The four types of simple events

Simple event structures, those without an AGENT, are represented by Jackendoff as GO and STAY, and by Delancey as GOTO. Following Delancey, each as a THEME and an expressed LOC; we can also see that they include an implict LOC. The LOC of GO expresses the final, or ending state or position, and encodes the meaning that the THEME ended up at that LOC. There is, however, the impicit state or location that the THEME started from, and with GO this implicit state is different than the ending one.

Jackendoff, in [1] cited in the previous post, notes almost in passing while discussing the sentence "Lyn caused Bob to be happy", that with his GO "Source and Goal must be disinct". Reading the senetence as Lyun causes Bob to become happy", then following more the lines of Delancey than the presentation of Jackendoff here, I would parse that sentence Lyn CAUSE Bob GOTO Happy, in which we may conclude (as does Jackendoff), that Bob was not happy prior to whatever Lyn may have done to cause him to be happy.

With Jackendoff's STAY, there are also the two states, but here beginning and ending states are the same.

This leads to the classification of these simple events by examining the beginning and ending states, and the explictness of the LOC in the grammar. IN GO (or GOTO), THEME GOTO LOC, with the beginning and ending states being different and the ending state is expressed; with STAY, THEME STAY LOC, the beginning and ending states are the same. THERe are two other possibilites, THEME LEAVE LOC, in which, like GOTO, the two states are the different but it is the beginning, rather than the ending, state that is made explicit. Then there is THEME AVOID LOC, in which the THEME does not GOTO, STAY, or LEAVE the LOC. Here, since neither the beginning or ending point are explictly expressed, it is also somewhat unexpresses whether they are the same or different - one may avoid going to New York by staying in New Jersey, or by going form new Jersey to Pennsylvania.

The there seem to be four possibilites:

• THEME GOTO LOC


• THEME STAY LOC


• THEME LEAVE LOC


• THEME AVOID LOC

In use, the word choice is made in part by the salience of the manner in which the event is being construed, it one uses an AVOID verb, then it is somehow salient that a reasonably expected THEME GOTO LOC did not occur.

It seems that Jackendoff would handle the LEAVE and AVOID verbs by using negatives : THEME LEAVE LOC would be considered THEME GOTO NOT LOC, and AVOID as something along the lines of THEME STAY NOT LOC. At this point, however, my feeling is that having all four will be useful, although I do not deny these types of conversions between them may be also useful in some circumstances.