On correlations between range in verb descriptivity and syntactic applicability

Title: On correlations between range in verb descriptivity and syntactic applicability
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2016, vol. 42, iss. 1, pp. [23]-47
Extent
[23]-47
  • ISSN
    0524-6881 (print)
    1805-0867 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
 

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Abstract(s)
The paper attempts to identify factors underlying apparent correlations between the level of descriptivity in verbs of self-agentive locomotion and the range of syntactic constructions in which these verbs may occur. While it has become clear that event structure theories provide a partial account of the connections between verbal semantics and syntactic behaviour, Boas's account (2006, 2008), deriving from the theory elaborated by Snell-Hornby (1983), would seem to be on the right track in offering a more fine-grained analysis of verbal lexical semantic structure. What remains to be answered is which elements of a verb's meaning are syntactically relevant and what underlies their sensitivity to syntax. The paper argues that an account of a verb's syntactic applicability must appeal to the interaction between the verb's lexical semantic structure and the causal structuration of a situation as encoded in a given construction.
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