On correlations between range in verb descriptivity and syntactic applicability

Vol.42,No.1(2016)

Naděžda Kudrnáčová

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2016-1-2

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/136082

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Abstract
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.

Keywords:
verbs of self-agentive locomotion; verbal lexical semantic structure; syntactic alternations; constructional meaning; syntactically relevant elements of verbal meaning; causal structuration

Pages:
23–47
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