Simple and Phrasal Implicatives Lauri Karttunen CSLI, Stanford
*SEM, June 7, 2012 Slide 2 Semantics of complementation Kim said
that she had scheduled a meeting. no commitment to the truth of the
complement clause Kim remembered that she had scheduled a meeting.
presupposes that Kim had scheduled a meeting Kim remembered to
schedule a meeting. entails that Kim scheduled a meeting Slide 3
Presupposition vs. entailment Kim remembered that she had scheduled
a meeting. Kim did not remember that she had scheduled a meeting.
Did Kim remember that she had scheduled a meeting? presuppose that
Kim had scheduled a meeting Kim remembered to schedule a meeting.
entails that Kim scheduled a meeting Did Kim remember to schedule a
meeting? no entailment (presupposes intention) remember that is
factive (presupposition) remember to is implicative (entailment)
Slide 4 that vs. to pretend that and pretend to are both
counterfactive Kim pretended that she had everything figured out.
Kim pretended to have everything figured out. presuppose Kim did
not have everything figured out. it be bad that and it be bad to
are both factive It wasnt bad that we had one day of rain on our
trip. It wasnt bad to have one day of rain on our trip. presuppose
We had one day of rain or our trip. Slide 5 Implicative
constructions Implicative constructions yield an entailment about
the truth of their complement clause. Some are simple verbs like
forget to and remember to, some are phrasal construction like take
the trouble to. There are six different kinds of implicative
constructions. Each of them has one the six possible implicative
signatures: ++|-- +-|-++++--- -+ to be explained shortly. Slide 6
Simple two-way implicatives remember to X+ +|- - + Kim remembered
to X entails+ Kim did X - Kim did not remember to X entails- Kim
did not X forget to X+ -|- + + Kim forgot to X entails- Kim did not
X - Kim did not forget to X entails+ Kim did X remember(Kim, X) and
forget(Kim, X) presuppose intend(Kim, X) Slide 7 More simple
two-way implicatives ++|-- turn out that X manage to X succeed in
Xing deign to X happen to X dare to X +-|-+ fail to X neglect to X
refuse to X refrain from Xing avoid Xing Slide 8 Polarity
calculation Kim almost failed to remember to eat breakfast. entails
Kim ate breakfast. [+] almost(fail-to(remember-to(X)))almost +-|-+
[ ] fail-to(remember-to(X)) [ ] remember-to(X) [ ] X Slide 9
Polarity calculation Kim almost failed to remember to eat
breakfast. entails Kim ate breakfast. [+]
almost(fail-to(remember-to(X))) [-] fail-to(remember-to(X)) fail to
+-|-+ [ ] remember-to(X) [ ] X Slide 10 Polarity calculation Kim
almost failed to remember to eat breakfast. entails Kim ate
breakfast. [+] almost(fail-to(remember-to(X))) [-]
fail-to(remember-to(X)) [+] remember-to(X)remember to ++|-- [ ] X
Slide 11 Polarity calculation Kim almost failed to remember to eat
breakfast. entails Kim ate breakfast. [+]
almost(fail-to(remember-to(X))) [-] fail-to(remember-to(X)) [+]
remember-to(X) [+] X Slide 12 One-way implicatives ++ cause NP to
force NP to make NP to +- refuse to prevent NP from keep NP from --
can be able to -+ hesitate to Slide 13 One-way entailments Slide 14
Slide 15 Ambiguity of not wait to Ed did not wait to call for help.
Instead he left the scene in a hurry....But it was too late. Deena
did not wait to talk to anyone. entails Deena did not talk to
anyone. It hurt like hell, but Im glad she didnt wait to tell me.
entails She told me something right away. Slide 16 A picture
disambiguates This is Neil on his third birthday - he was so
excited to get his Thomas set that he didn't wait to take off his
coat. My bestest friend Andrea gave me these for my birthday. I'm a
weenie and didn't wait to open the gift. Heck, I didn't even wait
to wear them. They're the softest most comfy overalls I've ever
owned. XY The protagonist skips X directly to Y. Slide 17 Source of
the ambiguity My biggest regret is that I didnt wait [to get
married] [to have kids] says Gerald, a father of three. If I had to
do it over again, Id wait until I was married to become a father.
entails Gerald did not get married, Gerald had kids. wait (to X)
(to Y)both complements are optional Ed didnt wait [to call for
help] ().didnt call at all -- Ed didnt wait () [to call for
help].called right away -+ Slide 18 Simple and Phrasal implicatives
Kim did not attempt to hide her feelings. Jim did not dare to speak
to her. Ed did not bother to come. Kim made no attempt to hide her
feelings. Jim did not have the guts to speak to her. Ed did not
take the trouble to come. Slide 19 Phrasal two-way implicatives
++|-- have the courage, wisdom Julie had the chutzpah to ask the
meter maid for a quarter. I didnt have the courage to tell her that
I loved her. meet an obligation We clearly fulfilled the obligation
to pass a balanced budget. Strausser hasnt met his responsibility
to make improvements. take the effort, asset, opportunity She took
the trouble to iron all the clothes. I just didn't take the time to
care for myself. Slide 20 use an asset, opportunity I used the
money to buy shoes and food. Randy didnt use the opportunity to
toot his own horn. waste an asset I wasted the money to buy a game
that I cannot play. Im glad I didnt waste 90 minutes to see this
film. +-|-+ waste an opportunity Mr. Spitzer wasted the opportunity
to drive a harder bargain. She didn't waste the chance to smile
back at him. fail an obligation The Avatar failed his duty to bring
peace to a broken world. Orlando didn't neglect his duty to escort
the dead. ++|-- Slide 21 One-way phrasal implicatives +- lack
opportunity She lost the chance to qualify for the final. -- have
ability The defendant had no ability to pay the fine. make effort I
have made no effort to check the accuracy of this blog. Slide 22 -+
show hesitation She did not have any hesitation to don the role of
a seductress. Fonseka displayed no reluctance to carry out his
orders. Slide 23 VERB FAMILY NOUN FAMILYIMPLICATIVE SIGNATURE
FAILOBLIGATION +-|-+ HAVE ABILITY/OPPORTUNITY COURAGE/WISDOM --
++|-- LACKABILITY/OPPORTUNITY +- MAKEEFFORT -- MEET FAIL OBLIGATION
++|-- +-|-+ SHOWHESITATION -+ TAKEASSET/EFFORT ++|--
USEASSET/OPPORTUNITY ++|-- WASTE ASSET OPPORTUNITY ++|-- +-|-+ 308
verb-noun collocations Slide 24 FAILfail, neglect HAVEget, have,
possess LACKdiscard, give up, lack, lose, miss, throw away MAKEdo,
make, undertake MEETacquit, do, fulfill, meet, perform (OBLIGATION)
SHOWhave, show, display TAKEgrab, seize, snap, snatch, take
USEexpend, exploit, use, utilize WASTEdrop, squander, waste Verb
families 31 transitive verbs Slide 25 Noun families ABILITYability,
means, oomph, power ASSETasset, fortune, money, time
COURAGEaudacity, chutzpah, courage, endurance, gall, gumption,
guts, impudence, nerve, stamina EFFORTattempt, effort, initiative,
trouble HESITATIONhesitation, qualms, reluctance, scruples
OBLIGATIONduty, mission, obligation, responsibility, task
OPPORTUNITYchance, opportunity, occasion WISDOMforesight, sense,
wisdom 36 nouns with infinitival complements Slide 26 Conclusion
There are six different types of implicative constructions. Some
consist of single verbs like manage to and fail to, others are
consist of particular verb-noun collocations like take the trouble
to and waste the opportunity to. PARCs Bridge System and
MacCartneys NatLog can reason with single verb implicatives.
Phrasal implicatives have not yet been implemented in any system.
We plan to change that. There is a lot more descriptive linguistic
work to be done for the semantics of complementation. Slide 27 Work
in progress be lucky to ++|-- He was lucky to get out alive.
entails He got out alive. I was not lucky to get a table on this
trip. entails I did not get a table on this trip. unlikely You will
be lucky to make any money on this deal. entails You probably will
not make any money on this deal. This idiomatic reading of be lucky
to is very brittle. Slide 28 Invited Inferences The language
barrier did not prevent us from having a few laughs together.
implies We had a few laughs together. Her mother did not prevent
her from visiting her father. implies She visited her father. can
be cancelled But she never did. The school did not force the
students to leave, but they left on their own.
