to account for valence beyond the point of LF. From this analysis it emerges that the valence of this category can be summarized in a finite number of frames of valence for distinct classes within the category. 'n Clear understanding of the universal and language specific aspects of this category is achieved by means of these frames of valence. A further hypothesis (the unaccusativity hypothesis) posits that the syntactic distribution of verbs can be predicted from their semantics. This hypothesis is tested by means of empirical data of Afrikaans verbs of motion. These verbs are classified according to similar semantic-pragmatic features. It is shown that verbs of motion with the same semanticpragmatic features share frames of valence. These frames thus are deducible systematically from semantic-pragmatic features. Certain aspects of frames of valence, however, are determined by conventions such as profiling and the regulated interaction between verbs and constructions. / Afrikaans / D.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)

This study investigates undergraduate students’ vocabulary size, and their use of formulaic language. Using the Vocabulary Levels Test (Laufer and Nation 1995), it measures the vocabulary size of native and non-native speakers of English and explores relationships between this and course of study, gender, age and home language, and their academic performance. A corpus linguistic approach is then applied to compare student writers’ uses of three high-frequency verbs (have, make and take) relative to expert writers. Multiword units (MWUs) featuring these verbs are identified and analysed, focusing on delexical MWUs as one very specific aspect of depth of vocabulary knowledge. Student and expert use of these MWUs is compared. Grammatically and semantically deviant MWUs are also analysed. Finally, relationships between the size and depth of students’ vocabulary knowledge, and between the latter and academic performance, are explored. Findings reveal that Literature students had larger vocabularies than Law students, females knew more words than males, and older students knew more than younger ones. Importantly, results indicated a relationship between vocabulary size and academic performance. Literature students produced more correct MWUs and fewer errors than Law students. Correlations suggest that the smaller students’ vocabulary, the poorer the depth of their vocabulary is likely to be. Although no robust relationship between vocabulary depth and academic performance emerged, there was evidence of an indirect link between academic performance and correct use of MWUs. In bringing together traditional methods of measuring vocabulary size with an investigation of depth of vocabulary knowledge using corpus analysis methods, this study provides further evidence of the importance of vocabulary knowledge to academic performance. It contributes to debates on the value of a sound knowledge of high-frequency vocabulary and a developing knowledge of at least 5000 words to academic performance, and the analysis and quantification of errors in MWUs adds to our understanding of novice writers’ difficulties with these combinations. The study also explores new ways of investigating relationships between size and depth of vocabulary knowledge, and between depth of vocabulary knowledge and academic performance. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

本論文「客語「放」及其同類動詞：框架語義與構式之互動」以Fillmore (1985)提出的「框架語義」以及Goldberg (1995)等學者提出的「構式語法」觀點為基礎，分析客語「放」字構式呈現的多義現象。客語「放」字涉及「使動事件」：空間位移與狀態變化。本文著重分析「使動結構」與客語「放」字在動賓、動補及句子等構式中語意－句法的互動。同時藉助隱喻與轉喻的強化，說明客語「放」字延伸語意之間的關聯性，並進一步闡述客語「放」字在動賓結構中詞彙化為複合詞的現象。此外，本文亦檢視客語其他放置類動詞：方向同類動詞、工具同類動詞、方式同類動詞，經由審視其詞彙化類型與框架語義之互動，說明其語意內涵與句法上的表現。因此，本論文經由分析詞彙化類型與探討事件架構中參與角色的展現與否，說明客語放置類動詞語意與句法間的相互關係。 / English verbs describing putting, a prototypical exemplar of a caused-motion activity, have been pervasively found to be the first acquired and the most frequently used verbs in many languages. Their semantic compatibility with various syntactic structures reinforces the association between verbal meanings and the constructions, giving rise to a grouping of related but distinct senses (Goldberg et al. 2004). Piong3 (放) ‘to put’ in Hakka is abundant in semantics. The basic meaning of piong3 designates a common pattern of human experience: An animate entity exerts manual force upon a physical object and causes the object to move. Adopting Goldberg’s (1995) Constructions and Fillmore’s (1985) Frame Semantics, this study aims to account for the meaning relatedness latent in piong3 and explicate the shades of meaning rooted in the set of its congeners with different degree of family resemblance. It is argued that the delicate nuances denoted by piong3 are derived from the interaction between frames and constructions while the extended meanings of piong3 are linked to its typical use through various metaphors and metonymies such as CONTAINER, EVENT STRUCTURE, CHANGE OF STATE AS CHANGE OF LOCATION metaphors and ACTION FOR RESULT metonymy. Furthermore, with regard to congeners of piong3 in Hakka, it is maintained that differences in profiling and lexicalization patterns capture the primary difference between piong3 and its congeners. Specifically, piong3 does not lexicalize other semantic elements (i.e. path, means, manner, result, and etc.) into its lexical meaning whereas its congeners explicitly do so, in that three subtypes of the congeners can be identified: directional congeners, means congeners, and manner congeners.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der für die allgemeine Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen charakteristische Bereich der figurativen Verben im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Ansatzes unter Verwendung korpuslinguistischer Methoden empirisch erfasst und beschrieben. Auf der Grundlage dieser Untersuchung wird ein integrativer Ansatz zur Erfassung und Beschreibung zentraler Wortschatzbereiche der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache entwickelt. Das so gewonnene integrative Beschreibungsmodell verbindet die Perspektiven bisheriger quantitativ-bestandsbezogener und bedeutungsorientiert-einheitenbezogener Ansätze und bezieht darüber hinaus sowohl formale als auch inhaltlich-funktionale Aspekte als Gliederungsprinzipien für die zu beschreibenden Wortschatzbereiche mit ein. Methodisch zeichnet es sich durch das Ineinandergreifen von korpusgesteuertem und korpusbasiertem Vorgehen aus. Die Ausarbeitung der Komponenten des Beschreibungsmodells wird auf mehreren Ebenen vorgelegt: Diese werden im ersten Kapitel zunächst ausgehend von einer Bestandsaufnahme vorliegender Arbeiten zur Beschreibung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes formuliert. Im zweiten Kapitel werden sie im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Modells der Sprachbeschreibung, der Kognitiven Grammatik Langackers, sprachtheoretisch fundiert. Methodisch eingelöst findet sich diese theoretische Fundierung in den korpuslinguistischen Untersuchungen zu figurativen Verben, die Gegenstand der Kapitel drei und vier sind. Im fünften Kapitel werden die dabei gewonnenen Ergebnisse zu einer formbasiert-funktionalen Typologie figurativer Verben zusammengeführt. Kapitel sechs zeigt die mit dem vorgeschlagenen Ansatz verbundenen Transfermöglichkeiten zur Erfassung und Beschreibung anderer Bereiche des allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes auf. Kapitel sieben ordnet den Untersuchungsgegenstand der figurativen Verben und das entwickelte Beschreibungsmodell aus fremdsprachendidaktischer Perspektive ein und skizziert einen Vorschlag zur Vermittlung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes. / Verbs like ‘ausgehen von’, ‘beziehen auf’ or ‘darstellen’ that contain semantically concrete basic verbs (gehen, ziehen, stellen) form an essential part of German general academic vocabulary, i.e. vocabulary that is used across disciplines. Adopting a corpus linguistic approach, the study develops a comprehensive description of these ‚figurative verbs‘. Based on a data-driven methodology it investigates the properties of this lexis and shows that figurative verbs containing typical recurring forms like -stellen, -führen, -gehen and others are highly relevant from a quantitative point of view. On the basis of the most prominently recurring formal parts, a core inventory of verbs is collected and described with respect to the areas of meaning expressed as well as regarding aspects of polysemy. Based on the empirical study, a model for the identification and description of vocabulary is developed, that integrates the hitherto separated quantitative - inventory based and meaning oriented - unit based perspectives. Moreover, it brings together aspects regarding form and function as means of structuring the vocabulary under description. Methodically, the model builds on a combination of the corpus-driven and the corpus-based approach. The model is elaborated as follows: In Chapter 1, important aspects of description that the model should meet are identified based on a survey of existing work on general academic language. Chapter 2 provides a linguistic foundation within the framework of usage-based language description. In particular, it draws on Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, from which the concepts of linguistic unit and construal are adopted. Chapters 3 and 4 present the corpus linguistic investigations on figurative verbs. In Chapter 5, the empirical results are brought together in a form- as well as function-based typology of figurative verbs. Chapter 6 synthesizes the findings into a model and shows possibilities of application of the proposed approach to other areas of general academic vocabulary. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the results from the perspective of language pedagogy and outlines a proposal for the teaching of general academic vocabulary.

Le dictionnaire LVF (Les Verbes Français) de J. Dubois et F. Dubois-Charlier représente une des ressources lexicales les plus importantes dans la langue française qui est caractérisée par une description sémantique et syntaxique très pertinente. Le LVF a été mis disponible sous un format XML pour rendre l’accès aux informations plus commode pour les applications informatiques telles que les applications de traitement automatique de la langue française. Avec l’émergence du web sémantique et la diffusion rapide de ses technologies et standards tels que XML, RDF/RDFS et OWL, il serait intéressant de représenter LVF en un langage plus formalisé afin de mieux l’exploiter par les applications du traitement automatique de la langue ou du web sémantique. Nous en présentons dans ce mémoire une version ontologique OWL en détaillant le processus de transformation de la version XML à OWL et nous en démontrons son utilisation dans le domaine du traitement automatique de la langue avec une application d’annotation sémantique développée dans GATE. / The LVF dictionary (Les Verbes Français) by J. Dubois and F. Dubois-Charlier is one of the most important lexical resources in the French language, which is characterized by a highly relevant semantic and syntactic description. The LVF has been available in an XML format to make access to information more convenient for computer applications such as NLP applications for French language. With the emergence of the Semantic Web and the rapid diffusion of its technologies and standards such as XML, RDF/RDFS and OWL, it would be interesting to represent LVF in a more formalized format for a better and more sophisticated usage by natural language processing and semantic web applications. We present in this paper an OWL ontology version of LVF by demonstrating the mapping process between the data model elements of the XML version and OWL. We give account about its use in the field of natural language processing by presenting an application of semantic annotation developed in GATE.

Notre thèse traite la complétive objet et ses prédicats introducteurs en chinois. Nous adoptons, dans l’ensemble, le cadre théorique du lexique-grammaire de Gross (1984) et dans l’analyse concrète, celle de la structure prédicative de Muller (2001). Elle est divisée en cinq chapitres. Dans le premier « Etat des lieux », nous présentons la conception de la complétive en tant qu’un type de subordonnée et nous adoptons l’analyse de la dépendance énonciative de Muller (1996). Ensuite nous présentons quelques analyses qui intègre la sémantique dans l’analyse de la complétive. Le chapitre 2 a pour objectif de délimiter notre objet d’étude, qui inclut trois sous-types : la complétive propositionnelle, le complément verbal sans sujet syntaxique (l’équivalent de la complétive infinitive du français) et l’interrogative indirecte dont la spécificité sémantique est bien prise en compte.Dans le troisième chapitre nous étudions les propriétés de sélection des prédicats introducteurs de la complétive en chinois : celles concernant le complément nominal et verbal sans sujet syntaxique d’une part, et celle entre la complétive déclarative et l’II d’autre part, à propos de laquelle nous étudions aussi les éléments qui la modifient. Dans le chapitre 4 la complétive objet est mise en parallèles avec trois autre types de constructions qui partagent le même schéma de construction [(SN1) +SV1+SN2+SV2] avec elle et qui impliquent aussi une relation de dépendance entre deux prédicats, ce sont la construction à double complément, la construction à 2nd complément et la construction à contrôle objet. Nous tenterons de fournir quelques outils de distinction d’ordre lexical ou contextuel.Le chapitre 5 concerne les propriétés syntaxiques de la complétive objet. Nous discuterons d’abord du morphème ‘shuo’ à propos de son statut de ‘conjonction émergente’ et de quelques caractéristiques d’intégration sous le terme de « main clause phenomena ». Ensuite seront scrutés les verbes « recteurs faibles » dans les termes de Blanche-Benveniste (1988) qui s’avéreront assez similaires à leurs équivalents en français et en anglais. Enfin nous analyserons les références temporelles dans la construction complétive. Nous postulerons qu’elles se basent principalement sur la télicité des prédicats matrice et la sémantique de leurs arguments ; les marqueurs aspectuels –le, -guo et –zhe modifient cette interprétation par défaut selon leur sémantique propre. Et nous donnerons une analyse détaillée des contraintes de différents degrés imposées sur les différents types de prédicats. / Our thesis deals with the clausal object in Chinese and the predicats which select this type of complementation. In general we adopt the theoretical framework of the lexicon-grammar (Gross 1984) ; in concrete analysis, we adopte the analysis of the predicative structure (Muller 2001). It is divided into five chapters.In the first chaptre, we present the general conception of the clausal object as a type of propositional complement and we adopt the analysis of the dependence enunciative (Muller 1996). Then we present several articles which integrate the semantic aspect in the analysis of the clausal object.Chapter 2 aims to delimitate our object of study, which includes three subtypes: the propositional complement with that, the verbal complement without syntactic subject (the equivalent of the infinitive construction in French) and the embedded questions whose semantic specificity is taken into account.In the third chapter we study the other selectional properties of the prédicats compatible with that clause, firstly with regard to noun complement and verbal complement without syntactic subject, secondly with regard to that clause and the embedded questions. We also study the elements which can change the second type of selection.In Chapter 4 the completive object is placed in parallel with three other types of constructions that share the same construction scheme [(SN1) + SV1 + SV2 + SN2] with that clause and also imply a relationship of dependence between two predicates. They are : construction with double complement, construction with 2nd complement and construction of object control. We will try to provide some lexical or contextual parameters in order to distinguish them.In Chapter 5 we study the syntactic properties of the clausal object. We first discuss the morpheme 'shuo' about his status of 'emerging conjunction' and some characteristics of integration under the term of "main clause phenomena." Then are scrutinized the verbs of assertion under the name of ‘recteur faible’ (Blanche-Benveniste 1988) ; they are proved to be quite similar to their equivalents in French and English. Finally, we analyze the temporal references in the construction with clausal object. We postulate that it relies primarily on the telicity of matrix predicates and the semantics of their arguments ; the aspectual markers -le,-guo and –zhe can modify this interpretation by defaut according to their semantics. And we give a detailed analysis of constraints of different degrees imposed on different types of predicates.

Based on a corpus analysis of 72 research articles, this thesis examines citation practices in four academic disciplines, two soft (linguistics and art history) and two hard (biology and astronomy). The first part provides quantitative results for the usage of two basic types, integral and non-integral citation. The non-integral type is preferred mainly in biology (91%), whereas astronomy and linguistics do not show such strong preference. In art history, both types are used with similar frequencies. The second part is focused on integral citation and examines instances of its sub-types (verb-controlling, naming and non-citation). The third part analyses the distribution of citations in the individual sections of research articles which shows to be dependent on the structural organization of the article. In general, two tendencies have been found: in articles with IMRD structure (biology and linguistics), citations occur mainly in the introduction and discussion. In astronomy and art history, citations are almost evenly distributed across the text. The last part of this thesis is focused on reporting verbs and their semantic classification (research, cognitive and discourse acts). Astronomy shows strong preference for research acts verbs, whilst biology employs this type only slightly more often...

(in English): In many studies there was demonstrated that word's imageability - the ability of a word to produce a mental image of it's referent - affects the processing of its inflection (e.g. Prado - Ullman, 2009), its acquisition (e.g. McDonough et al., 2011) and the acquisition of grammatical morphemes (Smolík, in press). This thesis builds on the Smolík's paper, and its goal is to test whether the imageability of a word's stem influences the acquisition of its inflections in Czech children. Word imageability ratings and ratings of other variables that were assumed to affect the process of the acquisition of word inflections, were collected, then questionnaires were distributed to parents to examine how the forms of chosen words are acquired by children. The focus was on the acquisition of nominative plural of nouns, present tense in second person and past tense of verbs. The results show that the imageability significantly predicts the age of acquisition of the nominative in singular and all observed forms of verbs. The absence of the imegability effect on the acquisition of nominative in plural may be due to the overall high imageability and thus reduced variability of ratings in nouns in our dataset. Two possible explanations of the imageability effect on the acqusition of morphological...