"The end identifies the means" : unexpressed objects and path phrases

Abstract

Meanings conveyed by verbs often imply the presence of a number of possible arguments, not all of which surface as overt forms. For example, the verb ‘know’ requires two participants, the knower and the fact known. Languages do not usually require a separate argument for the source of knowledge; if it is mentioned at all, it is normally an optional adverbial. A similar claim can be made about instrument arguments. They are not required by verbs like “kill” or “hit”, and when they are realized, they are usually prepositional phrases like “with a gun”. Recently, however, contrary voices have been heard. For example, Palmer et al. (2005) view them as present in the argument structures of all verbs of hitting. This is an extreme step, and perhaps fine grained distinctions should be made, but as we will show below, in many cases, unexpressed instruments are real complements whose presence is indicated by the behavior of path phrases.