Lecture06_Semantics_2025
Lecture06_Semantics_2025
Semantics
Dr. Joana Portia Sakyi
1
Grammatical Semantics: Predication
Predicates, predicators and arguments
Theta/thematic/semantic roles
2
Predicates, predicators and Arguments
The semantic structure of a simple declarative
sentence can be discussed in terms of its predicator
and argument(s)
Marciana is yawning
4
Types of Predicators
The classes of words which can function as the
predicator of a simple sentence are the following:
5
non-referring nouns or noun phrases
operating as subject complements
6
Lexical verbs as predicators
Jennifer Williams is smiling/crawling
7
The copula verb ‘be’ in equative sentences
8
2 diff. between equative and ordinary
copulative sentences
In equative sentences, the referents of the
two items linked by the verb ‘be’ are the
same
Accra is beautiful
Accra is a business center
Accra is in Ghana
9
Usually, the order of the two items linked by
the verb ‘be’ can be reversed without making
the sentence unacceptable
John is a teacher
11
Adjectives or Adjective Phrases functioning as
subject complements
Victoria is extremely beautiful
Belinda is hardworking/lazy
12
Non-referring nouns or noun phrases
functioning as subject complements
What are non-referring nouns or noun
phrases?
13
In normal circumstances, names like Kwame
Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Azuma Nelson,
Albert Einstein, Doreen Oben Agyei, Bazil
Muokuu, Dorothy Pieterson, Kudzo Kunyaglo
and Francisca Afi Yayra refer to particular
persons
14
Similarly, words like Winneba, Lagos, Cairo,
London, and New York refer to certain places
16
These referring expressions (proper names &
other descriptive expressions) cannot function
as the predicator of a sentence
Simple preposition
The diamonds are in the handbag
The books are on that table
18
Predicates
A predicate is any item (i.e. a word or a
group of words) which can function as the
predicator of a sentence
20
The term predicate refers to certain types of items in
a language independently of particular example
sentences. A lexicographer may, for instance, decide
to provide a list of predicates in the English language
and if he does so, his list will include not only those
items which have been used as predicators in the
corpus that he has but all those items which can be
used as the predicator of a sentence in English
22
4. It is possible to have predicates in a sentence which
do not function as the predicator of that sentence
She is tall
Her elder sister is beautiful
The class rep is a woman
23
In view of all this, it can be said that the
difference between predicators and
predicates is very important and, therefore,
they must not be used interchangeably
24
A predicator is the word (sometimes a
group of words) which does not belong to
any of the referring expressions and
which, of the remainder, makes the most
specific contribution to the meaning of
the sentence
25
Degree of predicates
The degree of a predicate is the number of
arguments a predicate can take
26
One-place predicates –Types
Intransitive verbs - like shine, arrive, sneeze, etc.
The sun is shinning
The guests have arrived
The baby is sneezing
27
Non-referring nouns
Just like adjectives, most nouns are one-place
predicates
John is a nurse/lawyer/teacher
28
Two-place predicates
Mono-transitive (transitive) verbs – e.g. read, eat,
kill
He is reading a novel
Those boys are eating apples
His sister is studying mathematics
30
Prepositions
Most prepositions function as two-place
predicates
31
Three-place predicates
Ditransitive verbs – give, receive, send, lend,
deny, owe, write, etc.
32
The preposition ‘between’
Unlike most prepositions, which are two-
place predicates, between functions as a
three-place predicate
33
Two-three place predicates
Verbs – there are some verbs which function
as two-place predicates as well as three-place
predicates
34
Summary/Conclusion
Predicates are words which can function as
predicators in sentences (i.e. can describe the
action or state in sentences)
39
Subject argument
The guests have arrived
40
(Direct) Object argument
Sowu is eating kenkey
My brother has given her all the books
41
Subject complement
The tall man in that corner is his father
Object Complement
We have made him a doctor/an MP/a chief
Predicator - make
Subject argument – we
Indirect object – him
Object complement – a doctor
42