The nominal in light verb constructions: a corpus-based study in present-day English, German, Catalan and Spanish

Identifier:  TDX:4271

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4271

Authors:  Alvarez Morera, Georgina

Abstract:
This dissertation explores the light verb constructions (LVCs) in English, German, Catalan, and Spanish, with the aim to propose a unified cross-linguistic analysis of the nominal element in LVCs. The research focuses on a sample of 21,334 instances from annotated online corpora from the 21st century to analyse the morphosyntactic properties of the nominal element, particularly determination and modification patterns. The study reveals that most LVCs in all languages remain unmodified, though there is some variation. The corpus-based study also explores the relationship between LVCs and their synthetic verbal counterparts, primarily examining Catalan LVCs. The research demonstrates that the weight of the nominal plays a pivotal role, with bare unmodified nominals in LVCs being more interchangeable with synthetic verbs. Additionally, the study challenges the notion that the most frequent LVCs have specific lexicalized meanings or a semantic correlation with their synthetic verb counterparts. Instead, it suggests that LVCs coexist with synthetic verbs without these semantic constraints. Building on the corpus findings, I propose a typology within a neoconstructionist approach to argument structure, which focuses on the determination and modification possibilities within the nominal domain. The results suggest a compositional hierarchy, based on Grimshaw's (2005) concept of extended projection. The claim is that the syntactic structure of the nominal phrase itself determines the combinatorial patterns of the entire LVC, in contrast to previous studies that emphasize the role of the light verb in constraining the nominal element. In sum, the dissertation investigates LVCs in four languages to analyse their morphosyntactic properties, and the role of the nominal phrase's syntactic nature in shaping LVCs.