The Agentivity Lattice @cite{grimm-2011} #
@cite{grimm-2011} reformulates @cite{dowty-1991}'s proto-role entailments as privative features organized into a lattice via subset inclusion. The key innovations over Dowty:
Privative opposition: Proto-Patient is not a separate cluster but the underspecified (∅) pole of each agentivity feature. "Patient" = lacking agentive properties.
Instigation replaces causation: Dowty's "causing an event in another participant" is decomposed into "instigation" — independent action whose effects can be attributed to the argument. This removes the relational aspect (causation implies a second participant; instigation does not).
Persistence replaces P-Patient features: Dowty's 5 P-Patient entailments (CoS, IT, CA, stationary, DE) are replaced by 4 persistence dimensions tracking whether the entity persists existentially and qualitatively at the beginning and end of the event.
Lattice structure: The powerset of features, ordered by inclusion and constrained by logical dependencies (volition → sentience), forms a lattice. Cases are connected regions of this lattice.
Mathlib integration #
All ordering infrastructure uses Mathlib typeclasses:
AgentivityNode:Lattice,BoundedOrder,Fintype(16 elements)PersistenceLevel:Lattice,BoundedOrder,Fintype(5 elements)GrimmNode:PartialOrder,BoundedOrder,Fintype(80 elements)
Bridges #
AgentivityNode.fromEntailmentProfile→EntailmentProfile(proto-roles)PersistenceLevel.fromEntailmentProfile→EntailmentProfile(proto-roles)GrimmNode.toCaseRegion→Core.Case(case assignment)- Transitivity hierarchy →
Tsunodaverb classification
The four agentivity primitives (Table 2 (agentive properties), p.520).
Each has an agentive (+) and non-agentive (∅) pole. The non-agentive pole is not a separate feature — it is simply the absence of the agentive property. This is the privative opposition that replaces Dowty's two independent clusters.
- volition : Bool
+volition: the participant intends to bring about the event.
- sentience : Bool
+sentience: conscious involvement in the action or state.
- instigation : Bool
+instigation: prior independent action whose effects can be attributed to this argument. Replaces Dowty's "causation" (p.521).
- motion : Bool
+motion: the argument is in motion during the event.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.instBEqAgentivityNode.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false
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Validity constraint: volition presupposes sentience (p.521, following @cite{dowty-1991} p.607).
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Number of positive agentivity features (= height in the lattice).
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Lattice: componentwise ∨ for join, ∧ for meet.
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The five valid persistence levels (p.524–525, Fig. 2).
Each level is a valid combination of four persistence dimensions:
- ExPB: existential persistence (beginning) — entity exists before event
- ExPE: existential persistence (end) — entity exists after event
- QuPB: qualitative persistence (beginning) — qualities unchanged before
- QuPE: qualitative persistence (end) — qualities unchanged after
Constraints (ExPB→QuPB, QuPE→ExPE, etc.) reduce the 16 possible combinations to exactly 5.
- totalNonPersistence : PersistenceLevel
∅ExPB, ∅ExPE, ∅QuPB, ∅QuPE — entity has no entailed existence. Arguments of seek, want; negated copulas.
- exPersEnd : PersistenceLevel
∅ExPB, +ExPE, ∅QuPB, +QuPE — entity comes into existence. Objects of build, invent; subjects of appear.
- exPersBeginning : PersistenceLevel
+ExPB, ∅ExPE, +QuPB, ∅QuPE — entity exists before, ceases to exist. Subjects of die, evaporate; objects of destroy, ruin.
- quPersBeginning : PersistenceLevel
+ExPB, +ExPE, +QuPB, ∅QuPE — entity persists but is qualitatively changed. Objects of transitive move, dim, frighten; intransitive subjects of fall.
- totalPersistence : PersistenceLevel
+ExPB, +ExPE, +QuPB, +QuPE — entity persists unchanged throughout. Prototypical transitive subjects; unaffected objects of see, cut at.
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Existential persistence at beginning (positive feature). Also serves as "entity exists at the beginning of the event."
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Existential persistence at end (positive feature).
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Qualitative persistence at beginning (positive feature).
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Qualitative persistence at end (positive feature).
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Number of positive persistence features.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence.featureCount = 0
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.exPersEnd.featureCount = 2
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.exPersBeginning.featureCount = 2
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.quPersBeginning.featureCount = 3
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence.featureCount = 4
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Join on persistence levels. The 5 valid levels do not form a sublattice of the powerset on {ExPB, ExPE, QuPB, QuPE} — the join is the smallest valid level containing the union of features.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence.sup' b = b
- a.sup' Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence = a
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence.sup' b = Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence
- a.sup' Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence = Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence
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Meet on persistence levels. The largest valid level contained in the intersection of features.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence.inf' b = b
- a.inf' Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalPersistence = a
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence.inf' b = Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence
- a.inf' Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence = Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence
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A node in the full agentivity lattice = agentivity features × persistence level, subject to:
- volition → sentience (agentivity constraint)
- If the argument does not exist at the beginning (totalNonPersistence or exPersEnd), it cannot have any agentivity properties (p.526–527).
- agentivity : AgentivityNode
- persistence : PersistenceLevel
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The agentivity constraint: volition → sentience.
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The cross-lattice constraint: if the argument does not exist at the beginning of the event, it cannot have any agentivity properties.
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- n.crossValid = (n.persistence.exPersB || n.agentivity == ⊥)
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Full validity: both constraints satisfied.
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- n.valid = (n.agentivityValid && n.crossValid)
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Total feature count (agentivity + persistence).
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Product order: componentwise ≤ on agentivity and persistence.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.instLTGrimmNode = { lt := fun (a b : Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.GrimmNode) => a ≤ b ∧ ¬b ≤ a }
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Maximal Agent (Fig. 4): all agentivity features, total persistence. The prototypical transitive subject.
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Maximal Patient (Fig. 4): no agentivity features, existential persistence (beginning). The prototypical affected object that ceases to exist (break, destroy).
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The "effector" participant type: instigation + motion, total persistence. The canonical agent of effective action verbs (kill, break). §3, labeled Ia/IIa in Fig. 5.
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Experiencer: sentience only, qualitative persistence (beginning). The dative experiencer of psych verbs (§5.1.1).
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Recipient: sentience, qualitative persistence (beginning). The canonical dative recipient (Fig. 7).
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A node is in the transitivity region iff its persistence level is in {exPersBeginning, quPersBeginning, totalPersistence}.
The transitivity region excludes totalNonPersistence and exPersEnd because the prototypical transitive event requires both participants to exist at the beginning (p.529–530).
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Tsunoda's transitivity hierarchy (§3, example 8).
| Class | Example verbs | Transitivity |
|---|---|---|
| I | kill, break | Highest |
| II | shoot, hit | Middle |
| III | search, seek | Lowest |
- resultativeEffective : TransitivityClass
Resultative Effective Action: kill, break. Object is destroyed (exPersBeginning). Maximal opposition between agent and patient.
- contact : TransitivityClass
Contact: shoot, hit. Object is affected but persists (quPersBeginning). Less opposition than Class I.
- pursuit : TransitivityClass
Pursuit: search, seek. Object may not even exist (totalNonPersistence). Outside the transitivity region.
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The canonical agent position for each transitivity class. All classes share the same agent type: instigation + motion, total persistence (Fig. 5, labeled Ia/IIa).
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The canonical patient position for each transitivity class (Fig. 5).
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.TransitivityClass.contact.patientNode = { agentivity := ⊥, persistence := Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.quPersBeginning }
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.TransitivityClass.pursuit.patientNode = { agentivity := ⊥, persistence := Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.PersistenceLevel.totalNonPersistence }
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Case regions on the agentivity lattice. A case marker corresponds to a connected region of the lattice (§4).
- nomErg : CaseRegion
Nominative (accusative systems) / Ergative (ergative systems): the region spreading from maximal agent. Marks subjects.
- accAbs : CaseRegion
Accusative (accusative systems) / Absolutive (ergative systems): the region spreading from maximal patient and existential persistence (beginning). Marks objects.
- dative : CaseRegion
Dative: the region around sentience + qualitative persistence (beginning). Marks recipients, experiencers, benefactives (§5.1, Fig. 7).
- oblique : CaseRegion
Oblique: the middle region between core cases.
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Predicts the case region for a node based on its lattice position.
- nomErg: has instigation + total persistence — the prototypical transitive subject region.
- accAbs: no agentivity + persistence with existsBeginning — the prototypical affected object region.
- dative: sentience (without instigation) + qualitative persistence (beginning) — recipients, experiencers, benefactives.
- oblique: everything else.
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Maps a case region to its canonical morphological case in an accusative alignment system.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.nomErg.toAccusativeCase = Core.Case.nom
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.accAbs.toAccusativeCase = Core.Case.acc
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.dative.toAccusativeCase = Core.Case.dat
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.oblique.toAccusativeCase = Core.Case.inst
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Maps a case region to its canonical morphological case in an ergative alignment system.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.nomErg.toErgativeCase = Core.Case.erg
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.accAbs.toErgativeCase = Core.Case.abs
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.dative.toErgativeCase = Core.Case.dat
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.CaseRegion.oblique.toErgativeCase = Core.Case.inst
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Map Dowty's P-Agent entailments to Grimm's agentivity features.
The correspondence is direct for 3 of 4 features:
- volition = volition
- sentience = sentience
- causation → instigation (p.521)
- movement = motion
Independent existence is handled by the persistence dimension.
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Map Dowty's P-Patient entailments to Grimm's persistence level.
This is an approximate mapping — Grimm's system is genuinely different from Dowty's. The diagnostic features:
- DE + IT → exPersEnd: entity created incrementally (build, invent)
- DE + ¬IT → exPersBeginning: entity ceases to exist (die, evaporate)
- IT + ¬DE → exPersBeginning: entity consumed incrementally (eat)
- CoS + ¬IT + ¬DE → quPersBeginning: changed but persists (kick, move)
- ¬CoS + ¬DE → totalPersistence or totalNonPersistence
Dowty's DE ("does not exist independently of the event") maps to Grimm's creation/destruction axis. IT (incremental theme) disambiguates: DE+IT = creation (exPersEnd), DE+¬IT = destruction (exPersBeginning).
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Map a full EntailmentProfile to a GrimmNode.
The agentivity features come from the P-Agent entailments; the persistence level comes from the P-Patient entailments.
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Persistence incomparability: exPersEnd and exPersBeginning are incomparable — neither is a subset of the other's features.
Their join is ⊤ (totalPersistence).
Their meet is ⊥ (totalNonPersistence).
Maximal agent is ⊤ on the combined lattice.
Class I patients (break) are in the transitivity region.
Class II patients (shoot) are in the transitivity region.
Class III patients (search) are OUTSIDE the transitivity region. This captures Tsunoda's observation that pursuit verbs deviate most strongly from the prototypical transitive paradigm.
Class I patient (break: exPersBeginning) has lower persistence than Class II patient (shoot: quPersBeginning). The Class I object is more affected — it ceases to exist.
Class I patient ≤ Class II patient on the lattice (exPersBeginning ≤ quPersBeginning).
Class III patient ≤ Class I patient (totalNonPersistence ≤ exPersBeginning).
Maximal agent maps to NOM/ERG region.
Maximal patient maps to ACC/ABS region.
The effector agent (instigation + motion, total persistence) maps to NOM/ERG. This is the agent of break/kill (Fig. 5, Ia).
The experiencer/recipient maps to the dative region (§5.1, Fig. 7).
The recipient maps to the dative region.
Class I patient (break object: destroyed) maps to ACC/ABS.
Class II patient (shoot object: affected but persists) maps to ACC/ABS.
Accusative alignment: maximal agent → NOM, maximal patient → ACC.
Ergative alignment: maximal agent → ERG, maximal patient → ABS.
kick subject → agentivity {V,S,I,M} (full agent).
kick object → persistence quPersBeginning (affected but persists). CoS=true, IT=false, DE=false → qualitatively changed.
build object → persistence exPersEnd (entity created).
die subject → persistence exPersBeginning (entity ceases to exist). DE=true, IT=false → entity is destroyed.
run subject → agentivity {V,S,M} (no instigation).
arrive subject → agentivity {M} (motion only).
see subject → agentivity {S} (sentience only).
sweep basic subject → agentivity {M} (motion only, variable agentivity).
sweep broom subject → agentivity {V,S,I,M} (instrument lexicalization adds full agentivity, @cite{rappaport-hovav-levin-2024}).
Instrument lexicalization strictly increases agentivity on the lattice: sweep basic {M} < sweep broom {V,S,I,M}.
Grimm's agentivity lattice ordering is consistent with Dowty's pAgentDominates: if Grimm a ≤ Grimm b on agentivity, then Dowty a dominates Dowty b on P-Agent features.
This holds because the feature-to-feature mapping is a bijection on the first 4 P-Agent features (volition, sentience, causation=instigation, movement=motion).
The Dowty→Grimm bridge is monotone: if one EntailmentProfile dominates another on P-Agent features, the corresponding AgentivityNodes are ordered.
The dative region unifies recipients, experiencers, and second arguments of communication/service verbs — they all share the semantic properties of sentience and qualitative persistence (beginning) (Fig. 7, p.536).
This explains dative "polysemy": the diverse uses of the dative share a connected region on the lattice, not a single function.
The dative experiencer subject (§5.1.1) has the same lattice position as the dative recipient — sentience + qualitative persistence. This explains why languages cross-linguistically use the same case (dative) for both.
The Russian genitive/accusative alternation arises when the object of an intensional verb (want, seek, await) falls in a region covered by two cases. The accusative covers existential persistence (beginning); the genitive covers total non-persistence (Fig. 8).
- Accusative (specific reading): the object is referential → exists → existential persistence (beginning) → ACC region.
- Genitive (non-specific reading): the object need not exist → total non-persistence → GEN region.
The alternation is limited to verbs whose objects have no persistence entailments — only intensional verbs like want, seek, await license the genitive (p.541).
- specificReading : GrimmNode
The object node under the specific/referential reading.
- nonSpecificReading : GrimmNode
The object node under the non-specific reading.
The specific reading has more persistence features.
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The canonical Russian gen/acc alternation for intensional verbs: ACC (specific) ↔ GEN (non-specific).
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The specific reading maps to the ACC/ABS region.
Agents are upwards closed in the agentivity dimension
(p.528): if a qualifies as agent for a predicate
(i.e., a has at least the entailments required by the verb), then
any b ≥ a also qualifies. An entity with more agentive properties
can always fill an agent role requiring fewer.
Formally: the set of acceptable agents for a verb with minimum
requirement minReq is {a | minReq ≤ a}, which is an upper set.
Patients are downwards closed in the persistence dimension
(p.528): if p qualifies as patient (i.e., p
has at most the persistence features of the verb's patient slot),
then any q ≤ p also qualifies. A more affected entity (less
persistence) can always fill a patient role.
Formally: the set of acceptable patients for a verb with maximum
persistence maxPers is {p | p ≤ maxPers}, which is a lower set.
Semantic opposition between two GrimmNodes. Transitivity increases with the distance between agent and patient on the lattice. We measure this as the difference in total feature counts — higher opposition means more prototypically transitive.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.semanticOpposition agent patient = ↑agent.featureCount - ↑patient.featureCount
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Maximal agent vs maximal patient has the highest opposition (8 - 2 = 6).
Class I (break) has more opposition than Class II (shoot): the patient is more affected (fewer persistence features).
Full pipeline: kick subject → GrimmNode → NOM/ERG → NOM (accusative).
Full pipeline: kick object → GrimmNode → ACC/ABS → ACC (accusative).
Build subject → NOM (full agent, total persistence).
Build object → OBLIQUE (not ACC). The object of build maps to exPersEnd (entity comes into existence), which falls OUTSIDE the transitivity region (p.529–530). Creation verbs are non-prototypically transitive — the object does not exist at the beginning of the event to "undergo its effects." This is a correct prediction: creation verb objects cross-linguistically show atypical case marking (e.g., pseudo-cleft asymmetry).
Full pipeline: see subject → OBLIQUE (not NOM/ERG). The see-subject has sentience but no instigation, so it falls outside the NOM/ERG region. Grimm's system predicts non-canonical case for perception verb subjects cross-linguistically.
Full pipeline: die subject (unaccusative) → ACC/ABS. The sole argument of die maps to the patient region (no agentivity, exPersBeginning). In an ergative system this → ABS (= intransitive subject).
illustrates the agentivity lattice with a chain of canonical verbs, each adding one feature. This demonstrates that the lattice directly formalizes "degree of agentivity" — higher on the lattice means more agentive.
sit/stand subject: ⊥ (no agentivity). p.523.
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know/see subject: sentience only. p.524.
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discover subject: sentience + instigation. p.524.
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look at subject: sentience + instigation + motion. p.524.
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assassinate subject: all four features. p.524.
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The canonical verb chain is totally ordered and forms a maximal chain from ⊥ to ⊤ in the agentivity lattice.
All canonical verb positions satisfy volition → sentience.
exPersEnd and quPersBeginning are incomparable (neither ≤ the other). Their feature sets are {ExPE, QuPE} and {ExPB, ExPE, QuPB} — QuPE ∉ {ExPB, ExPE, QuPB} and ExPB ∉ {ExPE, QuPE}. This means the persistence lattice has TWO independent paths from ⊥ to ⊤: (1) ⊥ → exPersEnd → ⊤ (2) ⊥ → exPersBeginning → quPersBeginning → ⊤
The persistence lattice inclusion chain (2) from Fig. 2: exPersBeginning ≤ quPersBeginning ≤ totalPersistence.
(p.534): "it is a combination of verbal and nominal properties which trigger DOM." The lattice provides a formal account:
1. The case regions defined in §6 (`toCaseRegion`) map lattice positions
to cases — ACC/ABS for ⊥-agentivity objects with existential
persistence, DATIVE for sentient non-instigators with qualitative
persistence (Fig. 7).
2. When we map nominal animacy to baseline agentive capacity and
combine it with the verb's persistence profile, animate/human
objects shift from ACC/ABS into the DATIVE region.
3. This is NOT a DOM-specific definition — it reuses `toCaseRegion`
(§6) and `inTransitiveRegion` (§5), both defined for general
case theory. The DOM prediction is a CONSEQUENCE of case theory.
The verb class effect (@cite{von-heusinger-2008}) also falls out:
verbs whose subjects map to NOM/ERG provide maximal contrast with
the object — DOM can regularize. Verbs whose subjects fall outside
NOM/ERG provide less contrast — DOM remains sensitive to nominal
properties.
Map nominal animacy to baseline agentive capacity on the lattice.
Only inherent referent properties are mapped — not event-specific ones like instigation or motion:
- Human: volition + sentience (capacity for intentional action)
- Animate: sentience (conscious but non-volitional)
- Inanimate: ⊥ (no inherent agentive capacity)
The exclusion of instigation and motion is principled: these are event properties (did the participant instigate THIS event? move during THIS event?), not referent properties. Volition and sentience are inherent capacities of the referent type.
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- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.animacyToAgentivity Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human = { volition := true, sentience := true, instigation := false, motion := false }
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.animacyToAgentivity Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.animate = { volition := false, sentience := true, instigation := false, motion := false }
- Semantics.Lexical.Verb.AgentivityLattice.animacyToAgentivity Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.inanimate = ⊥
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All animacy-derived nodes satisfy volition → sentience.
The mapping is monotone: higher animacy → higher agentivity. This is a structural property of the feature-subset ordering, not a stipulation.
Combine a referent's nominal agentivity (from animacy) with the verb's persistence profile for the object.
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The key non-circular derivation. For canonical transitive objects (quPersBeginning = contact verbs like kick, hit, push):
- Inanimate:
⟨⊥, qPB⟩→toCaseRegion= accAbs (prototypical patient, no DOM needed) - Animate:
⟨{S}, qPB⟩→toCaseRegion= dative (sentience shifts it into the dative region, Fig. 7) - Human:
⟨{V,S}, qPB⟩→toCaseRegion= dative (volition + sentience, also in dative region)
toCaseRegion was defined in §6 for general case theory, not for
DOM. That it automatically separates inanimate objects (accAbs) from
animate/human objects (dative) is the lattice's genuine prediction.
DOM is predicted when the object is in the transitivity region but its nominal agentivity pushes it outside the ACC/ABS case region. Both conditions use infrastructure defined for general case theory (§5, §6), not for DOM.
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Inanimate objects of canonical transitives: in ACC/ABS, no DOM.
Animate objects of canonical transitives: outside ACC/ABS, DOM predicted. The lattice reason: sentience pushes the object into the dative region (Fig. 7).
Human objects: also outside ACC/ABS, DOM predicted.
The same pattern holds for resultative verbs (break, destroy): inanimate objects stay in ACC/ABS, animate/human objects do not.
Creation verb objects (build, invent — exPersEnd) are outside the transitivity region at ALL animacy levels. The object does not exist at event start, so it cannot "intrude" on the agent's role. DOM is inapplicable, not merely unnecessary.
Whether the subject maps to the NOM/ERG case region. When true, the verbal semantics alone provides maximal contrast between subject (NOM/ERG) and object (ACC/ABS or below), and DOM can regularize — it is redundant for disambiguation.
@cite{von-heusinger-2008}: matar 'kill' (Class 1, subject → NOM/ERG) regularized DOM centuries before ver 'see' (Class 2, subject → oblique).
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Kick subject → NOM/ERG: maximal verbal contrast. Corresponds to matar 'kill' — DOM regularized early.
See subject → NOT NOM/ERG: insufficient verbal contrast. Corresponds to ver 'see' — DOM remained variable.
Build subject → NOM/ERG: high verbal contrast, but moot because the object is outside the transitivity region (§21.5).
The lattice reproduces @cite{aissen-2003}'s monotonicity prediction: if DOM is predicted for a lower animacy level, it is also predicted for all higher levels. Universally quantified over persistence.
This is NOT stipulated — it follows from:
animacyToAgentivityis monotone (higher animacy → more features)toCaseRegionmaps ⊥ agentivity to accAbs, non-⊥ to dative/oblique- Once agentivity is non-⊥, adding features keeps it non-⊥
For totalPersistence objects (perception verbs: see, hear, know),
toCaseRegion maps ⟨⊥, totalPersistence⟩ to oblique, not accAbs,
because totalPersistence is not in {exPersBeginning, quPersBeginning}.
This means domPredictedByLattice returns true for ALL animacy levels,
including inanimate — overpredicting DOM for perception verb objects.
This reflects a genuine theoretical point: Grimm's system treats
perception verb objects as non-prototypical patients (they are not
affected or changed). But it means `domPredictedByLattice` is most
informative for verbs in the transitivity region's core: contact
(quPersBeginning) and resultative effective (exPersBeginning) verbs.
AgentivityNode kernel: two profiles map to the same agentivity node iff they agree on {V, S, C, M}. The 5th P-Agent feature (IE) and all 5 P-Patient features are irrelevant — they are dropped by the projection.
This formally characterizes the information loss: fromEntailmentProfile
is a surjection whose fibers are the equivalence classes of profiles
agreeing on {V, S, C, M}.
Independent existence is lost by the agentivity projection. Two profiles differing only in IE map to the same node. Concrete witness: full agent (IE=true) and agent-without-IE.
All P-Patient features are lost by the agentivity projection. A profile with 5 P-Patient features maps to the same node as one with 0.
wellFormedPair is not preserved by the Grimm projection.
@cite{dowty-1991}'s wellFormedPair constrains inter-argument entailment
pairings: causation→CoS, movement→stationary, IE→DE. These are
relational constraints between two profiles.
system replaces them with a single persistence dimension on the patient side. The IE feature is dropped entirely from the agentivity projection, so the IE→DE constraint becomes invisible.
Witness: s₁ = {C} and s₂ = {C, IE} map to the same AgentivityNode (both have instigation only). With o = {CoS}, wellFormedPair holds for s₁ (IE=false, so IE→DE vacuously satisfied) but fails for s₂ (IE=true but DE=false). The Grimm system cannot detect this.
Project an ArgTemplate's subject profile to a GrimmNode.
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Project an ArgTemplate's object profile (if any) to a GrimmNode.
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Project an ArgTemplate's object to its affectedness degree.
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Manner-contact subject → full agent on the Grimm lattice.
Manner-contact object → potential affectedness (no CoS entailed).
Result-change object → nonquantized affectedness (CoS, no IT).
Creation object → quantized affectedness (CoS + IT).
Consumption object → quantized affectedness (CoS + IT).
Self-motion (intransitive) → no object affectedness.
Affectedness ordering across templates: the named templates are ordered by truth-conditional strength on the object side, reproducing @cite{beavers-2010}'s hierarchy: creation/consumption (quantized) > resultChange (nonquantized)
mannerContact (potential) > perception (unspecified).
The affectedness and persistence projections are consistent for manner-contact objects: potential affectedness ↔ totalPersistence (the object may change but the verb doesn't entail it).
Result-change: nonquantized ↔ quPersBeginning (changed but persists).
Creation: quantized ↔ exPersEnd (entity comes into existence).