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| '''Transitivity''' is a category that indicates the number of objects a verb requires or takes in a given instance.
| | Is "John bought a car to Mary" a grammatical sentence in some dialect of English? No one in my family thought so, and I don't know what it would mean. Maybe the same as "John bought a car for Mary?" (I'm a native speaker of US English.)--[[User:Rogerwo|Rogerwo]] 19:13, 19 May 2011 (UTC) |
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| == Natural language ==
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| In the UNLarium framework, transitivity may assume the following values:
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| {{#tree:id=nl_TRA|openlevels=0|root=Transitivity (TRA)|
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| *no transitivity (NTRA): copula and linking verbs
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| *transitive (TST): has object
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| **direct monotransitive (TSTD): one direct object
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| **indirect monotransitive (TSTI): one indirect object
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| **ditransitive (TST2): one direct object and one indirect object
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| **tritransitive (TST3): three objects
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| *intransitive (NTST): no object
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| **unergative (NERG): the subject is the agent
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| **unaccusative (NACC): the subject is not the agent
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| }}
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| ;Objects are to be considered elliptical (hidden) in verbal constructions if they can be inferred from the context.
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| :I read all the afternoon = I read (something) all the afternoon = direct monotransitive (TSTD)
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| :John kisses well = John kisses (someone) well = direct monotransitive (TSTD)
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| :John buys (and Peter sells) = John buys (something) = direct monotransitive (TSTD)
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| ;Different transitivity values mean different senses
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| :The same verb may have different transitivity values, but only when associated to different UWs:
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| ::John lives in Paris = intransitive (NTST) (live = reside)
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| ::John lives a nightmare = direct monotransitive (TSTD) (live = experience)
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| ;Complements (essential) are not to be confounded with adjuncts (accidental)
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| :John bought a car to Mary = direct monotransitive (TSTD) and not ditransitive (TST2), because "to Mary" is not a complement, but an adjunct of the verb "to buy"
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| :John gave a car to Mary = ditransitive (TST2), because both "a car" and "to Mary" are complements of the verb "to give".
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| ;Copula is to be considered without transitivity (NTRA)
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| ;Subject and object complements are not to be represented as part of the transitivity of the verb:
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| :You make me nervous = You make [me become nervous] = direct monotransitive (TSTD) and not ditransitive
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| :I considered him to be an excellent choice = I considered [that he was an excellent choice] = direct monotransitive (TST) and not ditransitive
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| ;Transitivity is a property of the verb and not of the whole multi-word expression.
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| :to make love = to make = direct monotransitive (TSTD) and not intransitive | |
| :to kill oneself = to kill = direct monotransitive (TSTD) and not intransitive
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| === Examples ===
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| *English
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| **unergative (NERG) = run (John ran)
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| **unaccusative (NACC) = fall (John fell)
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| **direct monotransitive (TSTD) = kiss (John kissed Jane)
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| **indirect monotransitive (TSTI) = depend (John depend on Jane)
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| **ditransitive (TST2) = give (John gave Jane an apple)
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| **tritransitive (TST3) = trade (John traded Jane an apple for an orange)
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| == UNL ==
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| In UNL, transitivity, as a syntactic property, is not informed.
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Is "John bought a car to Mary" a grammatical sentence in some dialect of English? No one in my family thought so, and I don't know what it would mean. Maybe the same as "John bought a car for Mary?" (I'm a native speaker of US English.)--Rogerwo 19:13, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
