Valence (definition) - Revision history

AndrewCarnie at 13:09, 17 June 2012

2012-06-17T13:09:18Z

AndrewCarnie at 13:08, 17 June 2012

2012-06-17T13:08:32Z

KeelyZabonik at 22:28, 20 November 2009

2009-11-20T22:28:51Z

AlanHogue at 21:22, 12 July 2009

2009-07-12T21:22:05Z

AlanHogue at 21:04, 12 July 2009

2009-07-12T21:04:07Z

AlanHogue at 21:02, 12 July 2009

2009-07-12T21:02:49Z

AlanHogue at 20:55, 12 July 2009

2009-07-12T20:55:28Z

AlanHogue: Created page with ''''Valence''' (also called "valency") is a property of verbs. It indicates the number of arguments a verb requires to make a [[Cla...'

2009-07-12T20:54:19Z

Created page with ''''Valence''' (also called "valency") is a property of verbs. It indicates the number of arguments a verb requires to make a [[Cla...'

New page

'''Valence''' (also called "valency") is a property of [[Verb (definition)|verbs]]. It indicates the number of [[Argument (definition)|arguments]] a verb requires to make a [[Clause (definition)|clause]] (not counting optionally expressed non-[[Core Argument (definition)|core arguments]]). Valence is roughly equivalent to the traditional concept of [[Transitivity (definition)|transitivity]].

(1) contains a verb with a valence of 1 (sometimes called univalent or intransitive), (2) a verb with valence of 2 (divalent or transitive), and (3) a verb with valence of 3 (trivalent or ditransitive).

:''1) Jones snored.''
:''2) Smith bewildered the pedestrians.''
:''3) Jones gave the cheese to the mouse.''

Although '''the mouse''' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an oblique or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (indirect object) of the verb '''give'''. We can tell because eliminating the argument makes the sentence ungramattical (4).

:''4) *Jones gave the cheese.''

While valence is conceived as a property of verbs (and therefore is lexically determined), human languages have a wide variety of valence changing operations by which valence can be increased or decreased. Passive voice, for instance, is one example of an "operation" which decreases the valence of a given verb.

==See Also==
*[[Valence Changing Operation (definition)]]
*[[Transitivity (definition)]]
*[[Argument (definition)]]

==External Links==
*wikipedia article on Valence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)

[[Category: Technical Definitions]]
[[Category: Syntax]]
[[Category: Semantics]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Valence''' (also called "valency") is a property of [[Verb (definition)|verbs]]. It indicates the number of [[Argument (definition)|arguments]] a verb requires to make a [[Clause (definition)|clause]] (not counting optionally expressed non-[[Core Argument (definition)|core arguments]]). Valence is roughly equivalent to the traditional concept of transitivity.
+'''Valence''' (also called "valency") is a property of [[Verb (definition)|verbs]]. It indicates the number of [[Argument (definition)|arguments]] a verb requires to make a [[Clause (definition)|clause]]. Valence is roughly equivalent to the traditional concept of transitivity.
 (1) contains a verb with a valence of 1 (sometimes called univalent or intransitive), (2) a verb with valence of 2 (divalent or transitive), and (3) a verb with valence of 3 (trivalent or ditransitive).
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 :''3) Jones gave the cheese to the mouse.''
-Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an [[Oblique (definition)|oblique]] or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (an [[Indirect Object (definition)|indirect object]]) of the verb ''give''.
+Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an [[Oblique (definition)|oblique]] , it is in fact a core argument (an [[Indirect Object (definition)|indirect object]]) of the verb ''give''.
 While valence is conceived as a property of verbs (and therefore is lexically determined), human languages have a wide variety of [[Valence Changing Operation (definition)|valence changing operations]] by which valence can be increased or decreased. [[Passive voice (definition)|Passive voice]], for instance, is one example of an "operation" which decreases the valence of a given verb.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 *[[Valence Changing Operation (definition)]]
 *[[Argument (definition)]]
 ==External Links==
 *wikipedia article on Valence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 :''3) Jones gave the cheese to the mouse.''
-Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an [[Oblique|oblique]] or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (an [[Indirect Object (definition)|indirect object]]) of the verb ''give''. We can tell because eliminating the argument makes the sentence ungrammatical (4).
+Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an [[Oblique (definition)|oblique]] or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (an [[Indirect Object (definition)|indirect object]]) of the verb ''give''.
 While valence is conceived as a property of verbs (and therefore is lexically determined), human languages have a wide variety of [[Valence Changing Operation (definition)|valence changing operations]] by which valence can be increased or decreased. [[Passive voice (definition)|Passive voice]], for instance, is one example of an "operation" which decreases the valence of a given verb.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 :''3) Jones gave the cheese to the mouse.''
-Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an oblique or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (indirect object) of the verb ''give''. We can tell because eliminating the argument makes the sentence ungramattical (4).
+Although ''the mouse'' in (3) looks superficially like an object of a preposition (and therefore an [[Oblique|oblique]] or non-core argument), it is in fact a core argument (an [[Indirect Object (definition)|indirect object]]) of the verb ''give''. We can tell because eliminating the argument makes the sentence ungrammatical (4).
 :''4) *Jones gave the cheese.''
-While valence is conceived as a property of verbs (and therefore is lexically determined), human languages have a wide variety of valence changing operations by which valence can be increased or decreased. Passive voice, for instance, is one example of an "operation" which decreases the valence of a given verb.
+While valence is conceived as a property of verbs (and therefore is lexically determined), human languages have a wide variety of [[Valence Changing Operation (definition)|valence changing operations]] by which valence can be increased or decreased. [[Passive voice (definition)|Passive voice]], for instance, is one example of an "operation" which decreases the valence of a given verb.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 *wikipedia article on Valence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)
 [[Category: Technical Definitions]]
 [[Category: Syntax]]
 [[Category: Semantics]]