1. Perception verbs and the senses

Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
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Perception verbs:
A case study in lexical semantics and complementation
Philip Miller, Université Lille 3 and UMR 8163 « STL » du CNRS
[email protected]
Goals of the course
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Investigation of the lexical semantics of perception verbs
Interaction of lexical semantics and complementation properties
Natural language metaphysics of perception
Natural language metaphysics: ontology of abstract entities
Direct perception reports
Raising-to-Object vs Object-Control
Negative complements and putative negative events
Individual Level Predicates and direct perception
PP and NP complements
Evidential uses of perception verbs
1. Perception verbs and the senses
Modality
visual
auditory
tactile
proprioceptive,
thermal
olfactive
gustative
Non agentive V
see
hear
feel
feel
Agentive V
look, watch, ...
listen
feel, touch
?
Evidential V
look
sound
feel
feel
Noun
sight, vision, ...
sound, noise, ...
sensation, feeling
sensation, feeling
smell
taste
smell, sniff
taste, savour
smell
taste
smell, odour, ...
taste, flavour
Modality
visual
auditory
tactile
proprioceptive,
thermal
olfactive
gustative
Non agentive V
voir
entendre
sentir
sentir
Agentive V
regarder
écouter
sentir
?
(Evidential V)
(avoir l'air)
(sonner)
*
(se sentir)*
Noun
vue, vision ...
son, bruit, ...
sensation, ...
sensation, sentiment,..
sentir
sentir
sentir
goûter
(sentir)
*
odeur, ...
goût, saveur, ...
1.1. Non agentive uses:
• see
[NP—NP], <experiencer, stimulus>
• voir
[NP—NP], <experiencer, stimulus>
(1)
a.
Mary saw the book. (without meaning to.)
a'
Marie a vu le livre. (sans en avoir l'intention)
b.
#See the book!
b'
#Vois le livre!
1.2. Agentive uses:
• look
[NP—PP[at]], <agent-experiencer, stimulus>
• regarder [NP—NP], <agent-experiencer, stimulus>
Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
(2)
a.
a'
b.
b'.
2
Mary looked at the book. (#without meaning to)
Marie a regardé le livre. (#sans en avoir l'intention)
Look at the book!
Regarde le livre!
1.3. Evidential uses (used as verbs of appearance):
• look [NP—AP],
(3)
a.
Mary looks happy.
b.
seemvisual (happy (Mary))
• sentir [NP—AP]
(4)
a.
Cette fleur sent bon.
b.
seemolfactive (good (flower))
1.4. Direct perception vs. Indirect perception
(5)
a. Mary saw the book.
b. Mary heard the bell.
(6)
a.
a'.
b.
b'.
c.
a'.
b'.
Marie a vu le livre.
Marie a entendu la cloche.
Mary saw that he had left. (≈ understood that he had left)
Marie a vu qu'il était parti. (≈ a compris qu'il était parti)
Mary heard that he had left. (≈ someone told her)
Marie a entendu qu'il était parti. (≈on lui a dit)
Le comte, voyant que les deux époux commençaient à parler par paraboles,
prit l'air distrait, et regarda avec l'attention la plus profonde et l'approbation
la plus marquée Édouard qui versait de l'encre dans l'abreuvoir des oiseaux.
A. Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, t. 2, 1846, p. 23.
c'. The count, seeing that they were beginning to speak in parables...
• Philosophical and cognitive psychology problems
No such thing as direct perception
All perception involves enormous amounts of active interpretation by the mind
on the basis of prior knowledge
Perceptual illusions
Gestalt theories of perception
Ecological theories of perception
1.5. The natural ontology of perception as revealed by ordinary
language use (natural language metaphysics)
• Stimulus as complement of a modified perception noun
(7)
a. She lay down on her back again, almost smelling the sharp odour of the
whisky. (sentir la puissante odeur du whisky)
b. You can hear the soft sound of the garden stream with pretty birds and
nature sounds. (entendre le bruit doux du ruisseau)
Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
• Stimulus as complement of a perception noun
Auditory and olfactive (veridical or not)
(8)
a. I heard the sound of voices, around the great white throne (entendre le
bruit des voix)
b. Then you heard the scream of the saws from the carpenter's shop in the
yard and smelled the smell of wood. (entendre le cri des scies; (sentir
l'odeur du bois).
Gustatory, thermal, proprioceptive, psychological (veridical or not)
(9)
a. And I can guarantee that once you have tasted the taste of a real pizza at
home,you’ll forget about those take-out places.
b. First he numbed my ear with a spray. This felt more cold than numb, but
when the needles went in I only felt a sensation of burning heat.
c. Today during exercise, I felt a sensation of nausea too.
d. In her most recent episode, she heard whispering, felt a sensation of cold,
[ESP context, no veridical perception of cold]
e. Like the starlight before it, the note drew him away. The landscape around
him did not change, but he felt a sensation of movement, smooth as Karsa's
purest gait. [No movement in fact]
Visual, tactile? (non veridical)
(10) a. Jenny, a lady from the islands, was in prayer prior to the meeting. She saw
a vision of a house on fire and saw a map showing her the location of the
house.
b. As I proceeded with the invocation, felt a sensation of great weight upon
me
Impossible with veridical visual and tactile.
(11) a. #I saw the sight / view of a house. (cf. I saw a house)
b. #I felt the sensation of water/a glass (cf. I felt water / a glass)
•
•
•
Visual and tactile are conceptualized as direct perception of the entity
Sound and smell are conceptualized as emanations from an entity
Gustatory, thermal, proprioceptive, psychological have an intermediate status
• Corroboration by other types of linguistic evidence
(12) a. Mary looked at the book.
b. Un simple regard vers lui aurait suffit.
1.6. The ontology of concrete and abstract entities
• Philosophical ontology vs. Natural language metaphysics (Bach 1981)
concrete entities
states of affairs:
• events: activities, achievements, accomplishements
• states
facts, propositions, ...
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Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
• Direct vs. indirect perception and natural language ontology
Direct perception is possible for concrete entities and events
Direct perception is impossible for facts, propositions
Direct perception of states ??
2. Direct vs. indirect perception: simultaneity, negation and
stativity
2.1. Direct perception
• Simultaneity of the perception event and the perceived event
(13) a. #Tomorrow, Peter will hear Mary come yesterday.
a'. #Demain, Pierre entendra Marie venir hier.
b. #Tomorrow, Mary saw John build a table yesterday.
b'. #Demain, Marie verra Jean construire une table hier
• Difficulties with negation in the perceived event
(14) a. #Peter heard Mary not come.
a. #Pierre a entendu Marie ne pas venir.
b. #Peter saw Mary not fall.
b'. #Pierre a vu Marie ne pas tomber.
• Difficulties with states
(15) a #Peter felt the table be smooth.
a'. #Pierre a senti la table être lisse.
b. #Mary saw the book be blue
b' #Marie a vu le livre être bleu.
2.2. Indirect perception
• No simultaneity constraint
(16) a. Peter will hear tomorrow that Marie came yesterday.
a'. Pierre entendra demain que Marie est venue hier.
• No difficulties with negation in the lower clause
(17) a. Peter saw that Mary didn't fall.
a'. Pierre a vu que Marie n'est pas tombée.
• No difficulties with states
(18) a Peter felt that the table was smooth.
a'. Pierre a senti que la table était lisse.
2.3. Noun phrases complements and indirect perception
(19) a. Julien vit le succès de son récit. (= que son récit avait du succès)
b. He saw the truth of her story. (= that her story was true)
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Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
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3. The syntax of direct perception reports
3.1. English
(1)
a. John saw the girl open the door.
b. John saw the girl opening the door.
(2)
a.
b.
c.
d.
NP VP[bse]
NP VP[ing]
[S John [VP saw [NP the girl] [VP open the door]]]
[S John [VP saw [NP the girl] [VP opening the door]]]
see [SUBJ <NP1>, COMPS<NP2, VP[bse]>]
see [SUBJ <NP1>, COMPS<NP2, VP[ing]>]
• Triple ambiguity of (1b) (Declerck 1982, Felser 1999)
(3)
a. [S John [VP saw [NP the girl] [VP opening the door]]] (= 2b)
b. [S John [VP saw [NP [Det the] [N' [N girl] [VP opening the door]]]]]
c. [S John [VP [VP saw [NP the girl]] [VP opening the door]]]
(4)
a. *The girl was seen open the door by John.
b. The girl was seen opening the door by John.
c. #John saw the paper lie on the table.
d. John saw the paper lying on the table.
3.2. French
(5)
a. [S Pierre [VP a vu [NP Marie] [VP parler [PP avec Anne]]]]
b. [S Pierre [VP a vu parler [NP Marie] [PP avec Anne]]] (argument composition,
flat structure)
(Pierre has seen Marie speak with Anne)
c. voir [SUBJ <NP1>, COMPS <NP2, VP[inf]>]
d. voir [SUBJ <NP1>, COMPS <V[SUBJ <NP2>, COMPS <X>], NP2, X]
(6)
a. Pierre l'a vu le faire.[(Pierre a vu Paul casser le vase]
b. Pierre le lui a vu faire.
(Pierre saw him do it, i.e. saw Paul break the vase)
(7)
a. Pierre a vu Marie ne pas parler avec Anne.
b. *Pierre a vu ne pas parler Marie avec Anne.
(Pierre saw Marie not speak to Anne)
• Perception relative clause
(8)
a. [Ph Marie [SV voit [SN le garçon] [SV[qui] qui ouvre la porte]]]
(Marie sees the boy open the door)
b. [Ph Marie [SV voit [SN [Dét le] [N' [N garçon] [SV[qui] qui ouvre la porte]]]]]
(Marie sees the boy who is opening the door)
c. [Ph Marie [SV le voit [SV[qui] qui ouvre la porte]]]
(Marie sees him open it)
Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
4. Raising-to-Object vs. Object-Control
4.1. Introduction: Object Control vs. Subject to Object Raising
(1)
(2)
Mary expected Johni [S ti to leave] (= Subject-to-Object Raising [SOR],
Exceptional Case Marking, ECM)
Mary persuaded Johni [S PROi to leave](= Equi-NP-Deletion, Object Control
[OC])
— Basic bivalency vs. trivalency
(3) Mary expected {John / a departure. / that John will leave.}
(4) *Mary expected John Ø/of/to a departure.
(5) *Mary expected John that he would leave.
• An SOR verb assigns two semantic roles.
• In (1) expected assigns the experiencer role to ‘Mary’ and stimulus to ‘John to leave’
• In (1) expected assigns no semantic role to ‘John’
(6)
(7)
Mary persuaded John {of the truth of her statement. / that Peter would leave.}
Mary persuaded John.
• An object control verb assigns three semantic roles.
• In (2) persuaded assigns agent to ‘Mary’ patient to ‘John’and theme to ‘John to
leave’
• In (1) and (2) leave assigns the semantic role agent to ‘John’
— Entailments due to deletion of the infinitival VP
(8) Mary expected John to leave. =/=> Mary expected John.
(9) Mary persuaded John to leave. => Mary persuaded John.
— Impersonal it and there and idiom chunks
• Non referential NPs can appear as the object of an SOR verb
(10) The day started off gloomy and I really expected it to rain before the day was
over and was prepared for this. (www)
(11) He said after the proposals were tabled at the beginning of the week, he
expected there to be further discussions over the details. (www)
(12) If I were he and had the connections that he had, I would have expected strings
to be pulled. (www)
• Non referential NPs cannot appear as the object of an object control verb
(13) *Mary persuaded it to rain.
(14) *He persuaded there to be further discussions over the details.
(15) *I would have persuaded strings to be pulled.
— Passivization of the lower clause
• Passivization of the lower clause has no effect on truth conditions in case of SOR
(16) If Safire expected the Democratic candidate to be examined by a Republican
doctor,while the Republican candidate was examined by a Democratic doctor, ...
(www)
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Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
(17) = If Safire expected a Republican doctor to examine the Democratic candidate
...
(18) I would not have expected him to be killed in Basra, which is generally safer
than Baghdad. (www)
(19) = I would not have expected someone/them to kill him in Basra, ...
• Passivization of the lower clause changes truth conditions in case of object control
(20) The EMTs, however, persuaded him to be transported to the emergency room
at Sayre ... (www)
(21) ≠ The EMTs, however, persuaded someone/them to transport him to the
emergency room at Sayre
4.2. Impersonal it and there and idiom chunks with perception verbs
(22) a. Let's think about the last time we saw it rain. What did the rain form?
(Puddles)
b. This was a fact ; and we often saw it raining on the hills ten miles off [...]
c. "I would like to see there come a point where DJs will buy the mixes
because it is a mix by Shawn or I. That is a dream of mine," Muniz said.
d. I turned around and saw all hell break loose.
e. Belfast. I'd tried to relocate as early in my youth as possible. Got out of
there by the skin of my arse I did. I saw the shit hit the fan in the rear view
mirror as soon as I departed!
a'. C'était la première fois que j'allais en Italie. Il pleuvait comme jamais je
n'avais vu pleuvoir. (vs. *je ne l'avais vu pleuvoir)
c'. lorsque l'on croyait voir venir un moment épique, c'est bel et bien de
l'action au rabais que l'on nous montrait. (vs. *on croyait le voir venir un
moment...)
d'. Je sens un ange passer : qu'est-ce que c'est que ce truc ? [Le locuteur
intervient sur un forum de discussion suite à une intervention en jargon
informatique obscur. L'idée est qu'il sent un silence consterné et intrigué des
membres du groupe face à cette intervention.]
e'. Face à ce déchaînement irresponsable, Jacques Chirac a senti la moutarde
lui monter sérieusement au nez.
4.3. Basic bivalency of perception verbs
(23) a. We heard the farmer slaughter(ing) the pig (K&T : 210) =/=> We heard the
farmer
b. I was so excited by that idea that I didn’t see time pass, and it was already
the end of the class[...] =/=> I didn't see time
c. I have seen god accomplish miracles. =/=> I saw god
d. I saw the invisible man open the door. =/=> I saw the invisible man
e. I heard the boiler switching on. =/=> I heard the boiler
f. I felt Peter slipping into my bed. =/=> I felt Peter
a'. J'ai entendu le fermier tuer le cochon.
b'. Tant qu'on mastique, on ne voit pas le temps passer, c'est le bon temps qui
passe.
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Ealing 2006, ENS Ulm, Paris
Class 1, Perception verbs, Ph. Miller
4.4. Passivization of the lower clause with perception verbs
(24) a. John saw the door be opened by Mary
b. Once the statuette emerged from the mold, we saw it be hand spun and
shaped, then hand polished and plated with nickel silver.
(www.photofil.net/story2241.htm)
c. It [= the situation in the WWE] has been the main topic of discussion in the
WWE and with its fans for several months now. [...] We have heard it be
addressed by Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and several other "higher-ups" in
the WWE. (http : //mavenhuffman.tripod.com/news27.htm)
a'. Et je l'ai vu être interviewé par deux journalistes, un Anglais, un Espagnol,
et répondre successivement dans la langue de chacun.
c'. Mais l'une des critiques que j'ai entendues être formulées à l'endroit de la
décision de votre prédécesseur dans ce dossier-là [...]
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