From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!yale!gumby!destroyer!ncar!noao!amethyst!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!bill Wed Sep 16 21:22:48 EDT 1992
Article 6866 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca sci.bio:3873 sci.skeptic:19836 soc.men:4862 soc.women:4568 comp.ai.philosophy:6866
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!yale!gumby!destroyer!ncar!noao!amethyst!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!bill
>From: bill@nsma.arizona.edu (Bill Skaggs)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.skeptic,soc.men,soc.women,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: missing verbs
Message-ID: <BILL.92Sep10154813@cortex.nsma.arizona.edu>
Date: 10 Sep 92 22:48:13 GMT
References: <1992Sep9.162211.11503@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>
	<1992Sep9.230021.5182@news.media.mit.edu>
	<BILL.92Sep9232609@ca3.nsma.arizona.edu>
	<1992Sep10.124516.3594@uwm.edu>
	<1992Sep10.180152.12137@newshost.lanl.gov>
Sender: news@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu
Followup-To: comp.ai.philosophy
Organization: ARL Division of Neural Systems, Memory and Aging, University of
	Arizona
Lines: 27
In-Reply-To: jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov's message of 10 Sep 92 18: 01:52 GMT

jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:

   > In any case, you began with a discussion about active vs. passive 
   > voice in the concept of "defeated" (a transitive verb), and now
   > you're arguing over a simple locative.  The concepts involved are
   > quite different.

I think there is a connection.  The point is that the structure of a
sentence often contains subtle information about the roles of its
elements.  In a locative sentence of the form "A is acorp B", B plays
the role of a landmark -- a large immovable object -- while A is a
movable thing located relative to B.  Thus English speakers will
usually, if pressed, admit that if "The bicycle is next to the house"
is true, then "The house is next to the bicycle" is also true, but the
latter form is *bad* because of its connotations.

Similarly in a sentence of the form "A glorped B", A plays the role of
agent and B plays the role of patient.  Even if there were a verb
"contraglorp" such that "B contraglorped A" was equivalent to "A
glorped B", the two could still not be used the same way because "B
contraglorped A" suggests that B is the agent.

	-- Bill

(Note that I've set the followup line to comp.ai.philosophy; this
discussion surely isn't relevant to the full range of newsgroups
currently involved.)


