English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary InvestigationUniversity of Chicago Press, 1993 - 348 Seiten In this rich reference work, Beth Levin classifies over 3,000 English verbs according to shared meaning and behavior. Levin starts with the hypothesis that a verb's meaning influences its syntactic behavior and develops it into a powerful tool for studying the English verb lexicon. She shows how identifying verbs with similar syntactic behavior provides an effective means of distinguishing semantically coherent verb classes, and isolates these classes by examining verb behavior with respect to a wide range of syntactic alternations that reflect verb meaning. The first part of the book sets out alternate ways in which verbs can express their arguments. The second presents classes of verbs that share a kernel of meaning and explores in detail the behavior of each class, drawing on the alternations in the first part. Levin's discussion of each class and alternation includes lists of relevant verbs, illustrative examples, comments on noteworthy properties, and bibliographic references. The result is an original, systematic picture of the organization of the verb inventory. Easy to use, English Verb Classes and Alternations sets the stage for further explorations of the interface between lexical semantics and syntax. It will prove indispensable for theoretical and computational linguists, psycholinguists, cognitive scientists, lexicographers, and teachers of English as a second language. |
Inhalt
Alternations | 25 |
Alternations Involving Arguments Within the VP | 45 |
Oblique Subject Alternations | 79 |
Reflexive Diathesis Alternations | 84 |
Other Constructions | 95 |
Verbs Requiring Special Diatheses | 107 |
10 | 121 |
8 | 130 |
36 | 200 |
533 | 201 |
38 | 212 |
Verbs Involving the Body | 217 |
Verbs of Grooming and Bodily Care | 227 |
43 | 233 |
Destroy Verbs | 239 |
Lodge Verbs | 248 |
13 | 137 |
15 | 145 |
222 | 154 |
22235 | 168 |
2823 | 179 |
32 | 194 |
Verbs of Appearance Disappearance and Occurrence | 258 |
52 | 270 |
57 | 276 |
313 | |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
Alternating Verbs Alternation References Alternation some verbs argument Body-Part Object Causative Alternations causative/inchoative alternation Cognate Object collective NP Comments Conative Alternation Cynthia dative alternation direct object Dixon Dowty Ellen told emission English entity expressed Fellbaum hair Heather cabled Helen hit verbs interpretation intransitive verbs J.L. Austin Jackendoff Kegl Levin and Rappaport Lexical Linguistic Inquiry locative alternation Locative Inversion locative prepositions McCawley Middle Alternation motion Nominal some verbs Non-Alternating noun phrase NP V NP participate predicated prepositional phrase prepositional phrase complement Properties psych-verbs Reciprocal Alternation intransitive Reflexive Object Resultative Phrase Semantics sentential complements set of verbs Simple Reciprocal Alternation Snell-Hornby 1983 spray/load verbs subclasses Susan whispered swatted syntactic There-Insertion transitive unaccusative unaccusative verbs unergative verbs Unspecified Object Alternation variant verbs are found Verbs Class Members verbs describe verbs found verbs of change verbs of existence verbs of sound Verbs References verbs relate verbs sec verbs show verbs take Wierzbicka Zero-related Nominal