Diathesis Alternations and
Collocational Schemas of English
EAT and DRINK in the BNC*
JOHN NEWMAN
SALLY RICE
University of Alberta
ICLC 8
University of La Rioja
Logroño, Spain
20-25 July 2003
*Many thanks to Hui Yin, our Research Assistant
I. Why do EAT and DRINK display
such variable transitivity?
some classic accounts...
Transitivity of EAT-v.1
Huddleston, Rodney. (1988). English Grammar: An Outline,
59-60. Cambridge University Press
default
She ate an apple.
Monotransitive
S P Od
She ate.
Intransitive
S P
“…the intransitive clause simply leaves unexpressed
the second participant.”
Transitivity of EAT-v.2.1
Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. & Randy J. LaPolla. (1997). Syntax: Structure,
Meaning and Function, 115. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The “logical structures” of eat:
do' (x, [eat' (x, y)])
x=consumer, y=consumed
no default?
do' (x, [eat' (x)])
x=consumer, y=consumed
Transitivity of EAT-v.2.2
Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. & Randy J. LaPolla. (1997). Syntax: Structure,
Meaning and Function, 115. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
S-transitivi ty
ACTIV I TY
ACTIV I TY
ACCOMPLIS HMENT
M-transitivity
It rained.
1
Atransitive
Mary ate.
1
Int ransitive
Mary ate spaghetti for an hour.
2
Int ransitive
Mary ate the spaghetti in thirty
seconds.
2
Transitive
Transitivity of EAT-v.2.2
Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. & Randy J. LaPolla. (1997). Syntax: Structure,
Meaning and Function, 115. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
S-transitivi ty
ACTIV I TY
M-transitivity
It rained.
1
Atransitive
Mary ate.
1
Int ransitive
Mary ate spaghetti for an hour.
2
Int ransitive
Mary ate the spaghetti in thirty
seconds.
2
Transitive
default
ACTIV I TY
ACCOMPLIS HMENT
Transitivity of EAT-v.2.2
Van Valin, Jr., Robert D. & Randy J. LaPolla. (1997). Syntax: Structure,
Meaning and Function, 112. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
“…eat is not inherently telic, unlike kill and break;
hence it must be analyzed as an activity verb, with
an active accomplishment use.”
“The crucial point to be emphasized again is that it is
necessary to distinguish the basic lexical meaning of
a verb, e.g. eat as an activity verb, from its meaning
in a particular context, e.g. eat a slice of pizza as an
active accomplishment predication.”
Transitivity of EAT-v.3
Langacker, Ronald. (1991). Concept, Image, and Symbol. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.
Wimpy ate the hamburger.
default
Wimpy ate all day long.
Transitivity of EAT-v.3.1
Mere
Mere
Complex
Predicate
ika
kai-ika
Tongan
‘Oku kai ‘e Mele ‘a e
ika.
PRES eat ERG Mary ABS ART fish
Mary is eating the fish.
default (in discourse)
‘Oku kai ika ‘a Mele.
PRES eat fish ABS Mary
Mary eats fish.
SCALAR TRANSITIVITY
Hopper & Thompson 1980
Thompson & Hopper 2001
HIGH
A. Participants
B. Kinesis
C. Aspect
D. Punctuality
E. Volitionality
F. Affirmation
G. Mode
H. Agency
I. Affectedness of O
J. Individuation of O
LOW
SCALAR TRANSITIVITY
Hopper & Thompson 1980
Thompson & Hopper 2001
HIGH
LOW
A. Participants
2
1
B. Kinesis
action
non-action
C. Aspect
telic
atelic
D. Punctuality
punctual
non-punctual
E. Volitionality
volitional
non-volitional
F. Affirmation
affirmative
negative
G. Mode
realis
irrealis
H. Agency
A high in potency
A low in potency
I. Affectedness of O
O highly affected
O not affected
J. Individuation of O
O highly individuated
O not individuated
SCALAR TRANSITIVITY
Hopper & Thompson 1980
Thompson & Hopper 2001
HIGH
LOW
A. Participants
2
1
B. Kinesis
action
non-action
C. Aspect
telic
atelic
D. Punctuality
punctual
non-punctual
E. Volitionality
volitional
non-volitional
F. Affirmation
affirmative
negative
G. Mode
realis
irrealis
H. Agency
A high in potency
A low in potency
I. Affectedness of O
O highly affected
O not affected
J. Individuation of O
O highly individuated
O not individuated
Mary ate the spaghetti in an hour.
SCALAR TRANSITIVITY
Hopper & Thompson 1980
Thompson & Hopper 2001
HIGH
LOW
A. Participants
2
1
B. Kinesis
action
non-action
C. Aspect
telic
atelic
D. Punctuality
punctual
non-punctual
E. Volitionality
volitional
non-volitional
F. Affirmation
affirmative
negative
G. Mode
realis
irrealis
H. Agency
A high in potency
A low in potency
I. Affectedness of O
O highly affected
O not affected
J. Individuation of O
O highly individuated
O not individuated
Mary ate.
SCALAR TRANSITIVITY
Hopper & Thompson 1980
Thompson & Hopper 2001
HIGH
LOW
A. Participants
2
1
B. Kinesis
action
non-action
C. Aspect
telic
atelic
D. Punctuality
punctual
non-punctual
E. Volitionality
volitional
non-volitional
F. Affirmation
affirmative
negative
G. Mode
realis
irrealis
H. Agency
A high in potency
A low in potency
I. Affectedness of O
O highly affected
O not affected
J. Individuation of O
O highly individuated
O not individuated
Mary ate spaghetti for an hour.
Thompson & Hopper (2001:30)
“Transitivity, clause, and argument structure”
…transitivity in everyday conversation is very low
EAT and DRINK in the BNC
Spoken BNC (SPOKEN) 10 million words
2623 hits for eat, eats, eating, ate, eaten
934 hits for drink, drinks, drinking, drank, drunk
Sample Written BNC (WRITTEN) 90 million words
2,000 random hits for eat, eats, eating, ate, eaten
2,000 random hits for drink, drinks, drinking, drank, drunk
Managing the data
Hits from BNC were brought into Filemaker Pro.
Each hit was manually checked and classified:
transitive verb (she drank the sherry)
intransitive verb (she drinks)
noun (she had a drink)
adjective (she was drunk)
reflexive (she drank herself silly)
etc.
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
PARTICIPANTS
% incidence with 2 participants in the BNC
EAT
DRINK
SPOKEN
WRITTEN
82%
68%
64%
56%
“transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
ASPECT
SPOKEN
WRITTEN
-ing
EAT
DRINK
13%
21%
21%
27%
-en
EAT
DRINK
5%
6%
5%
3%
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
ASPECT
SPOKEN
WRITTEN
-ing
EAT
DRINK
16%
28%
29%
37%
-en
EAT
DRINK
6%
7%
6%
4%
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
INDIVIDUATION with EAT
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
EAT obj ects,
SPOKEN BNC
Word
IT
THE
THEM
ALL
THAT
OF
A
WHAT
YOUR
SOMETHING
Freq.
375
189
155
148
133
132
109
102
83
76
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
8
9
10
10
EAT obj ects,
WRITTEN BNC
Word
THE
OF
A
AND
IT
WHAT
FOOD
MUCH
SOMETHING
THEM
FOODS
MORE
Freq.
157
136
133
86
82
67
65
38
38
31
29
29
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
INDIVIDUATION with DRINK
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
8
9
10
10
DRINK obj ects,
SPOKEN BNC
Word
IT
A
THAT
OF
TEA
COFFEE
WHAT
THE
YOUR
MUCH
LOT
MILK
Freq.
104
57
51
47
46
41
31
28
28
25
23
23
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
DRINK obj ects,
WRITTEN BNC
Word
OF
THE
A
MUCH
COFFEE
TEA
WINE
WATER
TOO
IT
Freq.
79
58
57
51
43
39
33
32
31
27
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
AFFECTEDNESS
% all in OBJECT PHRASES
SPOKEN
eat
5.8
eats
8.1
eating
3.8
ate
17.9
eaten
16.7
WRITTEN
2.3
5.0
1.1
2.4
2.8
SPOKEN
drink
1.6
drinks
7.6
drinking
2.4
drank
3.1
drunk
11.8
WRITTEN
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.7
10.3
 “transitivity in everyday conversation is very low”
AFFECTEDNESS
(Rank & incidence of all as collocate in OBJECT PHRASES)
EAT lemma
DRINK lemma
Rank by frequency
Rank by frequency
SPOKEN
4th (148/2,077)
12th (19/1,135)
WRITTEN
13th (25/596)
21st (5/478)
EAT & DRINK
are two highly unusual transitive
verbs which generally predicate
AFFECTEDNESS
of both participants...
FOOTNOTE: A curiosity about searching corpora for
syntactic (vs. lexical) phenomena
% all in two very different
spoken and written corpora
BNC (normalized to 1M)
Wellingto n Corpus (1M)
SPOKEN
WRITTE N
SPOKEN
WRITTE N
4395
2591
5195
3067
all the
786
406
880
421
all of
170
94
216
97
all
EAT/DRINK Infinitival Collocates with
-thing in the BNC
something to eat
to eat something
81
2
something to drink
to drink s omething
8
3
anything to eat
to eat anything
28
9
anything to drink
to drink anything
3
2
nothing to eat
to eat no thing
20
0
nothing to drink
to drink nothing
2
0
everything to drink
to drink everything
0
0
everything to eat
to eat everything
0
0
something to eat
OED
In some dialects,
something to eat is the common expression for ‘food’:
The something to eat at the hotel was very good.
(Sheffield)
Summary of Part I
BNC (or even a small corpus) can yield much about
the “syntax” of a verb:
• relative valency distribution
• TAM preferences
• extra-propositional cohorts
Small corpora, however, can’t return robust or
comprehensive information about the lexical
semantics of a verb:
• semantic properties of its collocates
• semantic inferences in the absence of
collocates (e.g., omitted object constructions)
II. What are the most common
collocates of EAT and DRINK?
71% (or nearly 4,300) of the total
verbal returns in the BNC for EAT
& DRINK were transitive.
The collocates in the object
phrases from these examples
form the basis of the second
half of the talk.
Eating and Drinking
Habits
Favourite Foods in the BNC
Top food objects with inflected EAT forms
in spoken BNC
eat
eats
eating
ate
eaten
dinner (33)
food (30)
meat (18)
cheese (14)
chips (13)
bread (12 )
cake (12)
fruit (11)
breakfast (11)
fish (11)
chicken (10)
tea (10)
flies (9)
biscuits (8)
chocolate (8)
meal (8)
vegetables (8)
food (8)
cheese (4)
chicken (4)
meat (4)
fish (3)
cake (2)
chocolate (2)
flies (2)
fruit (2)
salads (2)
sweets (2)
food (14)
chocolate (7)
sweets (7)
cake (6)
dinner (5)
fish (5)
meat (5)
supper (5)
breakfast (4)
crisps (4)
lunch (4)
bread (3)
chicken (3)
cream (3)
fruit (3)
meal (3)
tea (3)
flies (4)
bread (3)
chocolate (3)
biscuit (2)
cake (2)
chips (2)
cream (2)
eggs (2)
margarine (2)
potatoes (2)
pudding (2)
stuffing (2)
vegetables (2)
food (5)
toast (3)
birds (2)
bread (2)
cheese (2)
dinner (2)
fish (2)
hat (2)
sausage (2)
20 top trigrams from EAT objects
Spoken BNC
a lot of
as much as
a little bit
kind of things
one of these
sort of thing
a bit more
a couple of
all of them
any more of
as you like
little bit more
more of that
most of the
of the things
one of them
one of those
quite a lot
the pink bits
three hundre d flies
14
10
5
5
5
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Written BNC Sample
as much as
twice as much
a dish of
a lot of
a piece of
bread and c heese
fruit and vegetables
most of the
some of the
a bar of
a healthy diet
a healthy well
bar of chocolate
bread and jam
fish and chips
foods rich in
good country food
healthy well-balanced
kind of food
large amounts of
7
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Favourite Drinks in the BNC
Favourite Drinks in the BNC
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
TEA
COFFEE
BEER
WINE
Favourite Drinks in the BNC
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
TEA
COFFEE
BEER
WINE
Top 20 beverage objects with DRINK
Spoken BNC
tea
coffee
milk
water
wine
drink
juice
orange
beer
coke
alcohol
spirits
gin
sherry
whisky
drinks
ale
brandy
methylated
pop
46
41
23
22
15
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
6
4
3
3
3
3
Written BNC Sample
coffee
43
tea
39
wine
33
water
32
beer
26
alcohol
18
milk
14
juice
9
champagne
8
brandy
6
fruit
6
sherry
6
whisky
6
blood
5
lager
4
mineral
4
whiskey
4
ale
3
booze
3
fluids
3
Dictionary practice - DRINK
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1981)
drink
-tr. 1. to take into the mouth and swallow (a liquid). 2. To
soak up (liquid or moisture); absorb; imbibe. 3. To take in
eagerly through the senses or intellect; receive with
pleasure. Often used with in. 4. To swallow the liquid
contents of a vessel. 5. a. To give or make (a toast). b.
To toast (a person or occasion, for example).
–intr. To swallow liquid. 2. To imbibe alcoholic liquors,
especially excessively or habitually. 3. To salute a
person or occasion with a toast. Used with to.
Favourite Drinks in the BNC
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
TEA
COFFEE
BEER
WINE
% alcoholic object
consumption in
SPOKEN BNC
27% vs. 73%
% alcoholic object
consumption in (sampled)
WRITTEN BNC
43% vs. 57%
Top 20 beverage objects with DRINK
Spoken BNC
tea
coffee
milk
water
wine
drink
juice
orange
beer
coke
alcohol
spirits
gin
sherry
whisky
drinks
ale
brandy
methylated
pop
46
41
23
22
15
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
6
4
3
3
3
3
Written BNC Sample
coffee
43
tea
39
wine
33
water
32
beer
26
alcohol
18
milk
14
juice
9
champagne
8
brandy
6
fruit
6
sherry
6
whisky
6
blood
5
lager
4
mineral
4
whiskey
4
ale
3
booze
3
fluids
3
Alcoholic beverages with inflected DRINK
forms in spoken BNC
drink
drinks
drinking
drank
drunk
coffee (26)
tea (26)
milk (13)
water (12)
wine (9)
alcohol (6)
drink (6)
juice (5)
sherry (4)
spirits (4)
beer (3)
gin (3)
whisky (3)
ale (2)
coke (2)
drinks (2)
guinness (2)
scrumpy (2)
vodka (2)
beer (2)
mead (2)
milk (2)
tea (15)
coffee (9)
water (8)
coke (6)
gin (3)
juice (3)
methylated (3)
milk (3)
spirits (3)
beer (2)
drinks (2)
petrol (2)
pop (2)
stout (2)
whisky (2)
wine (2)
coffee (2)
drink (2)
milk (2)
coffee (3)
milk (3)
tea (3)
wine (3)
drink (2)
rum (2)
Top 20 trigrams from DRINK objects
Spoken BNC
a lot of
a bottle of
a cup of
cup of tea
your orange juice
a pint of
bottle of wine
cup of coffee
lot of beer
lot of it
bottle of gin
drop of milk
gallons of it
little drop of
loads and loads
red hot stuff
too much coffee
two or three
8
6
5
5
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Written BNC sample
a cup of
a little too (much)
little too much
a bottle of
cup of tea
a mug of
endless cups of
or fruit juice
water or fruit
a litre of
a lot of
a pint of
as much as
cups of coffee
cups of tea
half a bottle
mineral water or
mug of tea
one of the
pints of lager
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Dictionary practice - EAT
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1981)
eat
–tr. 1. To take into the mouth, chew, and swallow (food). 2.
To consume, ravage, or destroy by or as if by eating.
Usually used with away or up. 3. To erode or corrode. 4.
Vulgar Slang. To perform fellatio or cunninglingus upon.
–intr. 1. To consume food; have or take a meal or meals.
2. To wear away or corrode by or as if by eating or gnawing.
20 top food objects with EAT
Spoken BNC
food
dinner
meat
cake
bread
chocolate
fish
cheese
chicken
chips
fruit
flies
breakfast
tea
biscuits
meal
toast
vegetables
cream
lunch
57
40
28
22
21
21
21
20
18
18
18
16
15
14
11
11
10
10
9
9
Written BNC Sample
food
65
foods
29
fish
27
bread
24
meat
23
meals
17
breakfast
16
cheese
16
lunch
14
meal
14
cake
13
chocolate
12
cream
12
leaves
10
fibre
9
cakes
8
rice
8
sandwiches
8
supper
8
vegetables
8
"food(s)"
% consumption in
SPOKEN BNC
MEAL
misc. items
"food(s)"
% consumption in
(sampled) WRITTEN
BNC
misc. items
MEAL
FOOD/MEAL objects with inflected EAT forms
in spoken BNC
eat
eats
eating
ate
eaten
dinner (33)
food (30)
meat (18)
cheese (14)
chips (13)
bread (12 )
cake (12)
fruit (11)
breakfast (11)
fish (11)
chicken (10)
tea (10)
flies (9)
biscuits (8)
chocolate (8)
meal (8)
vegetables (8)
food (8)
cheese (4)
chicken (4)
meat (4)
fish (3)
cake (2)
chocolate (2)
flies (2)
fruit (2)
salads (2)
sweets (2)
food (14)
chocolate (7)
sweets (7)
cake (6)
dinner (5)
fish (5)
meat (5)
supper (5)
breakfast (4)
crisps (4)
lunch (4)
bread (3)
chicken (3)
cream (3)
fruit (3)
meal (3)
tea (3)
flies (4)
bread (3)
chocolate (3)
biscuit (2)
cake (2)
chips (2)
cream (2)
eggs (2)
margarine (2)
potatoes (2)
pudding (2)
stuffing (2)
vegetables (2)
food (5)
toast (3)
birds (2)
bread (2)
cheese (2)
dinner (2)
fish (2)
hat (2)
sausage (2)
INTRANSITIVE INFERENCES
EAT (FULL MEAL)?
DRINK (ALCOHOL)?
 He has to eat.
 He has to drink.
#
He eats.
 He eats out.
 He drinks.
# He drinks out.
?
He’s eating.
 He’s eating again.
?
 He ate.
 He drank.
 He’s eaten.
#
He’s drinking.
 He’s drinking again.
He’s drunk.
Summary of Part II
Transitivity is certainly scalar, but the transitivity of individual verbs or even
individual verbs in specific inflections (or even in different registers) is
idiosyncratic.
Likewise, the semantics. EAT and DRINK (two rather comparable verbs
which largely define a semantic field) are quite different in their selection
of objects across valency alternations. The intransitive usages, for
example, invite different kinds of inferences (e.g., alcohol (specific), meal
(generic).
This idea that each inflected form warrants attention and behaves
differently is commonplace in the corpus linguistic tradition. Unfortunately,
it’s an idea that has been slow to find acceptance in theoretical linguistics,
even in cognitive linguistics.
Variation in Semantic/Frequency Distribution
EAT (s)
inf
3sg
prog
past
perf
Intr
Tr-Act Tr-AA Refl
Variation in Semantic/Frequency Distribution
EAT (w)
inf
3sg
prog
past
perf
Intr
Tr-Act Tr-AA Refl
Thompson & Hopper (2001:44)
“Transitivity, clause, and argument structure”
…among the things speakers know about verbs is the
range of forms they collocate with according to the
different senses they have.
…the more different types of uses of language
speakers are exposed to and participate in, the wider
the range of options for a given verb sense they are
likely to have entered and stored.
…some collocations involving specific verb senses
develop lives of their own.
Newman & Rice (2003)
…some collocations involving specific verbs in
specific inflections develop lives of their own.
thank you
[email protected]
[email protected]