Force interaction in the expression of causation  

Oleh:

Copley, Bridget ; Wolff, Phillip ; Shepard, Jason

Jenis: Article from Proceeding
Dalam koleksi: Proceedings of the 25th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference, held at Stanford University, May 15-17, 2015, page 433-451.
Topik: causation; agency; verbs; clausal connectives; force dynamics
Fulltext: 3482-4459-1-PB.pdf (245.33KB)

Isi artikel

Causal meanings in verbs such as cause, enable and prevent have been analyzed as having two components that correspond to two interacting forces or tendencies: one associated with the agent and one with the patient (Talmy 2000; Wolff 2007). In this research we extend a force-dynamic analysis to a wider range of causal and quasi-causal expressions such as lead to, because, and after. The “structural causal pluralism hypothesis” (Copley & Wolff 2014) is not supported; instead force dynamics is shown to be relevant to expressions throughout syntactic structure. We find that the applicability of the classical force-interaction analysis depends on (i) whether an Agent/Causer is represented in the syntax, and (ii) what kind of causing entity is conceptually represented: either one that generates its own force or one whose force emerges from an interaction with a field in the sense of Copley & Harley (2015) (e.g., a gravitational field). The latter case, we propose, suggests a criterion for force individuation. This account allows us to identify several classes of causal expressions and to further map out the division of labor between the grammatical and conceptual levels.

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