Case roles

The case grammar is only implemented for Danish (and is work-in-progress by Søren Harder). For information about what case roles are, and the underlying principles behind the case system used, see here. The case-roles in this document are ordered alphabetically. For each role some examples are given, and some guidelines to, in which contexts it is found (syntactic function, prepositions) together with notes on, which other case roles it may be confused with.

%AG

DEFINITION: The human or non-human instigator of the event described by the verb. The causal starting point of the clause.
TYPICAL USE: Subject in active sentences or 'by'/'af'-phrases. %EXP may also be subjects.
EXAMPLES:
  • Lise og hendes kat listede sig ind i stuen.
  • Sølvtøjet fangede dagens sidste stråler.

%BEN

DEFINITION: The human or non-human entity for the benefit of which an action is undertaken or whose well-being (or lack thereof) is under consideration. See also %TH.
TYPICAL USE: Indirect object. PP w/ for.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han købte sin bedstemor en frakke.
  • Han gav bilen en ny lakering.
  • Vera Lynn sang for soldaterne.
  • Har du set reklamen for 'Blitz'?
  • Bilen har ikke seler til børn.
  • Det er værst for dig selv.

%CAUSE

DEFINITION: Clausal role for causal adverbial clauses. Also for events/states causing other events/states. %BEN denotes entities, where %CAUSE denotes events/states. %PURP denotes (cognitive) reasons, where %CAUSE denotes causation through a physical causal chain (possibly including cognitive states/events).
TYPICAL USE: Not used a lot; see examples
EXAMPLES:
  • Han fik en dom for bedrageri.
  • Kiri te Kanawa fik stor applaus for arien.
  • Jeg er ikke tilfreds med dit arbejde.

%COM

DEFINITION: Commitative. Co-agent/experiencer: [Ag V with Com] = [Ag and Com V]. Co-theme: [N1 has a N2 with Com] = [N1 and Com has a N2]
TYPICAL USE: PP w/ 'med' or 'mellem' (with/between).
EXAMPLES:
  • Peter var i biografen med Bente igår.
  • Alle religioner kan sættes i forbindelse med terrorisme.
  • Med den nye bro er Europa landfast med Slagelse.
  • De er i krig med hinanden.
  • Det er Rødhætte med vin og kager til dig.

%CONC

DEFINITION: Concessive. Clausal role used for reason not regarded.
TYPICAL USE: Used little. See examples.
EXAMPLES:
  • Jeg er ligeglad med din ligtorn.

%COND

DEFINITION: Condition. Clausal role.
TYPICAL USE: Not used at present.
EXAMPLES: none

%CONT

DEFINITION: Content of container, material of which something is made, ingredient.
TYPICAL USE: PP w/ 'af', 'med'
EXAMPLES:
  • Haven er overgroet med ukrudt.
  • Der ligger en bunke af tøj i hjørnet.
  • Økologi-museet har ingen montrer med truede dyr.
  • Jeg vil gerne have en sodavand med brus.
  • Jeg ønsker mig en CD med harmonika-musik i julegave.
  • Heri røres 500 gram mel.

%DUMMY

DEFINITION: This is not part of the case-set. It is a help-tag that is put on constituents that are do not require tags, to prevent other cases to be ascribed.
TYPICAL USE: Idioms. Objects that are integral part of the predicate.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han havde lyst til at synge.

%EFF

DEFINITION: Clausal role used for effect
TYPICAL USE: Used very little.
EXAMPLES:
  • Pjækkeri er ensbetydende med afskedigelse.

%EV

DEFINITION: Event. To be used for the predicate (typically main verb). Also used for event-denoting nouns (including Type Coerced nouns in the terminology of Pustejovsky (1995)), that do not belong to a more specific clausal role (compare %TH.
TYPICAL USE: Main predicate: not implemented yet. Event-denoting nouns: either by virtue of noun-semantics, or as complement of certain verbs or adjectives
EXAMPLES:
  • Flytningen tog 3 timer.
  • Er du færdig med avisen?
  • Vil du hjælpe med klaveret.

%EXP

DEFINITION: Experiencer. The (conscious) being that senses an event or entity or entertains a thought.
TYPICAL USE: Subject of cognitive verbs/adjectives.
EXAMPLES:
  • Anders så ikke problemet.
  • Jeg troede bare ikke du ville.
  • Måske bør vi være glade for, at de kommer til Danmark.
  • Ham kan ingen holde af.
  • Jeg blev lidt underlig til mode.

%INSTR

DEFINITION: Instrument. The object used by an agent to carry out the action. The causal mediary between the agent and the patient.
TYPICAL USE:With certain verbs (use) and after 'med' (with).
EXAMPLES:
  • Han brugte hammeren til at smadre vasen.
  • Han smadrede vasen med hammeren.
  • Fodring med medbragt mad er ikke tilladt i flygtningelejren.
  • Guld er kun opløselig med kongevand.

%MOD

DEFINITION: Clausal role for manner.
TYPICAL USE: not used.
EXAMPLES: none.

%PAT

DEFINITION: The object acted upon. Compare: %TH, %EXP and %RES.
TYPICAL USE: Grammatical objects denoting physical entities.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han sparkede sin mor.
  • Sovsen blev ikke spist op.
  • Handel med mennesker er ikke tilladt.

%PURP

DEFINITION: Clausal role for purpose. The future event/state that is enabled by the event described in the predication. Compare: %CAUSE. (Previously %FIN.)
TYPICAL USE: Used little: see examples.
EXAMPLES:
  • Petersen kæmpede en kamp for en værdig død.
  • Alle butikker i Århus sælger efterhånden udstyr til bjergbestigning.
  • Danmark har meget store udgifter til sundhedsvæsenet.

%QUAL-RES

DEFINITION: The resulting quality. The state an entity enters. Compare: %QUAL-STATE
TYPICAL USE: Complements of subjects and objects in dynamic copula-sentences; after 'blive' (become).
EXAMPLES:
  • Man bliver gammel af at have børn.
  • Han har bollet hende tyk.
  • Skal vi ikke male Den Lille Havfrue gul?

%QUAL-STATE

DEFINITION:The state that an entity is in. Compare: %QUAL-RES and %TEMP-PL.
TYPICAL USE: Complements of subjects and objects, e.g. in static copula-sentences.
EXAMPLES:
  • Jeg er en meget talentfuld sanger.
  • Jeg vil gerne se ham fuld

%RES

DEFINITION: Resultative. The physical object that is created by an event. Compare: %TH and %PAT.
TYPICAL USE:Objects of certain verbs.
EXAMPLES:
  • Hun strikkede en sweater.
  • Den mur, som du har bygget, kan ikke holde til presset.
  • Hun sagde mange mærkelige ting, mens hun var syg.
  • Hun er gravid med en pige.

%TEMP-GL

DEFINITION: "Temporal Goal". The ending point in time for an event. Also metonymic ('undskyldning' in examples). Compare %TOP-PL, %TEMP-GL and %TEMP-SRC
TYPICAL USE: In temporal prepositional phrases.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han blev siddende til midnat.
  • Jeg venter på en undskyldning.
  • Forud for valget var der mange spekulationer om udlandets reaktioner.

%TEMP-PL

DEFINITION: "Temporal Place". The point or period in time that an event takes place. Also metonymic ('dessert' in examples). Compare %TOP-PL, %TEMP-GL and %TEMP-SRC. Overlaps %QUAL-STATE sometimes.
TYPICAL USE: In temporal prepositional phrases.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han kom kl. 4.
  • Han gik efter desserten.
  • Han blev i Ljubljana resten af sit liv.
  • Man skal stå op tidligt.
  • Vi boede i Polen under 1. Verdenskrig.
  • Han er under behandling med hormoner.

%TEMP-SRC

DEFINITION: "Temporal Source". The point or period in time that an event begins. Also metonymic ('Saxo' in examples). Compare %TOP-SRC, %TEMP-GL and %TEMP-PL
TYPICAL USE:
EXAMPLES:
  • Siden Saxo er det gået ned af bakke for dansk litteratur.
  • Der er åbent fra middag.

%TH

DEFINITION: "Theme". An entity that do not parttake physically in the causal flow of the event.
TYPICAL USE: This is somewhat of a garbage bin. I've used this for 2 different types of phenomena:
  1. subjects of copula (+stå,komme,hænge etc.)
  2. 'internal' objects, i.e. objects, that are not entities acted on (%PAT) or created (%RES), a) non-physical entities in certain contexts b) e.g. complements of Adj, and in other 'with respect to'-contexts.
EXAMPLES:
  • Hvem er det?
  • Der stod en lygtepæl lidt længere fremme.
  • Han er disponeret for sukkersyge og skal måske engang i behandling for det.
  • Toldsatsen for leguan-æg< stiger støt.

%TOP-PL

DEFINITION: "Topological Place". Point or area in space where event occurs. Compare %TEMP-PL, %TOP-GL and %TOP-SRC
TYPICAL USE: In prepositional phrases
EXAMPLES:
  • Han bor i Danmark.
  • bordet lå en avis.
  • Nord for Køge ligger en landsby.

%TOP-GL

DEFINITION: "Topological Goal". Point or area in space that is the point of termination of event. Compare %TEMP-GL, %TOP-GL and %TOP-SRC
TYPICAL USE: In prepositional phrases.
EXAMPLES:
  • Jeg er på vej til Memphis, Tennesee.
  • Blodet dryppede ned på gulvet.
  • Hun kom dybere og dybere ind i skoven.

%TOP-SRC

DEFINITION: "Topological Source". Point or area in space from where events emanate. Origin. Compare %TEMP-SRC, %TOP-GL and %TOP-PL
TYPICAL USE: In prepositional phrases.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han kommer fra Hjørring.
  • Han kørte bilen ud af garagen.

%UNDEF

DEFINITION: Not part of the case-set.
TYPICAL USE: To handle problem cases, that I can make rules for, but still haven't decided which case to assign.
EXAMPLES:
  • Han er fætter til Lars.