Abstract

Neither Chomsky's extended standard theory nor Fillmore's case grammar can account for data presented here on relative degree of ambiguity perceived in gerundive phrases of surface form "the V-ing of NP". The data indicate that the Objective case relation incorporates at least two distinct semantic relations, 'Actor' and 'Goal'. Within EST, the subject function represents at least two semantic relations, 'Actor' and 'Causer'. All three relations are required to account for the overall differences in ambiguity between the three categories of phrases investigated in Study One. In Study Two, variation in degree of ambiguity perceived in a subset of the phrases was shown to correlate with an independently derived measure of perceived degree of activity attributed to the grammatical subject of a corresponding intransitive form. No grammar in which semantic interpretation depends on a limited set of relations determined prior to lexical insertion can account for this variation in degree. Alternative approaches to the role of the lexicon are discussed