Constructional meaning of verbo–nominal constructions in English and Croatian
Constructional meaning of verbo–nominal constructions in English and Croatian

Summary/Abstract: The research of the use of complex lexical and syntactic structures in English which contain the so–called light verbs such as have, take, give and make and deverbal nouns has shown some evidence of a network of meanings. This network is a result of combining the syntactic functions of intransitive verbs into a prototypical transitive construction by introducing the conceptual metaphor EVENTS ARE THINGS (look v. → (take) a look n.) and the process of schematization of light verbs. This process of the so–called predicate decomposition has been recorded in Croatian, too, as well as in many other languages. There is, however, an obvious detachment from the prototypical English structure, which points at the usage based value of Croatian constructions. It is derived from their contextually determined pragmatic meaning, which is particularly evident in functional styles such as administrative and journalese. Our approach to studying this type of constructions is based on the model of constructional meaning which proposes that the grammatical organization of language systematized by specific construction types forms a continuum of causal links. In that model the constructions are studied within a specific ecological niche (Taylor 2004) in which there is a mutual interaction of several construction types. They are the product of specific characteristics of the lexicon and the language typology. The stress is put on the usage–based model of language (Barlow and Kemmer 2000) which serves as a framework to compare the usage value of verbo–nominal constructions in the two languages. The principal goal of the study is to stress their constructional meaning at the expense of flouting the traditional division of syntactic and pragmatic meaning.

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