Preverbs in Complex Denominal Verbs

In this paper I argue that certain complex denominal verbs in Germanic languages (cf. Germ. vergärtnern ('to away-garden')) do not involve a lexical adjunction of a preverb to a denominal base (Stiebels (1998)), but are better analyzed as instantiations of a lexical subordination process (...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mateu Fontanals, Jaume|||0000-0003-4469-9944
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2001
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:2231
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/2231
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Lexical syntax
Argument structure
Conflation processes
Complex denominal verbs
Sintaxi lèxica
Estructura argumental
Processos de conflació
Verbs denominals complexos
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper I argue that certain complex denominal verbs in Germanic languages (cf. Germ. vergärtnern ('to away-garden')) do not involve a lexical adjunction of a preverb to a denominal base (Stiebels (1998)), but are better analyzed as instantiations of a lexical subordination process (Spencer and Zaretskaya (1998)). Accordingly, the preverb is to be regarded as part of the main thematic structure, the denominal verb being the subordinate predicate. Unlike Spencer and Zaretskaya (1998), I argue that the lexical subordination process involves a syntactic operation, rather than a semantic one. Basically, the empirical evidence in favor of the present lexical-syntactic approach (cf. Hale and Keyser (1993, ff.)) to the formation of complex denominal verbs is drawn from Talmy's (1985, 1991) typological work on conflation processes. Adopting such a typological perspective I put forward a syntactic explanation of why Romance languages lack those complex denominal verbs involving a lexical subordination process.