Class schemas
Summarising Langacker’s model of word classes so far, we have seen that a noun designates a THING and a verb designates a TEMPORAL RELATION (a PROCESS). We look at verbs in more detail in the next chapter. Nouns and verbs therefore comprise two of Langacker’s major word classes. The third major class contains ATEMPORAL RELATIONS. An adjective designates an ATEMPORAL RELATION and has a THING as its TR, while an adverb designates an ATEMPORAL RELATION and has a RELATION as its TR. The relation can either be a PROCESS or an ATEMPORAL RELATION, since adverbs can also modify adjectives (for example, incredibly funny). The two subclasses adjective and adverb are ‘special’ in the sense that their LM is implicit in the relation itself. An adposition designates an ATEMPORAL RELATION that has its LM elaborated by the nominal predication that either precedes it (in the case of postpositions) or follows it (in the case of prepositions). Non-finite verb forms designate ATEMPORAL RELATIONS that have either a THING or a PROCESS as their LM, since these expressions can modify either nouns, verbs or clauses.
We have also established three basic class schemas, which are represented in (10), (15) and (28). These are represented by the diagrams in Figure 16.4, which summarise the schematic conceptual content of each of the three major categories.
In Figure 16.4(a), the circle represents the THING that a nominal predication designates. In Figure 16.4(b), the ATEMPORAL RELATION is represented as a line connecting TR and LM, which are part of the schematic representation of an ATEMPORAL RELATION. For example, if the ATEMPORAL RELATION is a preposition, the TR and the LM are the two nouns related by the preposition. In Figure 16.4(c), the TEMPORAL RELATION or PROCESS is also represented as a relation connecting TR and LM (we’ll see more about how verbs do this in the next chapter). The crucial difference between the ATEMPORAL RELATION (STATE) and the TEMPORAL RELATION (PROCESS) is that the latter is specified as having a temporal profile. In other words, the PROCESS is sequentially scanned through time; this is represented by the arrow in the diagram. We conclude this section with the diagram in Figure 16.5, a simplified version of which was originally introduced in Chapter 15. This diagram summarises Langacker’s model of word classes.
