"Structural Meanings" in Early Utterances

J. J. Gibson, Cornell University

 

The World Wide Web distribution of James Gibson's "Purple Perils" is for scholarly use with the understanding that Gibson did not intend them for publication. References to these essays must cite them explicitly as unpublished manuscripts. Copies may be circulated if this statement is included on each copy.

Brown's Classification

I. Operations of reference

Nominations: e.g. "that book"

Notice: "Hi Children"

Recurrence: More meat, 'Nother raisin

Nonexistence: All gone juice, no more dog

II. Relations

Attributive: Ad. + N (big train)

Possessive: N + N (Mommy lunch)

Locative: N + N (sweater chair)

Locative: V + N (go store)

Agent-action: N + V (Adam write)

Agent-object: V + N (Mommy sock)

Action-object: V + N (ate meat)

Schlesinger's Classifications of Relations

Agent-action: N + V

Action-object: V + N

Agent-object: H + N

Modifiers

Negation

Datives (throw Daddy)

Ostension (Here, There, See)

Locatives

Gibson ñ Pickup of Structure or Relations (meaning)

Appearance

Disappearance

occlusion vs. "going out of existence" (All gone, no more)

Reappearance

recurrence or return

Attribution

of a property, e.g. size, color

Possessions

Location

Causality

Temporal relations (before, after, yesterday, etc.)

Negation?