L-syntax and phono-symbolism: on the status of ideophones in complex predicates

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovico Franco
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
The Status ◽  
Adjacent Position ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Direct Objects

AbstractIn this article, the author demonstrates that verbal compound constructions involving an ideophone and a light verb represent a widespread syntactic device in the world's languages. The author provides evidence that phono-symbolic morphemes cannot be treated as ‘bare’ direct objects in such constructions. Ideophones appearing in the light verb-adjacent position form a semantic unit with the verbal predicate, despite the fact that in some languages they can be syntacticized as (bare) nouns and appear in argumental position. Specifically, ideophones in complex predicates are part of the verbal domain with which they ‘blend’ (yielding a single predicate) through the mechanism of conflation, along the lines of Hale and Keyser (1993, 2002), and building on Ramchand (2008).

scholarly journals Noun Preverbs in Complex Predicates

Nordlyd ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Pantcheva
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Syntactic Status

In this paper, I propose a syntax-based analysis of Persian complex predicates (a predicate consisting of a so called preverb and a light verb). I adopt the framework of the verbal First Phase Syntax developed by Ramchand (2008). I use complex predicates with the light verb <em>zædæn</em> `hit' to illustrate how this approach sheds light on some widely discussed issues in the literature. The problem I mainly focus on is the syntactic status of noun preverbs. In general, noun preverbs exhibit properties typically ascribed to direct objects (Samvelian 2001; 2004), while at the same time being distinct from real arguments of the verb (Megerdoomian 2006). I suggest that noun preverbs can occupy more than one position in the verbal phrase and show how this analysis captures their dual nature, as well as some other syntactic and semantic peculiarities.

scholarly journals Passives and impersonals

2003 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES P. BLEVINS
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Human Agent ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
The Status ◽  
Direct Objects

This paper argues that the term ‘passive’ has been systematically misapplied to a class of impersonal constructions that suppress the realization of a syntactic subject. The reclassification of these constructions highlights a typological contrast between two types of verbal diathesis and clarifies the status of putative ‘passives of unaccusatives’ and ‘transitive passives’ in Balto-Finnic and Balto-Slavic. Impersonal verb forms differ from passives in two key respects: they are insensitive to the argument structure of a verb and can be formed from unergatives or unaccusatives, and they may retain direct objects. As with other subjectless forms of personal verbs, there is a strong tendency to interpret the suppressed subject of an impersonal as an indefinite human agent. Hence impersonalization is often felicitous only for verbs that select human subjects.

The syntax of argument structure: Evidence from Italian complex predicates

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAFFAELLA FOLLI ◽  
HEIDI HARLEY
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Light Verbs ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Syntactic Approach ◽  
The Subject

This paper provides an analysis of Italian complex predicates formed by combining a feminine nominalization in -ata and one of three light verbs: fare ‘make’, dare ‘give’ and prendere ‘take’. We show that the constraints governing the choice of light verb follow from a syntactic approach to argument structure, and that several interpretive differences between complex and simplex predicates formed from the same verb root can be accounted for in a compositional, bottom–up approach. These differences include variation in creation vs. affected interpretations of Theme objects, implications concerning the size of the event described, the (un)availability of a passive alternant, and the agentivity or lack thereof of the subject argument.

scholarly journals Non-Verbal Predicate in English: Evidence from Iraqi Nominal Sentences

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Saif Abdulwahed Jawad Alabaeeji
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Inductive Method ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Government

The fact that Iraqi nominal sentences are expressed without a verbal element has led the author to examine the status of the copula (be) in English. The aim is to reach at an explanation as to why Iraqi does not use a copula while English does. Explanation of this sort is significant because it has some direct implications on English language teaching and translation in Iraq. Using inductive method of reasoning, it has been established that tracing grammatical properties such as tense and agreement may lead to find-out the reason behind this cross-linguistic variation and subsequently reach at a generalization that maybe applicable to other languages. The latter is an issue that remains open for further research. While placing the discussion within the parameters of the Government and Binding (GB) theory, the author concluded the reason as non-verbal predication in Iraqi, unlike English, can support a combination of these grammatical properties and thus rendering the need for a copula redundant.

Verb verb complex predicates in Old and Middle Japanese

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Hirofumi Aoki ◽  
Bjarke Frellesvig
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

This chapter describes the main features of Verb Verb complex predicates in Old and Middle Japanese (8th to 16th centuries) and discusses changes that took place between Old Japanese and Modern Japanese. Old Japanese had complex verbal predicate constructions which resemble the Modern Japanese Types 1–3, and in addition a V1 aktionsart verb construction, which is not found in later stages and which is hypothesized to have played a crucial role in the development of complex predicates in Japanese. The wordhood of complex verbal predicates is addressed. Verb Verb complex predicates did not constitute tight morphological units in Old and Early Middle Japanese, but developed into morphological words in Late Middle and Modern Japanese. It is proposed that the loss of subordinating function of the infinitive played an important part in this change. It is also observed that the Modern Japanese Type 4 (Vte V) is a Late Middle Japanese innovation which is not a prototypical complex predicate verb construction but rather an auxiliary verb construction.

Complex predicates, simple inflecting verbs, and “uninflecting verbs” in Pre-Basque

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1609-1658
Author(s):  
Gontzal Aldai
Keyword(s):  
Exact Nature ◽  
Small Class ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Form Complex ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
The Last Two Millennia

AbstractHow might Basque have looked before it came in contact with Latin? This interesting line of research may give us an idea of what the pre-Indo-European languages of Europe might have looked like, and it may help clarify how much contact-induced change Basque might have undergone during the last two millennia or so. The present paper puts forward the hypothesis that, towards the end of the Era (BC), Pre-Basque used to have a small class of verbs. These verbs were inflected for person and tense-aspect (although we know little about the specific characteristics of this inflectional system). Together with this small class of verbs, Pre-Basque had a larger group of uninflecting elements that combined with the inflecting verbs to form complex predicates. The group of uninflecting elements included bare nouns, adjectives, possibly adverbs, ideophones, and what I will call “uninflecting verbs”. The exact nature of these “uninflecting verbs” is hard to determine at this point, but they may have constituted a distinct part of speech. Certainly, this type of verbal organization is reminiscent of one common in Northern Australia. Thus, this paper also compares the reconstruction proposed for Pre-Basque with the verbal system typical in Northern Australian languages, to conclude that the similarities are remarkable and, therefore, that the verbal organization of Pre-Basque was quite different from that of the modern Western European languages, including Modern Basque.

‘Have’ in English and Romance

2021 ◽  
pp. 495-532
Author(s):  
John Charles Smith
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Epistemic Modal ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Progressive Loss ◽  
The Status

This paper compares and contrasts the forms and usage of the verb ‘have’ in different varieties of English and Romance. ‘Have’ may serve as a verb of possession, a perfect auxiliary, a deontic modal, and a presentative in both English and Romance. However, its English uses as an epistemic modal, as a dynamic light verb, and as a causative have no counterparts in Romance, whilst the ‘double perfect’ of many Romance varieties is absent from English. Although restricted to certain varieties, parallels may be noted between English and some Romance languages (dissociation of auxiliary and possessive ‘have’; progressive loss of past participle agreement and of the competing auxiliary ‘be’ in the perfect; apparent ‘aoristic drift’). The paper concludes by discussing the significance of the data for the distinction between main verbs and auxiliaries; the status of ‘have’, particularly as a verb of possession; and the nature of grammaticalization.

scholarly journals The diachrony of complex predicates

Diachronica ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Bowern
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Light Verbs ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Stable Structures ◽  
State Of The Field

While complex predicate constructions, including light verb structures and verb serialisation, are found in many of the world’s languages, there has been little diachronic work on these structures to date. In this paper I survey the state of the field and describe current ideas on the origins and development of complex predicates. In particular, I show that the assumption of cline-like development from parataxis to affix (through serialisation, light verbs and auxiliation) is too simplistic. Finally, I review arguments in favor of and against views of light verbs as stable structures.

scholarly journals First Phase Syntax of Persian Complex Predicates: Argument Structure and Telicity

Nordlyd ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Pantcheva
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Light Verbs ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Light Verb

In this paper, I propose an analysis of Persian complex predicates, based on the First Phase Verbal syntax developed by Ramchand (2008). I suggest that the light verbs lexicalize the subevent heads into which the verbal phrase is decomposed, while the preverbal element occupies the Rheme position and semantically unifies with the light verb to build one joint predication. Further, I propose a feature specification for some of the most productive light verbs. I argue that the light verb is responsible for the argument structure of the entire predicate (in line with Megerdoomian 2002b, Folli et al. 2005), while the aspectual properties of the complex predicate depend on the interaction between the preverb and the light verb.

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