Support (= Light) Verbs
Support (= Light) Verbs
Author(s): Igor Mel’čukSubject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Syntax, Lexis, Phraseology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: english; syntax; phraseology; paraphrasing; support verbs; lexical functions; collocations; the quasi-direct-objectival surface-syntactic relation
Summary/Abstract: The paper proposes a formal definition of support verb as (roughly) a semantically empty verb serving as a syntactic “prop” to a predicative noun such that the phrase V(support)(N) + N is synonymous with the verb V0 derived form N: ‘V(support)(N) + N’ = ‘V0(N)’, as in ‘to give an order’ = ‘to order’ or ‘to receive an order’ = ‘to be ordered’. The following points are discussed: support verbs as collocates, representation of support verbs in terms of lexical functions, semantic and syntactic properties of support verbs, semantic additions to support verbs (in particular, causation and phasic meanings), realization verbs, and the role of support verbs in theoretical and applied linguistics.
Journal: Neophilologica
- Issue Year: 2022
- Issue No: 34
- Page Range: 1-30
- Page Count: 30
- Language: English
