Change Namespace

Core Definition

Change frames foreground an affected entity (Patient/Theme) that comes to be in a new condition. Change is inherently telic: the new condition is the built-in endpoint of the event.

Two complementary views are packaged in this one namespace:

• Pure result — the event profiles only the achievement of a resultant state, with no dimension travelled: BECOME(State(Theme)). O vaso quebrou (The vase broke), A porta abriu (The door opened).
• Directed / dimensional — the event profiles a traversal along a named dimension, lexicalizing at least one endpoint (an Initial and/or a Final position): SHIFT(Theme, FROM(Initial), TO(Final), [ALONG(Path)]). The dimension may be spatial (motion — João foi para casa) or abstract (quality, category, situation, number, size — A igreja virou um clube).

Both views share a single core: an entity that is not the same after the event as it was before. Whether the frame additionally names an Initial and/or Final condition — and on which dimension — is what distinguishes its patterns within @change, not a reason to split it across namespaces.

Naming note. This namespace was previously called Inchoative. It was renamed to Change because "inchoative" names a grammatical alternation rather than an ontological view, whereas every other namespace is named by situation-type. The causative/inchoative alternation is now recorded as one property of Change (its Agentive-paired subset), not its definition.

Merge note. @change now also absorbs the former @transition namespace. The old result vs. traversal split between the two proved impossible to draw reliably for change-of-state frames (e.g. Becoming vs. Transition_to_a_state). Following Berkeley FrameNet, both are treated as one change domain, and the traversal/motion material lives here as internal subtypes.

Causation may be conceptually present but is not profiled. This is the core contrast with Agentive (result-branch) frames, which use the same verbs but with an Agent/Cause in subject position. Change sits in the causal chain Agentive (cause) → Change → resultant condition: a cause brings about a change, the entity passes into a new condition, and that condition then simply holds — as an attribution with a relation to the producing event (Attributes + rel_qualia; @attribute), not as @stative. @stative is reserved for a condition a force actively maintains, which is a different fact from a condition a change merely left behind — see Stative.

The change domain — situation, quality, category

Following Berkeley FrameNet, the domain cleanly separates three ways of construing a change, according to what about the entity or scene changes:

1. Holistic change of the situation — FEs Initial situation / Final situation:

   They ended up [taking the bus _{Final situation}].

2. Change in some quality of an entity — FEs Initial quality / Final quality:

   Londoners just grew [angrier _{Final quality}].

3. Change in the category of an entity — FEs Initial category / Final category:

   The church became [a nightclub _{Final category}].

The lexical units of this domain (become, transform, go, come, tornar-se, virar, transformar-se, …) differ in which of these FEs they allow. Every LU permits expression of the Final situation, quality, or category; some additionally focus on the before → after contrast and allow an Initial condition to be realized. In keeping with FrameNet's frame-separation policy, each alternation pattern is a distinct frame:

Reading the table: a + means the pattern admits that FE, – that it does not. The last column is the discriminator that most often matters — whether the frame realizes an Initial condition (the before stage), as the Undergoing_ frames do, or only the Final condition, as the Transition_/Becoming frames do.

From → to schema and dimensions

The directed/dimensional view generalizes the situation/quality/category picture to any named dimension with at least one endpoint lexicalized:

SHIFT(Theme, FROM(Initial), TO(Final), [ALONG(Path)])

The unifying insight. Transition_to_a_quality (Entity + Final_quality, no Initial) is the abstract-dimension analogue of chegar (Theme + Goal, no Source). Both are goal-profiling change — one on the location axis, one on the quality axis. This is what lets spatial motion and abstract state-change sit in a single namespace: they are the same from → to schema instantiated on different dimensions. The endpoint FEs need not both be present, nor both be core — what matters is that the frame lexicalizes a directed change along a dimension.

Scope

Includes — pure result (no dimension profiled):

• Physical state changes: O vaso quebrou, O gelo derreteu
• Property / scalar changes with no endpoints profiled: A situação melhorou, O produto encareceu
• Spatial / configurational changes: A porta abriu, O leque fechou
• Condition / status changes: João adoeceu, A fruta amadureceu
• Existential changes: O problema surgiu, A empresa desapareceu
• Phasal boundaries of a process — onset or offset (see Phasal / aspectual verbs): começar, terminar, parar

Includes — directed / dimensional (endpoint on a dimension profiled):

• Spatial motion: João foi para casa, Maria chegou ao Brasil
• Path-crossing: João saiu da sala, Maria atravessou a rua
• Possession transfer (change of location of control): A propriedade passou de João para Maria
• Category / role change: tornar-se, virar, transformar-se; Sofrer_transformação (Initial_category → Final_category)
• State / quality transition: Transition_to_a_state, Transition_to_a_quality, Becoming
• Scalar change with endpoints: A temperatura subiu de 20° para 30°; Expansão (Initial_size → Result_size)
• Directed development: Progressão, Ontogenia, Melhoria_ou_declínio (Prior_state → Post_state)
• Numeric change: Proliferar_em_número (Initial_number → Final_number)

Excludes — see other namespaces:

• Agent/Cause causing the change → Agentive (João quebrou o vaso; João abriu a porta)
• Volitional agent activity without state change → Agentive (João correu)
• Static, no-force properties → Attribute (O vaso é frágil)
• Bare locational predication, no force → Relational (João está em casa)
• Persistence of a process (no boundary crossed, a force actively holding it open) → Stative (continuar, durar)
• Entry into a mental state, experiencer/cognizer profiled → Experiential (João se apaixonou read as the experiencer's state)
• A Patient undergoing an event with an external instigator inherent to the scene (not spontaneous), the undergoing profiled rather than the achieved condition → Undergoing (A plantação sofreu com a seca; a casa pegou fogo)

Critical relationship to Agentive — the causative/inchoative alternation: Change and Agentive (result branch) are two perspectives on the same class of events:

• João abriu a porta → Agentive (Agent in subject; causation profiled)
• A porta abriu → Change (Theme in subject; causation backgrounded)

Internal axis — result vs. traversal (no longer a namespace boundary): What used to separate @change from @transition is now an internal subtype distinction. A @change frame may profile:

• the onset of a result condition with no dimensional axis (O vaso quebrou) — pure result;
• a directed change along a named dimension with an Initial and/or Final position as an FE (Sofrer_transformação, chegar) — dimensional;
• change of location specifically — motion (João foi para casa). The same verb can split by sense — João subiu a escada (spatial ascent, motion) vs. a temperatura subiu (value on a scale, dimensional) vs. a bare telic result with no scale (pure result) — but all three are @change.

Critical boundary — manner verbs: Portuguese is verb-framed: path is encoded in the verb root, manner is expressed as a separate adjunct (saiu correndo, not correu para fora). This has direct classification consequences:

• Manner verb + Goal/Source PP → Change (motion subtype) (João correu para casa)
• Manner verb alone, no path expression → Agentive (João correu)

Subtypes

By change type (pure-result and condition change):

By profiling (directed / dimensional change, spanning both dimensions):

Gradability:

quebrar is typically punctual (O vaso quebrou — instant); amadurecer is gradual (A fruta está amadurecendo); chegar is punctual, viajar durative.

Causative/change alternation: Most Change frames alternate with a transitive causative (an Agentive result-branch frame). Some do not:

• Alternating: abrir, quebrar, derreter, secar — the same change can be caused externally
• Non-alternating (intransitive only): morrer, surgir, florescer — change is inherently spontaneous; expressing a causer requires periphrasis (fazer com que)

Phasal / aspectual verbs

Phasal (aspectualizer) verbs take a process/event as their argument and profile a single point of its temporal structure. They split by whether a boundary is crossed:

A process has a temporal extent (start → run → end), which is why phasal verbs feel traversal-like; but the "mover" is the event itself and the axis is time, not a dimension of an affected entity's own properties. Onset/offset therefore fall to Change (a boundary BECOME); persistence falls to Stative.

Characteristic signature

The merged participant inventory. Pure-result change profiles Patient + Result; directed/dimensional change profiles Theme moving along a Source–Path–Goal (or Initial_X → Final_X) structure:

No Agent or Cause participant. The pure-result view shares its Patient+Result core with the Agentive result branch, minus the agentive role — this shared core is exactly the causative/change alternation, recorded as the Agentive ↔ Change perspective pair. The dimensional view adds an Initial/Source and optional Path; on the spatial dimension this is the Source-Path-Goal schema of @image_schema, on abstract dimensions the Initial_X → Final_X structure carried by FEs such as Initial_category/Final_category, Prior_state/Post_state, Initial_size/Result_size.

graph LR
    Event(("Event"))
    Patient["Patient<br/><i>TELIC</i><br/>subject position"]
    Result["Result<br/><i>FORMAL</i><br/>achieved endpoint"]

    Event -->|affects| Patient
    Patient -->|reaches| Result

    classDef core fill:#8B0000,stroke:#8B0000,color:#fff
    class Patient,Result core

graph LR
    Source["Source / Initial<br/><i>CONSTITUTIVE</i><br/>optional"]
    Theme["Theme<br/><i>TELIC</i>"]
    Path["Path<br/><i>CONSTITUTIVE</i>"]
    Goal["Goal / Final<br/><i>TELIC</i><br/>often profiled"]

    Theme -->|moves_from| Source
    Theme -->|along| Path
    Theme -->|moves_to| Goal

    classDef core fill:#8B0000,stroke:#8B0000,color:#fff
    classDef opt fill:#fff,stroke:#8B0000,stroke-dasharray:4 3,color:#8B0000
    class Theme,Path,Goal core
    class Source opt

Diagnostic Tests

Test 1 — Result condition (estar + participle)

Does the frame entail a specific resultant condition, verifiable after the event?

✓ O vaso quebrou → O vaso está quebrado → CHANGE
✓ A porta abriu → A porta está aberta → CHANGE
✗ João correu → *João está corrido (no stable result) → NOT CHANGE

Test 2 — BECOME / SHIFT decomposition

Can the verb be read as entity comes to be in condition X (pure result) or entity moves/shifts from X to Y along a dimension (dimensional/motion)?

✓ quebrar = BECOME(broken) → CHANGE (pure result)
✓ chegar = SHIFT(Theme, TO(Goal)) on location → CHANGE (motion)
✓ tornar-se = SHIFT(Theme, TO(Final_category)) on category → CHANGE (dimensional)
✗ existir ≠ BECOME/SHIFT → NOT CHANGE (Stative)
✗ correr ≠ BECOME/SHIFT (without path expression) → NOT CHANGE (Agentive)

Test 3 — Theme in subject, no Agent profiled

Is the affected entity in subject position, with no volitional Agent expressed?

✓ O gelo derreteu (Theme = gelo) → CHANGE
✗ João derreteu o gelo (Agent = João) → CAUSATIVE (Agentive)

Test 4 — Directionality (dimensional subtype)

When a dimension is profiled, does the frame encode inherent direction — toward a Final/Goal or away from an Initial/Source?

✓ entrar (toward Goal) → CHANGE (motion)
✓ Melhoria_ou_declínio (Prior_state → Post_state) → CHANGE (dimensional)
✗ estar (no direction encoded) → STATIVE

Test 5 — Manner vs. path (motion subtype vs. Agentive)

For a motion candidate, is a Source/Goal/Path expressed, or only bare manner?

✓ João foi DE casa PARA o trabalho → Source + Goal → CHANGE (motion)
✓ João correu para casa (manner verb + Goal) → CHANGE (motion)
✗ João correu (manner verb, no path) → AGENTIVE

Test 6 — Telicity

Does the event have a natural endpoint (bounded)?

✓ A água congelou em dez minutos (em X tempo — bounded) → CHANGE
✓ chegar ao Rio (arrival = inherent endpoint) → CHANGE
✗ A água fluiu por dez minutos (por X tempo — unbounded) → NOT CHANGE (Phenomenon / Activity)