LNG231: Introduction to

Semantics
Dr. Joana Portia Sakyi

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Grammatical Semantics: Predication
Predicates, predicators and arguments

Theta/thematic/semantic roles

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Predicates, predicators and Arguments
The semantic structure of a simple declarative
sentence can be discussed in terms of its predicator
and argument(s)

Each simple declarative sentence has a predicator and

one or more arguments

Marciana is yawning

Patricia ate the food

Teacher Kofi taught Dolly mathematics

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Predicator
A predicator is a word (or a sequence of
words) which describes some state of affairs
(action or state) in some specific sentences

Typically, the function of the predicator is to

interrelate the arguments in a sentence it
occurs

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Types of Predicators
The classes of words which can function as the
predicator of a simple sentence are the following:

lexical verbs, e.g., eat, drink, work, find and

smile

the copula verb ‘be’ in equative constructions

adjectives or adjectival phrases operating as

subject complements

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non-referring nouns or noun phrases
operating as subject complements

simple or complex prepositions occurring at

the beginning of phrases functioning as
subject complements

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Lexical verbs as predicators
Jennifer Williams is smiling/crawling

The guests have arrived

A period of political unrest followed

Abdulai ate waakye

The man gave Francisca a thing.

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The copula verb ‘be’ in equative sentences

The tallest person in this room is Mr. Ohene

Accra is the capital of Ghana

Cairo is the largest city in Africa

London is the capital of the United Kingdom

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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 the capital of Ghana

Accra is beautiful
Accra is a business center
Accra is in Ghana

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Usually, the order of the two items linked by
the verb ‘be’ can be reversed without making
the sentence unacceptable

Accra is the capital of Ghana

The capital of Ghana is Accra

Accra is beautiful *Beautiful is Accra

Accra is a business center *A business center
is Accra
Accra is in Ghana ?In Ghana is Accra
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John is the founder of that school

John is a teacher

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Adjectives or Adjective Phrases functioning as
subject complements
Victoria is extremely beautiful

Belinda is hardworking/lazy

These books are expensive

His brother is very clever

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Non-referring nouns or noun phrases
functioning as subject complements
What are non-referring nouns or noun
phrases?

What are referring nouns or noun phrases?

Referring nouns or noun phrases are those

nouns or noun phrases which refer to a
certain person, place or thing

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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

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Similarly, words like Winneba, Lagos, Cairo,
London, and New York refer to certain places

N1 Highway, UEW, OWASS, Osagyefo library,

Peku building, etc. refer to certain
objects/institutions

Expressions like World War 11 , the French

Revolution, September 11, and June 4 refer to
certain specific events
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Must referring expressions (always) be a
proper name/noun?
No

They may also refer to descriptive expressions that

refer to certain specific entities as proper names
do (i.e. they have the force of proper names)

 The class rep (governor) of this class is ….

 The current president of Ghana is …
 The tallest person in this class is …
 The current head of department of English
Education, UEW, is ...

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These referring expressions (proper names &
other descriptive expressions) cannot function
as the predicator of a sentence

However, non-referring nouns or noun phrases

functioning as subject complements have the
typical role of a predicator

 Kwame Nkrumah is a genius

 Professor Chomsky is a great linguist
 Gold is a valuable metal
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Simple or complex prepositions functioning
as predicators
Simple or complex prepositions can function as
predicators when they occur at the beginning of
phrases functioning as subject complements

Simple preposition
 The diamonds are in the handbag
 The books are on that table

Complex preposition (a preposition which is in

the form of a group of words)
 Those trees are in front of her house

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Predicates
A predicate is any item (i.e. a word or a
group of words) which can function as the
predicator of a sentence

E.g. arrive, similar, intelligent, scholar, father,

in, between

Words like a, if, and, or, unless , because,

and referring expressions are not predicates
because they cannot function as a predicator
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Differences between predicates and
predicators
Need to distinguish them and not used interchangeably

1. The term predicate refers to certain types of items

that can function as a predicator. A predicator, on the
other hand, refers to certain types of items that express
some state of affairs (action or state) in specific
sentences

Thus, a word is considered as a predicator because of its

role/function in a specific sentence but it is a predicate
because it has the ability to function as a predicator

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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

Preparing a list of predicate in English may be

similar to preparing a list of nouns, adjectives or
verbs in English
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2. Consequently, we say that Predicators are
sentence-specific but predicates are not

3. One can provide a list of predicates just as nouns,

verbs, adjectives in a language but cannot do same
for predicators

 Just as one can prepare a list of nouns or adjective or

verbs in English but not a list of subjects or direct
objects or subject complements or object complements
in English, similarly, one can prepare a list of predicates
in English but not a list of predicators in English

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4. It is possible to have predicates in a sentence which
do not function as the predicator of that sentence

 John has married a tall and beautiful woman

Here, ‘married’ is the predicator, while tall, beautiful

and woman are not, although predicates since they
can be used as predicators, as in:

 She is tall
 Her elder sister is beautiful
 The class rep is a woman

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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

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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

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Degree of predicates
The degree of a predicate is the number of
arguments a predicate can take

1. One-place predicate

2. Two-place predicate
3. Three-place predicate

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One-place predicates –Types
Intransitive verbs - like shine, arrive, sneeze, etc.
 The sun is shinning
 The guests have arrived
 The baby is sneezing

Adjectives – Most adjectives are one-place predicates

 The boy is clever
 His wife is beautiful
 The leaves are green
 The baby is asleep

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Non-referring nouns
Just like adjectives, most nouns are one-place
predicates

John is a nurse/lawyer/teacher

Alhaji Abdulai is a Dagomba

His wife is a teacher of English

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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

Adjectives – Adjectives like different, similar and

identical are essentially comparative in meaning and
so they are mostly used as two-place predicates
 Your job is different from his
 Her answer was similar to mine
 This toy is identical with that one
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Non-referring nouns (phrases)
Relational nouns like father, mother, son,
daughter, brother, sister and neighbour are
mostly used as two-place predicates

Evans is the brother of the Vice chancellor

Margaret is the sister of your husband
Your friend is the neighbour of my younger
sister

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Prepositions
Most prepositions function as two-place
predicates

The file is in the drawer

His college is outside the city
Her house is near the British Museum
That hospital is behind your school

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Three-place predicates
Ditransitive verbs – give, receive, send, lend,
deny, owe, write, etc.

He gave her all his property

She has sent me a detailed report
I will write her a letter
She denied him nothing
I owe him hundred cedis

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The preposition ‘between’
Unlike most prepositions, which are two-
place predicates, between functions as a
three-place predicate

Ghana is between Togo and Ivory Coast

Lybia is between Egypt and Algeria

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Two-three place predicates
Verbs – there are some verbs which function
as two-place predicates as well as three-place
predicates

He is writing a letter

He has written me a long letter

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Summary/Conclusion
Predicates are words which can function as
predicators in sentences (i.e. can describe the
action or state in sentences)

Predicators are words (or a sequence of

words) which describe some action or state in
specific sentences

Predicates can be classified according to the

number of arguments they take
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For example, the predicate asleep is a
predicate of one. It is also called one-place
predicate because it can take only one
argument
The predicate love is a predicate of degree
two (a two-place predicate)
The mother loves her child
The book is under the table
The predicate give is a predicate of degree
three (a three-place predicate)
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Assignment
Underline the predicators and circle the
arguments in the following sentences

The students have understood the instructions

The armed robbers are dangerous
Kwame is a genius
Ejisu is near Kumasi
The lady showed the visitors their rooms
H.E. John Dramani Mahama is a former
president of Ghana
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Arguments
There are two constituents in the semantic
structure of a sentence: predicator and
arguments

A simple declarative sentence has only one

predicator but it can have one or more than
one argument

Arguments are those items/elements that are

involved in the expression of the state of affairs
by the predicator in a sentence
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Types of arguments
Subject argument
(Direct) object
Indirect object
Subject complement
Object complement

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Subject argument
The guests have arrived

The baby is smiling

A period of political unrest followed

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(Direct) Object argument
Sowu is eating kenkey
My brother has given her all the books

Indirect object argument

My brother has given her all the books

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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
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