Event and Result Nominals A Morpho-semantic Approach

335 Pages·2012·1.638 MB·English

by  Melloni, Chiara

The syntax and semantics of deverbal action nominals, notoriously s Chiara Melloni
l
ambiguous between event and result interpretation, have been a a
n
thought-provoking issue in many areas of theoretical linguistics. This mi Event and
volume contributes to current work on this topic by showing how
o
the analysis of these nouns can benefit from a morphological and
N
lexical-semantic treatment.

t Result Nominals
l
u
While being a revealing synthesis of a number of formal accounts on s
e
this popular research domain, this study specifically targets the largely
R
unexplored area of result nouns and addresses several crucial issues. A Morpho-semantic Approach
d
What are result nouns in a strictly lexical-semantic perspective? Why
n
do some verb classes allow ambiguous event/result nominal correlates, a

while others do not? What are the relevant verbal features involved t
n
in result noun formation? Is there a range of predictability in the number e
v
and types of meaning conveyed by a derived nominal?
E
Couched within a framework of decompositional lexical semantic,

the analysis offers original formal solutions to the polysemy issues ni
arising in this word formation domain and convincingly argues in favor o
l
of the semantic alignment between the morphologically simplex and el
M
complex lexicon. A compelling range of Italian data provides empirical
support to the author’s claims.
a
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a
i
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C
Chiara Melloni is Assistant Professor of General Linguistics at the
University of Verona. Her research interests cover the fields of morphol-
ogy and lexical semantics, and her investigations focus on the formal
and semantic properties of the morphologically complex lexicon. In
particular, her work concentrates on word formation phenomena,
such as nominalization and compounding. Her scientific production
g
n
has been published in several international journals and miscellanies.
a
L

r
e
t
e
P
ISBN 978-3-0343-0658-4
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
The syntax and semantics of deverbal action nominals, notoriously s
l
ambiguous between event and result interpretation, have been a a
n
thought-provoking issue in many areas of theoretical linguistics. This mi Event and
volume contributes to current work on this topic by showing how
o
the analysis of these nouns can benefit from a morphological and
N
lexical-semantic treatment.

t Result Nominals
l
u
While being a revealing synthesis of a number of formal accounts on s
e
this popular research domain, this study specifically targets the largely
R
unexplored area of result nouns and addresses several crucial issues. A Morpho-semantic Approach
d
What are result nouns in a strictly lexical-semantic perspective? Why
n
do some verb classes allow ambiguous event/result nominal correlates, a

while others do not? What are the relevant verbal features involved t
n
in result noun formation? Is there a range of predictability in the number e
v
and types of meaning conveyed by a derived nominal?
E
Couched within a framework of decompositional lexical semantic,

the analysis offers original formal solutions to the polysemy issues ni
arising in this word formation domain and convincingly argues in favor o
l
of the semantic alignment between the morphologically simplex and el
M
complex lexicon. A compelling range of Italian data provides empirical
support to the author’s claims.
a
r
a
i
h
C
Chiara Melloni is Assistant Professor of General Linguistics at the
University of Verona. Her research interests cover the fields of morphol-
ogy and lexical semantics, and her investigations focus on the formal
and semantic properties of the morphologically complex lexicon. In
particular, her work concentrates on word formation phenomena,
such as nominalization and compounding. Her scientific production
g
n
has been published in several international journals and miscellanies.
a
L

r
e
t
e
P
Event and
Result Nominals

Chiara Melloni
Event and
Result Nominals
A Morpho-semantic Approach
PETER LANG
Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Oxford • Wien
Bibliographic information published by die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet
at ‹http://dnb.d-nb.de›.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book
is available from The British Library, Great Britain
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Melloni, Chiara
Event and result nominals : a morpho-semantic approach / Chiara Melloni.
p. cm.
Originally presented as the author’s thesis (doctoral-University of Verona)
under the title: Polysemy in word formation: the case of deverbal nominals.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0658-4
1. Grammar, Comparative and general–Nominals. 2. Semantics. 3. Language
and languages–Word formation. 4. Grammar, Comparative and general–Word
formation. 5. Typology (Linguistics) I. Title.
P271.M45 2012
415‘.5–dc23
2011044866
Published with a grant from the Departimento di Filologia,
Letteratura e Linguistica of the University of Verona.
Cover illustration: from iStockphoto © by Phillip Jones
Cover design: Thomas Jaberg, Peter Lang, Bern
ISBN 978-3-0343-0658-4 E‐ISBN 978‐3‐0351‐0335‐9
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2011
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[email protected], www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
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Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission
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This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage
and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Switzerland
Contents
Acknowledgements..............................................................................ix
Abbreviations and Marking Conventions..........................................xiii
1 Aims and orientation........................................................................1
1.1 Stating the problem...................................................................1
1.1.1 Action/State Nominals...................................................1
1.1.2 Semantic ambiguity: E and R nominals.........................3
1.1.3 Result or referential nominals?......................................5
1.1.4 General questions...........................................................7
1.2 Theoretical background............................................................8
1.2.1 Lexical meaning is not (only) a pragmatic matter.........8
1.2.2 Towards a lexical-semantic theory of word formation....10
1.3 Data and scope of the research...............................................13
1.4 Outline....................................................................................15
2 Generative approaches to nominalization......................................17
2.1 On the derivation of nominals................................................18
2.1.1 Transformationalist vs. lexicalist debate......................18
2.1.1.1 Grimshaw’s analysis and diagnostics.............21
2.1.1.2 Criticism of Grimshaw’s analysis...................29
2.1.2 Neo-transformational approaches to nominalizations.....34
2.1.2.1 The VP analysis:
Borer’s account of nominalizations................35
2.1.2.2 Criticism of Borer’s accounts.........................41
2.1.3 Preliminary remarks and questions..............................44
2.2 Lexical semantics and nominalizations..................................46
2.2.1 Bierwisch’s semantic templates...................................46
2.2.2 Dot-object nominals: Pustejovsky’s (1995).................51
2.2.2.1 Some notes on Pustejovsky’s account............56
2.2.3 Asher (1993): Argument-transforming vs.
argument-preserving nominals.....................................60
2.3 Concluding remarks and questions.........................................65
3 Suffixes and co-indexation............................................................69
3.1 Introduction............................................................................69
3.2 Italian nominalizing suffixes:
formal and semantic properties..............................................70
3.2.1 Formal and stylistic preferences of selection...............71
3.2.2 Semantic ambiguity and competition among suffixes.....74
3.3 The theoretical framework.....................................................77
3.3.1 Lieber’s (2004) lexical semantic model.......................78
3.3.2 Previous analysis:
Lieber and Baayen’s (1999) account............................83
3.4 E nominalizing suffixes..........................................................88
3.4.1 Verbal Actionality: an issue of inheritance..................88
3.4.1.1 Situation types.................................................89
3.4.1.2 Actional properties of E nouns.......................94
3.4.2 The semantic contribution
of E suffixes in Lieber’s model..................................102
3.4.3 Simple event nouns....................................................105
3.5 R nominalizing suffixes........................................................107
3.5.1 R nominals: a semantically heterogeneous class.......108
3.5.1.1 Product..........................................................108
3.5.1.2 Means............................................................111
3.5.1.3 Entity in State................................................112
3.5.1.4 Path and Measure..........................................116
3.5.1.5 Sense Extensions...........................................120
3.5.1.6 Summary.......................................................130
3.5.2 The semantic contribution
of R suffixes in Lieber’s model..................................133
3.5.2.1 The situational character of R suffixes.........136
3.5.2.2 Polysemy in the simple
and complex lexicon.....................................140
3.5.3 More on the body of R nominals:
the Qualia Structure....................................................146
3.6 Co-indexation.......................................................................153
3.6.1 Co-indexation with E suffixes: the Event argument......156
3.6.2 Co-indexation with R suffixes:
beyond argument structure.........................................159
3.7 Concluding remarks..............................................................164
vi
4 Base verbs and semantic constraints............................................167
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................167
4.2 On the representation of verb semantics..............................168
4.2.1 Pustejovsky’s event structure.....................................169
4.2.2 Rappaport Hovav and Levin: Templates and Roots....174
4.2.3 Telicity, incrementality and PATH nominals..............177
4.2.4 Interim Summary.......................................................183
4.3 Towards a PRODUCT-oriented verb classification................184
4.3.1 Creation or result-object verbs...................................186
4.3.1.1 Verbs of creation or the costruire class.........187
4.3.2 Semantic constraints and Qualia Structure................191
4.3.3 Creation verbs by representation and modification.....196
4.3.3.1 Creation by representation............................196
4.3.3.2 Creation by modification..............................203
4.3.4 Summary....................................................................208
4.3.5 Appendix: Other non-prototypical creation verbs......211
4.3.5.1 Verbs of assembling and combining.............211
4.3.5.2 Speech act verbs............................................213
4.3.5.3 Mental action verbs.......................................214
4.3.5.4 Verbs of emission.........................................216
4.3.5.5 Verbs of appearance......................................217
4.4 Non PRODUCT-ive verbs.......................................................218
4.4.1 Activity verbs.............................................................220
4.4.2 Directed motion verbs and PATH reading...................224
4.4.3 Non PRODUCT-ive change of state verbs....................226
4.4.4 Consumption/destruction verbs..................................227
4.4.5 Summary....................................................................230
4.5 State verbs and entity in state nominals...............................231
4.5.1 Verbs of propositional attitude...................................232
4.5.2 Verbs of existence and spatial configuration.............233
4.5.3 ENTITY IN STATE nominals and (non-)sentience...........234
4.6 Concluding remarks..............................................................239
5 Verbal skeletons and co-indexation.............................................241
5.1 Introduction..........................................................................241
5.2 The skeleton of situations.....................................................242
5.2.1 Situations in Lieber’s system.....................................242
vii
5.2.2 Implementing Lieber’s taxonomy:
D-Path arguments…...................................................249
5.2.3 … and Event Co-identification..................................252
5.2.4 The skeleton of situations in the present study..........256
5.3 Co-indexation: Towards a formal representation.................258
5.3.1 Co-indexation in E nominalizations...........................260
5.3.2 Co-indexation in R nominalizations...........................267
5.3.2.1 PRODUCT interpretation................................268
5.3.2.2 Path interpretation.........................................282
5.3.2.3 Entity in state interpretation..........................286
5.3.2.4 MEANS and PSYCH STIMULUS
as ENTITIES IN STATE....................................288
5.4 Concluding remarks..............................................................296
6 Conclusion...................................................................................299
References.........................................................................................303
viii