Valency of the Verb diskutuoti and disputuoti in Contemporary Lithuanian Language

Abstract

The object of this article are the verbs diskutuoti (eng. discuss) and disputuoti (eng. dispute). The aim is to investigate their combinability from the perspective of valency, using the data from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language (CCLL). The 600 examples analyzed, which include different forms of the verb diskutuoti and the verb disputuoti from the CCLL and the Internet, reveal the similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic valency of these verbs.
Recognizing that meanings have no strict boundaries, and considering that the meaning of a predicate becomes clear in a sentence and that the semantic structure of a sentence represents a certain interpretation of a situation, the verb diskutuoti have several meanings in the aspect of valence: ‘1. to exchange opinions and points of view in a conversation, discussion, to share opinions, points of view’, ‘2. to have an opinion, an view on a certain issue, topic’, ‘3. to talk argumentativily, to argue, to disagree, to reach an agreement on a particular issue, topic’, ‘4. to talk in details, to discuss in consultation with each other deliberate; dispute’.
In cases where the diskutuoti is used in the meaning of ‘1. to exchange opinions and points of view in a conversation, discussion, to share opinions, points of view’, and the agent subject is said in the plural form of a noun or a word used in a noun, it is monovalent (People discuss with each other again). Bivalent diskutuoti ‘1. to exchange opinions and points of view in a conversation, discussion, to share opinions, points of view’ controls the necessary agent subject and the indirect object corresponding to the comitative, expressed by the construction with preposition su.
Syntactic actants for bivalent diskutuoti ‘2. to have an opinion, an view on a certain issue, topic’ are told by the nominative of the subject and the construction with preposition su of the indirect object; semantic valence – [Pcp, Concom] (Jonas discusses with the author‘s interpretation).
Trivalent diskutuoti ‘3. to talk argumentativily, to argue, to disagree, to reach an agreement on a particular issue, topic’ requires the agent‘s subject, indirect objects corresponding to the functions of comitative and contentive. In the sentence, the comitative is expressed by the preposition su, and the contentive is optionally expressed by the preposition apie or dėl (Onutė discusses with the economist about cabbage / on the principles of nutrition). The latter can be replaced by a subordinate clause or a construction with question, topic, etc. In cases where the subject used to discuss is said in the plural form of the word that corresponds to the agent, the verb diskutuoti is bivalent, i.e. [A, Con].
The verb diskutuoti using the meaning ‘4. to talk in details, to discuss in consultation with each other deliberate; dispute’, syntactic actants are expressed by the plural nominative of the subject and the acusative of the direct object; semantic valence – [A, Con].
From the few examples found with the verb disputuoti, it became clear that several meanings of this verb are possible in terms of valence. Bivalent disputuoti ‘1. dispute to exchange, sharing opinions, points of view’ governs the necessary subject of the agent and the indirect object corresponding to the comitative, expressed by the construction with preposition su (John disputes with the professor in English). Bivalent disputuoti ‘2. to dispute, to question whether something is true’ or something like that syntactic actants are told by the nominative of the subject and the acusative of the direct object; semantic valence – [A, Con] (Jonas disputed theses). Trivalent disputuoti ‘3. argue, disagree’ or the like requires the agent’s subject and indirect objects corresponding to the functions of comitative and contentive. In the sentence, the comitative is expressed by the necessary preposition su, while the contentive is optionally expressed by the construction of the preposition apie or dėl (Women are disputing with men about faith / on their role in society). These prepositional constructions can be replaced by a subordinate clause or by a construction with question, topic, etc.