This paper introduces a taxonomy for creation verbs consisting in two main classes: create verbs and verbs of derived creation. Each class has subclasses which are discussed in detail. I argue that while verbs belonging to the first class have creation as their core sense, verbs of derived creation either have another sense as primary or are underspecified, and take on a creation reading only in verb-argument composition. The overall goal of the paper is to support this distinction through a corpus-informed qualitative analysis of the semantic and syntactic properties of a target set of verbs belonging to both classes. Particularly, starting from intuitive semantic groupings, I pin down the syntactic features shared by verbs belonging to each group and propose a classification at the syntax/semantic interface. Results of the analysis show that the proposed distinction is empirically grounded.
Classes of creation verbs
JEZEK, ELISABETTA
2014-01-01
Abstract
This paper introduces a taxonomy for creation verbs consisting in two main classes: create verbs and verbs of derived creation. Each class has subclasses which are discussed in detail. I argue that while verbs belonging to the first class have creation as their core sense, verbs of derived creation either have another sense as primary or are underspecified, and take on a creation reading only in verb-argument composition. The overall goal of the paper is to support this distinction through a corpus-informed qualitative analysis of the semantic and syntactic properties of a target set of verbs belonging to both classes. Particularly, starting from intuitive semantic groupings, I pin down the syntactic features shared by verbs belonging to each group and propose a classification at the syntax/semantic interface. Results of the analysis show that the proposed distinction is empirically grounded.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
