The semantic selection of the manner adverb "bem" (“well”) reveals an event structure in verb phrases
This study analyzes bem (well) in its use as a manner adverb when modifying verb phrases in Brazilian Portuguese. Taking the perspective that verb phrases can be broken down into a syntactically represented event structure, we argue that the manner adverb bem semantically selects durative sub-events...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Estado: | Versão publicada |
| Data de publicação: | 2022 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Recursos: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) |
| Repositório: | Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos |
| Idioma: | português |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ojs.periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br:article/8666991 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/cel/article/view/8666991 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Manner adverb "bem" Event structure Semantic selection of modifiers Estructura del evento Selección semántica de modificadores Adverbio bien (PB) Advérbio de maneira bem (PB) Estrutura de eventos Seleção semântica de modificadores |
| Resumo: | This study analyzes bem (well) in its use as a manner adverb when modifying verb phrases in Brazilian Portuguese. Taking the perspective that verb phrases can be broken down into a syntactically represented event structure, we argue that the manner adverb bem semantically selects durative sub-events (states or processes) and will always be allowed in verb phrases which have some durative component in their event structure. At the end, we show how this perspective even explains the occurrences of the adverb under analysis in verb phrases headed by verbs typically classified as achievements. This study therefore provides not only a robust description of the properties of bem as a manner adverb, but also an argument in favor of treating the structure of the verb phrase not as a syntactic structure projected by an item, but as a syntactic and semantic arrangement into which a verb root may be allowed. |
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