<div dir="ltr">Dear Christian,<div>still keeping in mind Seiler's slogan that "language is a problem solving system", I think (and I suppose that you too are of the same mind !) that an onomasiological approach to linguistic phenomena is basic and unavoidable. The problem is how to elaborate language-independent notions as 'need', or Anna Wierzbicka's semantic primitives (if they do exist), or also metalinguistic concepts like 'avertive verb' and 'uerba timendi'. I have no definite answer, but I believe that cognitive linguistics may help a lot in understanding this kind of problem. Of course, a cognitive approach shouldn't be aprioristic: the starting point will always be the accurate observation of linguistic <u>facts.</u></div><div>.Best,</div><div>Paolo</div><div> <br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Prof. Dr. Paolo Ramat</span><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><div>Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Socio corrispondente<br><div>'Academia Europaea'</div><div>'Societas Linguistica Europaea', Honorary Member</div></div><div><div>Università di Pavia (retired)</div><div>Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS Pavia) (retired)</div></div><div><br></div></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">piazzetta Arduino 11 - I 27100 Pavia</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">##39 0382 27027</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">347 044 98 44</div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Il giorno ven 1 lug 2022 alle ore 10:42 Christian Lehmann <<a href="mailto:christian.lehmann@uni-erfurt.de" target="_blank">christian.lehmann@uni-erfurt.de</a>> ha scritto:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
For a start, I am ready to agree that Fillmorean semantic roles are
a bit outdated. Still, some of them, like recipient, experiencer or
possessor, may be met in publications to this day. So this question
is directed to those of you who think that under suitable
conditions, it makes sense to speak of semantic roles (or whatever
you prefer to name them).<br>
<br>
What is the role of the participant that needs something? On the one
hand, Latin <i>carere</i> and <i>egere</i> mean 'to not have'.
This would seem to involve a possessor. On the other hand, Cabecar <i>kiana̱</i>
means 'be wanted' and <i>shë́na̱</i> means ‘be missed’. This would
seen to involve an experiencer (a pretty ill-defined role, anyway).<br>
<br>
Such evidence from descriptive linguistics may imply that the
presupposition of my question, viz. that there is a
language-independent notion of 'need', is not fulfilled. This would
be a pity, as it would render a comparative investigation of the
kind 'how is the notion of "X needs Y" coded cross-linguistically'
(in the spirit, e.g., of the Leipzig valency database) more
complicated or even - from a theoretical point of view - impossible.<br>
<br>
Grateful for any helpful suggestions,<br>
Christian<br>
<div>-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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